How To Build A Solar-Powered Still To Purify Drinking Water
- By Rich M - September 16, 2013
Everyone agrees that water is needed for survival and articles abound for how to find water and purify it for drinking. But all those articles have one thing in common: They are talking about purifying water from biological hazards.
Normally, the biggest hazards we face from drinking water are microorganisms: bacteria, protozoa and other parasites which can enter our system and make us quite sick. These are a legitimate concern and one that every survivalist must take into account. A case of dysentery can kill you, especially if you are already weakened or injured.
While those biological hazards are important, they aren’t the only thing we can find in our drinking water. Chemicals, radiation, salt and minerals can all be there as well. While a fine-enough filter can get rid of biological hazards, particulate minerals and radiation, it can’t do a thing about salt or chemicals. Activated charcoal will help some with some types of chemicals, but the only sure way to get rid of those is through distillation.
Distillation is a simple process, although it can be difficult to accomplish in quantity. It consists of heating the water to the point where it evaporates quickly or steam forms. Then, that water vapor is captured and cooled, allowing it to condense back to water.
The really great thing about distillation is that nothing else evaporates with the water. The only chemicals that could evaporate with it are those that have a lower vapor point than water does. There aren’t too many chemicals normally found in a liquid state at typical ambient temperatures, which also have a lower vapor point than water does. Alcohol is one of the few.
The problem with distillation is that it is a slow process, which means that heat has to be applied to the water for a long time, so that it can evaporate and be captured. In a crisis situation, fuel might be scarce, making the process of distilling water rather expensive, from a resources point of view. This can be solved by harnessing the power of the sun in a solar still.
When most people talk about a solar still, they are talking about a covered hole in the ground, which is used to purify water in an emergency situation, typically in a desert or other arid place. That’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about building a permanent solar still, which can be used to distill water on a constant basis.
A solar still, like many solar collector devices, consists of a glass-covered box, which is painted on the inside. A pan of water is placed inside and the device is placed in the sun. Sunlight enters the box and heats the water, promoting evaporation. When the water vapor hits the glass, it condenses on it, running down the glass to a catch tube.
Directions to Make the Solar Still
To make a solar still of this type, you’ll need to make a box out of plywood. You can’t see it well in the picture, but the white line at the back of the still is a door, which flips down to allow the water pans to be placed inside it. For water pans, I used two large rectangular Pyrex dishes. To accommodate them, the inside dimensions of the box are 19 inches wide by 23 inches long. I was careful about this measurement, as glass commonly comes in pieces that are 24, 36 and 48 inches. Had I made the box just a little bit bigger, I would have needed to buy a 36-inch piece of glass and waste most of it.
Ultra Efficient Water Filter Fits In Your Pocket!
The front of the box (the end with the catch tube) is 6 inches tall, while the back of the box is 9-1/2 inches tall. This allows sufficient slope to cause the condensed water to run down to the catch tube (more on that in a moment). The sides of the box are constructed of two layers of half-inch plywood, while the bottom is of 3/4-inch plywood. That gave me sufficient thickness at the bottom to make it easy to connect it together.
The sides and ends of the box are double thickness, providing a notch at the top for the glass “collector” to mount into. The outer piece of plywood should stick up half an inch above the inner one. I purposely made the outer piece of plywood “short” so that it would provide a ready handle for carrying and moving the solar still.
When inserting the glass, it should be held in place by silicone caulk. Quarter round or base shoe can be placed above it to finish off the box. Be careful when nailing the quarter round in place, so as to not hit the glass with the nail or hammer.
A piece of three-fourths or one-inch thick aluminized insulated sheathing needs to be cut to fit the inside of the box and placed in the bottom, aluminum side up. The aluminum surface of this piece of sheathing and the entire inside of the box should be painted flat black to absorb as much light as possible, converting it to heat. The aluminum coating on the sheathing will readily absorb and transfer this heat to the Pyrex baking dishes. Pyrex is used to reduce the risk of breakage.
The hardest and most important part of the design is the drip edge and catch tube. I used a rubber door seal (without the metal backer) as the drip edge. You can glue it in place with silicone caulk, allowing the caulk to dry fully before turning the glass over. Be sure to fill the “uphill” side, where the drip edge attaches to the glass, to provide a smooth transition for the water drops to flow down. The drip edge needs to be located directly above the center of the catch tube. So, you will need to place the glass on the box, mark it for the drip edge and then remove it to install the drip edge to the glass, before installing the glass into the solar still.
