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Forum Index : Solar : Distilling water for batteries
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Madness Guru  Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
I am planning to build a still to make my own distilled water rather than having to buy it and never having enough to fill all my batteries. I plan to use an old pressure cooker and a stand alone electric hot plate. Plan is to insulate it and set a relay to turn it on when my batteries go to float. Does anybody know if there would be any problem using an old R22 air conditioner condenser to convert the steam back to water? Obviously it will need cleaning out and would be traces of oil in it that I need to get out. But would the copper and aluminium contaminate the water? Another option is to filter the water that comes out of my AC in the house. There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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mason Regular Member  Joined: 07/11/2015 Location: CanadaPosts: 86 |
Madness, I use the water from my dehumidifier, and I think thats just as good as distilled water. Mason |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
Have you ever pulled the fan out of an old computer ? it will be encrusted with dust and crap. Water condensed from the air will be absolutely filthy, worse than what comes straight out of the kitchen tap. So is rainwater. You cannot use a metallic condenser, because the distilled water will then be full of metal ions. Glass is the only thing that really works for getting a reasonably pure condensate. Probably the easiest and most efficient "boiler" to construct might use the replacement element from an electric kettle or immersion heater. Then get a long length of some laboratory grade glass tube, and put a cold water cooling jacket around it.  Cheers, Tony. |
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| Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
Thanks Tony, I wasn't sure about the metal and I was aware of the dust and crap in the air plus Aluminium off the AC condenser. Another option is a solar still as shown below, water is condensed on the glass lid and runs into a plastic trough.  There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
I don't know where you are, but a quick search on the internet (or the yellow pages) should find some pyrex borosilicate laboratory grade glass tube easily enough. Something like this perhaps ? 1.5m length of roughly 5.6mm bore, 10mm OD tube for $25 http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/braeside/miscellaneous-goods/borosilicate-glass-tubes-1500-mm-long-10mmx-2-2wall/11273853 61 That should condense pretty well in free air, but putting a water jacket around it with a cork, grommet, or O ring at either end would not be too difficult. Cheers, Tony. |
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Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
As we run deep cycle traction batteries here I did ask the battery guy I got them from whether distilled or de-ionised water should be used and the answer was NEVER use distilled water and only de-ionised water should be used. Now if one wanted to make distilled water a simple copper still would do the job nicely. Basically a short column from the boiler then a product condenser which could be just a pipe on pipe where the inner pipe runs the product thru and the internal of the outer pipe runs cold water. Just make sure it open to the environment or expect a bomb to go off pretty quickly. Cheers Bryan |
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| Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
For less money than that I can get one of these Condensers but would it be suffcient? There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
The real problem with distilled water in batteries are the metal ions (if any). De ionised water is arguably better, especially if you buy your distilled water in a plastic bottle, you have no idea where it came from, how it was made, or what it was previously stored in. Freshly made, properly distilled water that has never contacted any metal is the very best thing of all. The problem with solar stills will be the very low quantities and the high possibility of contamination because it takes forever to make any useful quantity. Much better to build a really serious boiler and condenser, and make several litres at a time over a couple of hours. Its fresh, its pure, and you know for sure there is nothing else in there. Cheers, Tony. |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
Hi Madness, Yes that would do the job but very slowly and being glass one slip up and there goes the whole shebang. Copper can be got from the scrap yards pretty cheaply and soft soldered using lead free solder which bunnings sell (aquasafe solder), or hard soldered using silver solder. One can also use SS too if one has a tig handy. |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
There ! That is it, the real thing. I thought they would be a more expensive than that. I am going to get me a couple of those. Cheers, Tony. |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
Copper is fine for making moonshine whiskey, even lead will give it more character. But it will kill your battery. Cheers, Tony. |
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oztules Guru Joined: 26/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1686 |
I use a home made solar reverse osmosis unit to make 1000l/day from a single 250w solar panel. It usually makes water in the 0-1ppm range for total dissolved solids..... which I think is good enough. mostly the TDS meter registers 0, but some times gets to 1ppm. Very cheap RO units are on ebay, for passive sink use.... but I have no idea of how effective they are. I have a salt water unit too, and if used with normal water always registers zero ppm with TDS meters of several brands..... When first checking it there was never any ppm registered, so bought more meters to check for sure. With water of 35000ppm, it can still get down to 40ppm-160ppm on the first pass. The litle brackish water unit can make 2.5lpm... the salt one about 10lpm with brackish water source, only 1.3 with salt water of 35000ppm. I provide all the battery water on the island for free. Trojan web site offers this http://www.trojanbattery.com/pdf/WP_EffectOfImpurities_0612.pdf " Battery literature suggests a parts-per-million count not in excess of 100" So it is not as strict as I suspected originally, and so am very comfortable with 0-1ppm water. ...........oztules Village idiot...or... just another hack out of his depth |
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| Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
I need about 10 litres a month, my current source is $1 per litre. RO filters are around the same price as a glass condenser, all going well the condenser should last indefinitely. Based on the information provided my plan is to get a glass condenser as per above, Perhaps the old AC condenser would be perfect for a moonshine still  There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
Maybe we can start another thread.... Cheers, Tony. |
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| Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
I wonder how long that thread would last? There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
Bwahahahahahahaha..................... Cheers, Tony. |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
Yea I was tempted to put up a pic of my 2" SS pot still doing a Ouzo run, also good for making distilled water of course.  But don't want to get in trouble so thought best to leave it |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
It's called The Back Shed. But really our lips are sealed about what really goes on in back sheds. Cheers, Tony. |
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| Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
Making moonshine and what some of us do with electrical stuff is probably equally frowned upon by those who try to protect us from ourselves.  There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
G'day Guy's, Well not sure how long my deluxe water distilling appliance will stay up but here it is...  |
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