This will be an off-grid post, sort of. When this whole project started, there was this need to solve the water problem. There's no running water out there, so a solution for that had to be found. A lot of experimentation followed with a lot of home-made type filters.
There was some limited success with that. Water can be filtered somewhat from a rather filthy state to something that looks like it might be clean. But it isn't really. After that, more needs to be done.
Then there was some experimentation with solar distilling. No working model was ever produced, but it could have been. It remains to be seen how much water can be harvested that way. One thing is for certain, you'd need a lot of glass.
That segues into the easier road---commercial filtration systems. A lot of different types have passed through here---1) Zero 2) Brita 3) Walmart brand 4) Camco ( sic ) and now, 5) Pur.
There has not been any tests with reverse osmosis. That could be next, goodness sakes. It seems like an endless number of these experiments sometimes. Maybe it is just for amusement, or whatever. Anyway, these latest things aren't working as well as one would like. But there is some pretty nasty stuff going through them. It was necessary to do something about the water. The well-water seems to accumulate matter over time, and it gets into everything. This is an attempt to deal with that issue.
The Zero filter does get it to zero. However, the others do not. The downside of that is that the better the filter, the less time it works. Hence the pre-treatment with lesser filters. The cleaner the water is going into the Zero, the longer it will last. It needs to last. If you take really dirty water, the thing would have to be replaced so often that it isn't practical.
For a system out there, it would have take run-off from the roof and clean that to somewhat useful water that could go through a Zero. Actually, the experiments with rainwater suggest that a run-through with the Camco filter might get some pretty clean looking water. It would take an investment in some equipment in order to give that one a try.
The water idea with a stock tank would end up with some dirty looking water. Most of that would be solids that wouldn't settle out. Those would have to be filtered or use a reverse osmosis system on it. Maybe a solar distiller system could be employed.
An idea would be to use the water for cooling. It would be distilled off the roof, and the condensed water would drip into a collection area. That would entail a glass covering over the roof. Tricky idea. It would be like killing two birds with one stone, though. A cooling effect and cleaner water, wrapped up in one neat package.
At this moment, the swamp-cooler has cooled down the interior by 10 degrees over the last 2 1/2 hours. The swamp-cooler is no air conditioner, though. That's why there is a need for shade, and maybe some additional cooling up on the roof.
Well, that's all for now.
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