The catch tube is a piece of half-inch PVC pipe, or you can use copper if you like. The outside diameter of half-inch schedule 40 PVC is slightly less than seven-eighths of an inch, making it easy to put a hole through the side of the still for it with a spade bit or forstner bit. Drill partially through the opposite wall of the still’s box from the inside, so that there is a pocket for the catch tube to sit into. Glue it into this partial hole with silicone caulk to both seal the wood and hold the drip tube in place.
To make the catch tube, make two lengthwise cuts in a piece of half-inch PVC pipe, about 120 degrees apart. It is easier to do this if you make the cuts too long, and then cut the tube to length. The cut-out portion of the tube should span the entire still, with the full tube starting where it goes through the side of the box.
The drip tube should be held in place by a pin at the outlet end. This can be a small nail. Just drill a hole down through the side of the still’s box and insert the pin to keep the tube from pulling out. A half-inch slip to half-inch threaded coupler is attached to the end of the catch tube, with a barbed fitting connected to it. A short piece of tubing is connected to this fitting.
Using the Solar Still
The solar still can be used all day long, even if it is slightly overcast. If it is properly sealed with paint, it can be left out even in a rainstorm. To use it, place the still in a place where it will receive good sunlight, without any possibility of it being shaded. Point it toward the south so that it can capture the most sunlight. Place a water jug or food-grade five-gallon bucket so that the drip tube will empty into the bucket or jug.
Fill both Pyrex pans with water and place them inside the still, ensuring that the door closes securely, without any air gaps. While the solar still is not fully airtight, you don’t want the water vapor escaping into the atmosphere. Leave the solar still and come back later to collect your water.
You can use literally any water with a solar still. It does not need to be pre-filtered in any way. Debris left in the water will stay in the Pyrex pans, while the clean water will be distilled out. If the water used is dirty, full of debris and silt, you will want to rinse out the Pyrex pans when it is time to refill them.
Fresnel Lens solar water filtration systems offer an off grid option to clean water This solar distiller can deliver .5 GPH The Fresnel lens concentrates sunlight to a common focal point that creates a steam boiler allowing for rapid distillation with the sun.
http://greenpowerscience.com/
If you are concerned, add 10mg Na to each liter. Also, eating food with water, all minerals are mixed with fluid in the stomach converting distilled water into mineral water. Distilled water is not magic, if you add a splash of milk to tea made with distilled water, you now have 10x the calcium of regular mineral water.
http://www.eves-best.com/distilled-wa...
Distilled water is very good for you. The only areas it may cause a problem is developing nations that have near famine conditions. For the rest of the world who usually ingest 15x the sodium recommended, distilled water leaches salt first. ONLY IF you are salt deprived (extremely rare) will distilled water leach excess potassium and or calcium.
You would need to drink about 2 gallons in 10 hours for there to be a problem.
If heavy sweating, water of any kind is only a thirst quencher or temporary fluid fix. Most people can afford 7 pounds of sweat (near gallon) replaced with only water before electrolytes become an issue. At that point, electrolytes are needed regardless of water type ingested. Mineral water has very small trace minerals and represents a small fraction of where K, Na, Ca is absorbed in the body. For you to get your average daily requirements of Ca and K from water alone, the water would taste terrible.
The Natural Effect
Only Organic - Published on Jan 28, 2014
Learn more online at http://bit.ly/1aWC0H1 "The False Advertising Industry" reveals the shocking truth about what is allowed in "Natural" food. Only the USDA Organic Seal guarantees your food contains no Genetically Modified Organisms, no toxic pesticides, and no growth hormones or antibiotics. Share the truth with your friends.
An important advertising campaign called Only Organic has recently been launched by Organic Voices, a non-profit backed by some of the biggest names in the industry including Stonyfield, Nature’s Path, Annie’s and many others.
While educated organic consumers will watch this video and get a laugh, the reality is that this is no laughing matter. Why? Because far too many people believe that “natural” is actually better than “organic”, and a majority of Americans continue to put “natural” products into their bodies, thinking that they don’t contain super-toxic pesticides, artificial ingredients, and genetically-modified organisms. More often than not, “natural” products contain all of these things.
