Introduction: Water Purification
Imagine your stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean and you need clean drinking water ....
well have i got something for you
actually even if your not stranded on a deserted island you should probably enjoy this.
So just sit back, relax, and let old Goawayndstay teach you the art of water purification!
Step 1: GET a BOWL
1. Scavenge through your cupboards to find a semi large bowl
Step 2: Add Water
1. Add several cups of water to the bowl
Step 3: Add Food Coloring
1. Obtain some food coloring
2. Add it to the water
Step 4: Add the Salt
1. Acquire some salt
2. Add it to the mixture of food coloring and
Step 5: Mugtastic
1. Next you will need a mug or cup smaller than the bowl of your choice
2. Insert the cup into the bowl as shown in the pictures
Step 6: Suranatastic
Then you will need a large sheet of saran wrap
wrap it around the pan *loosely*
Step 7: Rubber Bandtastic
You may want to use a rubber band to hold it on but make sure it slightly sagging in the middle
Step 8: Pennytastic
Now all that you have to do is add some weight to the plastic to keep the inverted cone shape
Step 9: Whats Next ?
Now all thats left is to set it in the sun
and to wait
Step 10: TAA DAA !
The water purification process takes some time depending how much water was used
but it should not take more than a few hours for a big batch
how this works: because it a contained environment (similar to a green house) the water heats up more quickly than normal ....that causes it to evaporate ,but because it has nowhere to go, it just condensates on the bottom of the plastic wrap and follows the natural curve of the saran wrap because of the weight . The water than drips into the cup completely color free and salt-free. This is because salt and food coloring does not evaporate with water.
its really a cool little science experiment with a practical use...as long as you have the materials ! Most of which can be improvised with ease
In the picture below you can see the condensation of the water
To give you an idea .....this all happened within 20 min.
I hope you enjoyed this instructable, I will do my best to answer any questions as well
61 Comments
Question 3 years ago on Step 9
What was the rate of evaporation and condensation?
How much time it required for desalinating?
11 years ago on Step 10
If I do it at home, does it get rid of the chlorine, fluoride and whatever else they put in tap water? And would this distilled water be ok for making colloidal silver?
13 years ago on Step 10
the only problem i find with this is, that if your stranded on an island, where are you going to get saran wrap or rubber bands?the nearest supermarket?
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
No problem in mediterranean , nowdays we have emergency depots everywhere. In any island there's plenty of junk . Just give a look in prevalent wind exposed rocks or bays and you'll find bottles , jugs , ropes , goggles ,wood and mostly plastic stuff of any kind , fishing nets, buoys and whatever else (!) floats on sea water.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
you would use a coconut as the bowl and leaves as the wrap or just sit the leaf over it and set the other half of the coconut under the corner of the leaf and the condensation will run into the other half of the coconut
11 years ago on Introduction
Great. simple and effective. Not to mention the many possible emergency variations of this nice instructable. I have even seen a an ethilic alcohol last chance distiller very similar to this. Spirit was supposet to drip in a cup from a lap of a plastic shopper folded out of the rim of a bucket containing sometthing reminding fermenting fruit juice . I must say the productt was cristal clear and smelled like some kind of vodka drink. I must tell I gently avoided to taste that unelegant basic liquor also because of its unpredictable methanol toxic content .
11 years ago on Introduction
what was the straw this that india used when a usa president ordered something to get rid for the dieases in waterit was straw shaped
11 years ago on Step 10
Yes distilling water this way is cool, you dont necessarily need food colouring or salt, in the wild you can distill any source of water, salt, polluted, stagnant etc to extract safe drinking water. Equally you can add vegetation and even urine to your bowl, bucket or pit to increase your yield. I tend to carry a clear plastic poncho in my survival kit (the festival type) to use for shelter, gather rain water and as a solar distill if im in the right climate. You can also wrap a clear bag around a branch or bush ensuring it doesnt make contact to collect dew and moisture at the bottom of the bag. If you are ever unsure about the quality of the water you produce then boil it!
12 years ago on Step 10
the only thing is this does not remove all the harmful bacteria from the water... we were trying to build something lke this in school and were wondering about adding infra-red lamps (solar powered) to kill bacteria...
14 years ago on Step 9
Does anyone know how to make a condenser that pulls the moisture from air? (To collect water, of course).
16 years ago on Introduction
notably in the usa owning materials used in distillation as well as owning a still is illegal. while the chances of the atf or irs going after you for an unlicensed still made of saran for water is pretty slim, it's not necessarily something to advertise. of course, i assume, the above is for educational purposes only for those readers in the land of the free.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
You are thinking of a still used to produce intoxicating beverages for sale. The fed allows individuals to make and distill their own beverages up to 20 gallons a year with no limit on fuel.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
no, you can't distill -any- bevies in the usa w/o license. you can brew a healthy amount each of wine and beer for personal use, but distillation is a no no. distillation for fuel has run afoul of several states for bypassing state fuel taxes even in small amounts. i believe that the federal law bars the ownership of a distillation device in addition to the prohibition on distillation of spirits. i'll see if i can dig up the law text, but if you can prove me wrong, please do. if memory serves, the irs has the option to seize all lands upon which a still is found, irrelevant of if the land owner owns the still or rents. it's a BIG no no.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Ownership of distillation device is legal ONLY for distilling essences of herbs and similar things. So if your house is inspected and they find any evidence of making liquor or alcohol fuel, you are in serious trouble.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
can you cite law for that? my reading of us tax law a few years back was that it was pretty clear that the ownership of the makings of a still in any form was illegal (meaning that if strictly interpreted, owning a crock pot and a length of aquarium tubing, or a set of large mixing bowls could be considered a still) n.b. that i am not a lawyer, just interested in beer and whisk(e)ys
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
...you must be thinking of the thirties during prohibition. The only thing you can do is distill beer or wine you buy from the store - another idiosyncratic working of corporate sponsored laws.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
no, i'm thinking about the present. please do some research and prove me wrong.
http://www.ttb.gov/faqs/genalcohol.shtml#g1
a permit can be obtained to distill for ONLY fuel purposes from the BATFE.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
I think that you are reading it in the literal sense and not the interpretation of the Letter in that its talking about spirits (chapter 51) not the broad sense of just distilling otherwise teachers crafters and house hold moms would be lockedup. Thats why we have attorneys that interpet the letter of it. To protect us from this kind of misreadings.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
well, first they'd have to prosecute individuals who are distilling w/o intent to sell, which i'm not aware of them doing.
the letter of the law is what prosecutors use in determining if you've broken it. law is written in literal sense. you can break the intent while staying within the letter of the law with impunity, however breaking the letter while staying within the intent can get you locked up. look at accounting rules for example: equally accurate accounting measures may not fall w/in legal reporting requirements leaving one firm under penalty where as another is not. that's why the letter of the law is important. the *intent* is much more nebulous, as is being shown by the current supreme court discussion over the 2nd amendment.
please read my post below for the relevant section of us tax code.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Any prosecutor trying to pull this off are a district attorney depending which State your in would have hell to pay if they even tried to bring this in front of a judge.Due to we would be locking up the judges little old grandma because she was makeing pickles are every kentucky fried chicken restraunt would be closed and liable.Yea this is one those laws that would be screaming to the state supream courts because then fina and others would be liable as well.And judges are like witness they all see things from different windows when acting upon laws and how they see them. I'm talking aloud only but on my experince I bet im right without haveing to pull any case into it.