Solar Water Purifier From Recycled Materials

Hi everyone, water is a very precious resource, we all know that, but not everyone has the chance of getting clean and purified water to drink.

This is why I have made this water purifier, because with this little list of materials, you can build it yourself. and for it to work you will only need the sun and any water you want to purify.

Supplies

1 pvc pipe

1 pvc gutter

1 silicone tube

1 bar of hot glue

1 pvc glue

1 rectangular glass

1 metallic tray (it will work better if it is black)

some wood or similar material for the structure

Step 1: Glass Measurement to Design the Structure

Get any square / rectangular glass, and then measure it.

Step 2: Making the Base

Cut the base of the water purifier with the following dimensions according to your piece of glass:

Base Length = (Glass Length) + (Wood Thickness) 

Base Depth = [(Glass Depth) X (0,42)] + (Wood Thickness)    //  [ 0,42 = Sin(25) ]

Step 3: Making the Walls

Cut the walls of the water purifier

The front and the rear wall must have at least 5cm to install the gutter afterwards, so we will make them 5 X (Base Length) cm that will be the front wall, and [5 + (Sin25 x Glass Depth)] X (Base Length) cm that will be the rear wall. (this last one is explained in the picture, just so it is clearer.

The other two walls will be made as shown in the picture 5 X (Base Depth - [2 x wood thickness]) X (5 + a) X Glass Depth:

Step 4: Mounting the Structure

Attach all the walls as shown in the picture below with glue or screws. It will be more resistant with screws, due to the high temperatures that it will reach while working.

Make a hole one of the sides to take the water out from the purifier, and another one in the middle of the same panel if you want to put water in without opening the water purifier.

Step 5: Water Insulation

Use the silicon to isolate the inside corners, and once this is cured, paint all the walls with black, to attract the light and to reach the temperature inside the box quicker but do not paint the front one as we still have to install the gutter and the pipe.

Step 6: Collection System

Make a hole in the corner of the gutter, on the part that will be at the bottom of the inclination, and then attach the pipe where the whole is. You will have to cut the pipe first, and then glue it to another part of the pipe to take the water outside making an “L” tube. You can see what I mean in the photo. Once the pipes and the gutter are glued, then glue all together to the box with hot glue so it won’t move inside.

Step 7: Where to Put the Water to Purify

Introduce the tray and put some water on it, then place the glass on top and put silicone on the corners so the air won't go inside.

Step 8: Location and Collection

Place it in the sun and start purifying some water, you can add a bottle or a container to keep the water that you’re purifying, in my case, it is a big glass jar, placed behind a polyspan box to insulate it from the sun and avoid evaporation on the inside of the collected water.

Step 9: Ready to Go

Drink or use the water, it can be used as I mentioned to drink, as it is pure water or water the plants (it can be used even for carnivorous plants, or some tries that need pure water under 100 ppm).

Step 10: Conclusion

I want to say that with this unit I am making 200ml per day at this moment, but if you make one bigger, it will make more than that.

The water that will come out will have between 0 and 30 ppm (particles per million), It is the same as the rain water. In this case, you can see that the water I purified on the last day has 6 ppm. The maximum quantity for human consumption from tap water is 1500 ppm, being the tap water from my house is around 180 ppm and distilled water is between 0 and 10 ppm, so, the water that this makes is completely distilled and purified water.

These units are also starting to be common in some regions without purified water for human consumption, and they use it to take all the dust, virus and bacteria from the water and to just drink clean, transparent and purified water.