According to the USDA’s website, this is what “natural” means.As required by USDA, meat, poultry, and egg products labeled as “natural” must be minimally processed and contain no artificial ingredients. However, the natural label does not include any standards regarding farm practices and only applies to processing of meat and egg products. There are no standards or regulations for the labeling of natural food products if they do not contain meat or eggs.
Did you see that last line? There are no standards or regulations for the labeling of natural food products if they do not contain meat or eggs.
As a result, “natural” has become the most abused marketing term in the food world and consumers have been unfairly manipulated.
With the government unwilling to step in and correct the situation, lawyers have gotten involved and filed class action lawsuit against companies such as Naked Juice and Kashi for misleadingly using the word “natural” on their labels.
As I wrote about in 2011 when I attended an Expo West panel discussion by Alex Bogusky, one of the biggest creative stars in the advertising industry, he said that he would attack the credibility of “natural” in order to bolster “organic”. Fortunately for us, the people behind Only Organic got Alex Bogusky involved and what we have is a very smart and savvy advertising campaign for organic.
Now, it is up to every single one of us to share this video with as many people as we can, so the general population understands that “natural” means pretty much nothing.
With “organic”, consumers are getting a product that has strict standards and enforcement by the USDA, and the use of toxic pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, artificial ingredients, antibiotics, synthetic growth hormones, and genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) are prohibited.
I urge you to share this video on Facebook and help expose the truth about “natural” to as many people as you can.
Three major signs you have mercury poisoning
- By Derek Henry - Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Heavy metals are becoming more pervasive in our food, water, and air supply to the point they are turning up in products that we have previously deemed completely safe. Mercury is one heavy metal in particular that has ended up in our physiology in a variety of ways, and as a result, is causing the slow poisoning of our bodies to the point of acute illness. Here are some of the common signs.
Digestive problems
There are no shortage of reasons why people have digestive problems, but one common factor that many do not consider is mercury poisoning.
This starts for many in their mouth as the chewing of their food releases salivary enzymes, as it simultaneously stimulates the release of mercury from their fillings. This mercury mixes with your food and travels down to the digestive tract with it.
In the stomach this mercury combines with hydrochloric acid and produces mercuric chloride, which can damage the stomach lining and create ulcers. Not only that, but once this mercury comes into contact with our friendly bacteria in our intestinal system, it can kill them instantly by touching them. Unfortunately, this does not harm the mercury and it continues to destroy other friendly bacteria in its path.
This ultimately leads to imbalanced gut flora which creates a multitude of conditions and symptoms, most notably Candida Albicans and other digestive related disorders.
Brain disorders
Mercury is lipophilic, meaning it concentrates in fatty tissues, mostly the brain as it is comprised mostly of fat. For this reason alone, it makes sense that any level of mercury poisoning is going to negatively affect the proper functioning of the brain due to mercury binding to it.
Unfortunately, it appears that the neurological development of fetuses, infants, and children are much more susceptible to mercury poisoning than adults, which may explain rising rates of brain related disorders like autism in infants exposed to vigorous vaccination schedules that contain mercury.
Brain related symptoms from mercury poisoning include late development of walking and talking for infants, and poor memory, attention, language, and fine motor and visual spatial skills. This is often labeled as dementia, autism, ADHD, Parkinson's, depression, migraines, and more.
Muscle and joint pain
Since mercury has an affinity for concentrating in fatty tissues, and tends to accumulate over time, it should come as no surprise that it can cause severe muscle and joint pain, including stiffness and swelling.
Signs of mercury toxicity in the musculoskeletal system include tender muscles, rapid muscle fatigue, joint stiffness, muscle cramps, muscle weakness, and TMJ dysfunction. This is often labeled as arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and multiple sclerosis.
Where mercury is found and what you can do to remove it
Mercury is found in the air, drinking water, fish, dental amalgams, vaccines, occupational and home exposures, batteries, red tattoo dye, and more. Be careful to avoid highly polluted environments and the food and water near them, as well as medical procedures that subject you to mercury.
Detoxing from heavy metals is one of the most important, yet most difficult things to do for your health. It typically takes a long period of time to remove them safely and effectively, so starting right away and using sound medical counsel is vitally important.
