Primitive Technology

[LoreD]

I was looking at some Youtube videos on gardening and ran actoss thiis video. There is a whole section of videos about "Primitive Technology." This one shows an indigenous islander making a homemade desalinator water purifier out of mud, a clay pot, and sticks. I assume that the mud stove could also be used for cooking.

https://youtu.be/zf4JrsqlIkU

[mikemansker]

Interesting video! Primitive works.

[bower]

Great video. This was definitely not his first time building a distiller! Very skillful and such a quick build. Good thing there was such nice clay on that 'desert island'.

[zeuspaul]

Interesting. I made my primitive water distiller with two glass jars. The outer jar is a 2 gallon Anchor Hocking Heritage all glass jar with glass lid. The inner jar is an Anchor Hocking Heritage 1/2 gallon jar with black marbles on its bottom.

The inner jar (evaporator jar) without its lid is filled with water. The unit is placed in the sun. Water evaporates from the inner jar and condenses on the outer jar.

[bower]

Originally Posted by zeuspaul

Interesting. I made my primitive water distiller with two glass jars. The outer jar is a 2 gallon Anchor Hocking Heritage all glass jar with glass lid. The inner jar is an Anchor Hocking Heritage 1/2 gallon jar with black marbles on its bottom.

The inner jar (evaporator jar) without its lid is filled with water. The unit is placed in the sun. Water evaporates from the inner jar and condenses on the outer jar.

I might try this in my greenhouse just for fun.
It's actually hard to imagine a shortage of fresh water here where I live. I would be better off learning some primitive technology for a pump...

[zeuspaul]

It is only useful if you have a need for distilled (demineralized) water. I mostly use it for cleaning when I don't want to leave residue behind (cleaning glass, spraying statues). Rain would work too but I get very little of that.

Yield is very low, perhaps 1/2 ounce per day. I have several setups to increase yield but haven't measured the actual yield yet.

Originally Posted by bower

I might try this in my greenhouse just for fun.
It's actually hard to imagine a shortage of fresh water here where I live. I would be better off learning some primitive technology for a pump...

[LoreD]

From what I could see, he was mostly interested in the salt. The purified water was a byproduct.

I just found it interesting that primitive tech works just as well as modern tech.

[zeuspaul]

Originally Posted by zeuspaul

Interesting. I made my primitive water distiller with two glass jars. The outer jar is a 2 gallon Anchor Hocking Heritage all glass jar with glass lid. The inner jar is an Anchor Hocking Heritage 1/2 gallon jar with black marbles on its bottom.

The inner jar (evaporator jar) without its lid is filled with water. The unit is placed in the sun. Water evaporates from the inner jar and condenses on the outer jar.

I measured the output rate over thirty days. One set-up yielded 1 1/4 ounces of distilled water per day based on the average yield of three units over the thirty day period.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by zeuspaul

I measured the output rate over thirty days. One set-up yielded 1 1/4 ounces of distilled water per day based on the average yield of three units over the thirty day period.

You need bigger jars for the average recommended intake of two quarts a day.

Worth

[Worth1]

Okay now that we are going to burn up all the wood in the small island what next.
Ask the folks found on Easter Island.

Worth

[mikemansker]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Okay now that we are going to burn up all the wood in the small island what next.
Ask the folks found on Easter Island.

Worth

If I'm on a small island without fresh water, burning some wood sounds like a good trade off.

[imp]

Nice to see how it worked.