Solar Powered Distilled Water Setup

[SeaMonkey]

Google has some ideas, but I like the descriptions and variety of suggestions on Wikipedia, under the heading of "solar still - water"). Have a look and see what you think...

 

 

WSM,

 

There are several forms of Solar Still which are very simple to put together

and which work reasonably well. But their designs are just a bit too

simple for what I have in mind.

 

I'd make the Solar Still in two sections:

 

(1) the Water Heater section in sunlight,

 

(2) the evaporator/condenser section in shade.

 

I'd construct the Water Heater portion of the unit similar to how

DIY Science Guy does in this video.

 

I'd place the Water Heater on the ground or slightly above it in

the sunlight and connect it with hoses to the Evaporator/Condenser

positioned several feet higher above it. This portion of the unit

would be shaded from sunlight to help cool it. I'm thinking that

hot water from the heater would flow by convection up to the

Evaporator/Condenser input and then return back to the heater

through its output connection.

 

At the Heater I'd have means for draining the mineral enriched

water periodically to replace it with fresh water to avoid mineral

buildup in the setup.

 

I have some thoughts on how I'd make the Evaporator/Condenser

and its connection to the Distilled Water collector but am far

from a definite structure design.

 

If well made such a setup could conceivably operate reliably for

quite a few years while delivering a pretty good daily supply of

Distilled Water.

 

Where freezing is a danger certain precautions would have to

be exercised.

 

[WSM]

Excellent suggestions.

 

Be aware that when water is heated the minerals drop out (the main source of water spots on glassware, unless a rinse aid is used in a dish washer) and can plug up a water system eventually, the same way old iron pipes do in hot water pipes.

 

I like your ideas.

 

WSM

[FrankRizzo]

This fellow has an even easier setup for the heater portion.

 

 

 

My suggestion would be to use the thermal siphon effect to "pump" the heated water to a thin section of insulation floating at the top of the sealed input water reservoir. The hot water stratified at the top will lose some heat to evaporation and a condenser can be attached to the the side of the reservoir. You can likely use the input water in the reservoir to also cool the condenser.

Edited May 22, 2020 by FrankRizzo

[SeaMonkey]

Thanks Frank! It looks like PEX is an excellent substitute for copper pipe

and is capable of handling the heat well too.

 

Information about PEX and its uses.

 

Since it is commonly used in residential water lines, both hot and cold,

it should be safe for distilling water to be used for drinking and cooking.

 

I'm still stuck on what the best evaporator/condenser style would be

best. I kinda like the simplicity of the shallow box evaporator with the

sloped plate glass top which serves as the condensing surface.

 

I guess I'll just have to try a few ideas out to see what works best with

the least complexity or effort.

Edited May 26, 2020 by SeaMonkey