First of all, consider a holistic dentist who specializes in the removal of mercury amalgams. Secondly, work with a holistic practitioner who understands the proper food, supplementation, and digestive and liver/kidney support required to safely and effectively remove mercury from your body.
Ensure you are properly detoxified in other areas, and have been properly nourished before you consider starting the process.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.epa.gov/hg/effects.htm
http://www.hugginsappliedhealing.com/digestive-disturbances.php
http://www.thenaturalrecoveryplan.com
About the author:
Motivated by his own story of being sick and crippled at age 30 to healthy and pain free 5 years later, Derek is an expert in helping people get on track in a fraction of the time it took him on his own journey. Actively engaged in the research of natural healing for over 6 years, Derek has spent over 3000 hours studying and collaborating with top minds in nutrition and utilizes that extensive knowledge to deliver protocols that help people overcome their own health challenges.
Derek is the owner and Master Health Coach at Healing the Body, and writer of over 200 natural health articles, many of which are featured at his Healing the Body Facebook Fan Page.
Derek specializes in specific nutritional and wellness programs, from simple lifestyle transitions to complete healing protocols. Check out his popular free health consult.
Each SM has a transmitter inside that communicates with other nearby meters to create a “mesh network.” The information transmitted is routed through a pivot or nodal SM that send such info back to the utility. The pulse is of course more intense the closer one’s proximity to the meter, yet the pollution is also measurable throughout the home. Further, aside from RF SMs generate “dirty electricity” that runs through electrical lines and household wiring.
There are varieties of metallic shielding (available online through Less EMF and other outlets) one can use to lessen the RF impact of the SM on those in your home.
Media Blackout on Smart Meter Dangers
- By James F. Tracy - January 21, 2014
Major power utilities continue to deploy “smart” electrical meters on businesses and private residences throughout the United States and Canada. Yet those in North America and elsewhere remain in the dark on the negative health effects of such devices that systematically blast their homes with radio-frequency (RF) radiation on a minute-by-minute, round-the-clock basis.
In 2009 the Obama administration partnered with utilities by allocating $3.4 billion in federal stimulus funds toward building a nationwide “smart grid,” where smart meters figure centrally.[1] The project is part of President Obama’s “Climate Action Plan” that under United Nations auspices seeks to reduce US carbon emissions 20% by the year 2020.[2]
There is more than ample research available that has associated negative health effects of RF radiation emitted by smart meters [3] for regulatory authorities to place restrictions on power utilities and compel them to abide by the precautionary principle. Such restrictions would require power providers to refrain from wide scale installation of smart meters until a sufficient body of scientific research demonstrating the safety of such devices has been produced and rigorously evaluated.
Yet in the US and elsewhere the imperative of having a “smart grid,” the prospect of a carbon trading scheme, lax (and in at least some cases corrupt) state and federal regulatory bodies, and the sheer power of the utilities combine to jeopardize the long term health of the entire population.
In a purportedly democratic society news outlets play a decisive role in such an impending health crisis. By failing to report on the dubious health research of smart meters and the fact that the public is being involuntarily subjected to such technology, news media are a key factor in the citizenry’s continued ignorance and inaction.
In May 2011 the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer categorized “radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer, associated with wireless cellphone use.”[4] Despite this warning from a well-recognized source, the utilities stubbornly insist that all residences must be equipped with a smart meter issuing dangerous electropollution.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ceased studying the health effects of radiofrequency radiation when the Senate Appropriations Committee cut the department’s funding and forbade it from further research into the area.[5] Thereafter RF limits were codified as mere “guidelines” based on the EPA’s tentative findings and are presently overseen by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
These weakly enforced standards are predicated on the alleged “thermal effect” of RF to which the FCC subscribes. In other words, if the energy emitted from a wireless antenna or device is not powerful enough to heat the skin or flesh then no danger is posed to human health.[6]
To this day power utilities cling to this severely outmoded and unscientific standard when confronted with the formidable body of research linking RF to cancer, destruction of DNA, and other negative health effects. News media seldom question the FCC policy when it is cited by utilities and regulators alike to underline the supposed overall safety of smart meters.[7]
An electronic LexisNexis search of newspaper articles referencing “smart meters” appearing between May 31, 2011, the date WHO classified RF a Class 2B carcinogen, and June 19, 2014, yields close to 839 pieces published in English language papers. Yet for the same time span only one tenth of the sample (82 articles) mentions “smart meters” and “carcinogen” or “carcinogenic” in the same report. Of these, 65 of the articles appeared in Canadian, and to a much lesser degree Australian or UK papers. Note that each sample includes guest editorials and letters to the editor penned by concerned citizens.
