It is still on, yet I have some doubts. Let's face it. I have always had doubts
about this since the beginning. Interestingly enough, the longer I work on this,
the more confident I get.
But it is not there yet. Of course, there is the health issue overhanging the
entire project. As long as nothing else happens, I might make it yet.
Some time back, I wrote that the project is more or less an insurance policy for
the unexpected in my current arrangement. If something goes horribly wrong, then
there is somewhere I can go. This is probably the most sensible thing that can
be said about this now. If it's not a good situation that I am in, then this can
be better than living under a bridge.
That said, I continue to do little things to prepare for that day, if it comes.
Today, I am practicing water recycling. This has yet to be mastered, and has
come front row and center since I got the evaporative cooler. Since the cooler
uses so much water, it has thrown my plans in something of a state of uncertainty.
Sure, I can live on five gallons of water or less. But if this thing gulps down
several gallons a day, and well, that can be a problem.
So now I want to get serious about this project. With that in mind, I did a little
online shopping and bought something. It is a squeeze ball thingie, that will
suck the water off the top of some water that I want to skim off. You see, I
keep the water in the sink. It drains into a basin, which I collect, and then
use this water for flushing. Instead of using so much water for flushing, I might
be able to recover some of that water used now for washing my hands.
I use Ivory soap bars for this task, and this stuff collects at the bottom of the
basin. The top part of the water is fairly clear. So, the idea here is to
recover that water, and see if I can recycle it. It needs to be treated quite
extensively, because it is still gunky water.
I have done a lot of filtering, and this hasn't satisfied me yet. But it doesn't
have to be perfect water. It can be good enough to use as input water to a
solar distiller.
In addition to the ball, I shopped for some clear material that can be used to
make a solar still. I found some that is like plexiglass, but fairly thin. This
can fit over the top of a box that I have been thinking of making for quite some
time now. The cost is about 10 bucks a sheet. It comes in two sheets plus
8 bucks for shipping. For 28 bucks and the cost of the other materials, I
can make two of these 3x2 foot distillers. That is 12 square feet total.
Based upon my experiments with the washtub, it may be capable of producing a
gallon and a half per day. But that has not been confirmed. It may not distill
as fast as it can evaporate, though.
Seems like I made a drawing of the device. As usual, I have changed my plans a
bit. Instead of making an angle, I may just make a square box. That is so that
I won't have to do a lot of fancy cutting. It should fit together pretty square,
unless I find a way to mess it up. Cross my fingers on that one. The box will
have to be raised a bit so that gravity will force the water droplets to drain
to the bottom and out.
Easier to do it that way than to do a lot of fancy cutting.
Where to put it? It may make some good shade for the bedroom area. Two of them
lined up end to end would make it six feet across. This will accomodate the
solar panel as well, as it would only cover about the same amount of space.
The bedroom area to be shaded is about 32 sq ft, so this is about half of that.
One thought is that this is getting late in the summer, and it may be too late
in the season to be working on this project. I may want to shelve this plan for
next year.
Yes, the timetable continues to move out. I was thinking maybe the spring of
2019, but now it is no earlier than the fall of 2019. Yeah, and maybe not
then either. I can put off this project until next summer, then.
So it goes.
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