Using parameters from the date May 31, 2011, the date WHO declared RF a Class 2B carcinogen, to January 19, 2014, of 93 newspaper articles referencing “smart meter” and “World Health Organization,” 76 were published in Canadian, and to a much lesser degree UK, Australian, Malaysian or New Zealand outlets.
As the above suggests, the extremely limited awareness especially in the US of the potential health consequences of exposure to the continual RF emitted by smart meters is primarily because the issue is being blacked out in the press. When such dangers are reported, they are tempered by the refrain of the FCC’s “thermal effect” policy, which in light of the abundant countervailing research amounts to disinformation.
In December 2013 I contacted the reporter at the local metro-daily Palm Beach Post covering the state power utility, Florida Power and Light, and its smart meter policy to remind her of the bevy of public health and medical research documenting the likely consequences of sustained RF exposure. I also directed her to the WHO statement classifying RF as potentially carcinogenic.
To the Post’s credit a subsequent story highlighting Florida Power and Light’s “opt out” policy referenced the WHO statement. Yet the piece appeared deep in the business section of the paper, and the WHO warning was accompanied by the Florida Public Service Commission’s familiar rejoinder.
In 2011 the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified radio frequency electromagnetic fields such as those emitted by cellular phones, microwaves and smart meters as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
The PSC has said its authority does not extend to health issues related to meters. Smart meters are certified for compliance with radio frequency emission standards by the Federal Communications Commission, and the FCC has deemed that meters in compliance with the standards do not have adverse health impacts.[8]
While one or more hidden agendas likely exist to keep the public unaware of the health dangers associated with RF and smart meters (again, think carbon trading, in addition to the social control possibilities via energy rationing and surveillance soon to be realized through the “smart grid,”) a more immediate cause for such censorship is simply profit and continued media monopoly control of public opinion and discourse.
The telecommunications industry whose services are largely predicated on RF has recently exhibited the largest growth in advertising outlays, which are surely recognized in bottom line terms by the news and media industries.[9] With potential continued revenue growth on this scale, raising questions and relaying information that can safeguard public health and allow citizens to ask intelligent questions concerning the health of themselves and their loved ones simply constitutes poor business practice.
Notes:
[1] “President Obama Announces $3.4 Billion Investment to Spur Transition to Smart Energy Grid,” The White House, October 27, 2009.
[2] Ed King, “Obama Promises to Cut Carbon Pollution in Climate Action Plan,” Responding to Climate Change, June 26, 2013.
[3] See, for example, the American Association of Environmental Medicine EMF-RF Reference List (PDF) and AAEM’s April 12, 2012 Press Advisory (PDF).
[4] World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer, “IARC Classifies Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields as Possibly Carcinogenic,” May 31, 2011.
[5] Susan Luzzaro, “Field of Cell Phone Tower Beams,” San Diego Reader, May 18, 2011,
[6] FCC Office of Engineering and Technology, http://www.fcc.gov/oet/rfsafety. See also James F. Tracy “Wireless Technology and the Accelerated Toxification of America,” memoryholeblog.com, July 7, 2012.
[7] When this author obtained documents through a public records request from the Florida Public Service Commission on Florida Power and Light’s smart meter campaign–a very simple and routine endeavor for any journalist–it was evident that no human health impact studies on statewide smart meter deployment were ever considered. The PSC merely accepted FPL’s rationale and related public relations literature.
[8] Susan Salisbury, “Media Opt-Out Fee to Be Considered, PSC Staff Proposes Enrollment, Monthly Cost for Device For Device Foes,” Palm Beach Post, January 3, 2014, B4.
[9] “Ad Spend By Sector: Consumer Goods and Telecom Take the Cake in 2012,” Nielsen.com, April 25, 2013.
Republished at GlobalResearch.ca on January 21, 2014.
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