Watermaker From A Pressure Cooker

[Se Langt]

About 20 years or so ago a company in Bellingham WA made this type of water maker. It was a evaporator/condenser unit or a 'still.'

The basis was a pressure cooker which provided the most economical and efficient heat source. One of the fittings that goes in the lid top dead center had a coil of tubing that went up a bit then spiraled out and finally down to the bottle, jug, or what have you. Along the coil of tubings were small cooling fins about 2" to 3" x 2" to 3" evenly spaced for the entire length. They had a hole punched in the center same diameter as the tubing and the punched out part served as a spacer.

Best I can remember of the item. I also saw it work using straight harbor water and it looked to produce a gallon of water an hour or so. Propane fuel usage didn't seem too much so the only problem was the heat produced if you were in the tropics. To make it more efficient they suggested running some cooler air via a fan over the top of the condensor fins. Water produced was pure...cleaning involved nothing more than a good wash up same as any dirty dish.

1. Anyone else remember this device?
2. Anyone knows where one might be found or the proper name of the device?
3. Real reach here the patent number?

If nothing else I plan onhaving one made up for my own boat.

Michael

[Talbot]

same concept as the solar still, but that uses no power other than sunlight + sea water for cooling.

[Alan Wheeler]

Solar still? Now that sounds interesting. I have another one to add. A de-humidifier. I guess it tends to vary on air humidity as to the effectiveness. But I get 30ltrs(sorry don't know what that is in gallons) a day on a good er maybe I should say bad day. Even in the winter when our air is dryer, that same amount seems to be about two to three days. I use the water for battery top up too by the way.

[Talbot]

For Solar still see HERE


Would suspect that the amps per gallon for the de-humidifier would not match the 1 amp/gallon rating of the Spectra Ventura 150, but might be a tad cheaper!

[Alan Wheeler]

Oh hell yeah. It would be the most expensive water you could create if you weren't hooked to shore power. The water is only the by product of us keeping the boat dry when we aren't aboard. Totally impracticle for anything else, but there is no use wasting what you have made either.

[Jentine]

Alan, I don't understand why you would use a de-humidifier in a boat that is surrounded by water.

[delmarrey]

!

[Alan Wheeler]

Hi Jentine, I think I understand your question. When it was first suggested to me to use a De-humidfier, I thought , yeh right. I am going to be trying to de-humidfy the atmosphere. But I was proved wrong. Even with plenty of air vents, of which I have, the unit keeps the boat nice and dry. It's brilliant at drying damp clothes by the way. But area's that tend to be very wet, like shower, are dried right out. So when we leave the boat, we give everything a clean and the unit dries it all out nicely.
I also have one slight eer, umm, problem. It's a stupid design with the bilge system. To me it's a design flaw, but.. The anchor locker drains to the bilge, not to outside. So wet chain and rain getting down the hawse pipe, drains down into the bilge. I have five seperate bilge area's. Each with a pump. Two bilge compartments are the main pumpijng stations to outside. So the ancor compartment drains to the formost bilge. Then at a certain levdel, it pumps to the main pumping station. So there is always water down in both compartments at a level the pumps can't pump from. So I alway's have water in the boat. Well with the de-humidifier, it dries all the compartments out.

[Jentine]

I have always kept my boats on a mooring so the thought never occured to me. As long as it works, why not. About your problem, is the drain from the chain locker above or below the water line? Above is a simple fix, plug the drain and drill a hole; below is much easier, do nothing more than cover the hawse pipe. Good sailing.

[ozskip]

Allan your anchor locker drain is i believe to be a builder oversight not a design problem.I have a hartley south seas and just looked at the plans and it shows the ancher locker draining to the out side as mine has been done. Greg

[Alan Wheeler]

Hi Greg, thanks for that. I might look at wacking a hole through the nose then. Hmmm, ever tried drilling a hole through the ferro? Is it easy?

[ozskip]

The boat i have was just a pro built new bare hull when i got it and have drilled many holes in the ferro as the deck is also ferro it is very easy.You must use a hi speed hammer drill and start with a small size drill bit and increase by no more than 0.25inch at a time till you reach the desired size. My drains are facing down at aboat 45 and slightly backwards i epoxyed tubes in mine to make sure the armature is fully sealed. Greg

[tenknots]

We did an experiment a couple of years ago using a pressure cooker, some copper tubing and a pail to condense it to make water. Using 85 degree seawater (Florida) to condense, we could only get a cup in an hour of use.

The hardest part was getting more cooling water into the condensation pan. It needs to be a good flow and at a cool temerature. It takes a lot of energy to vaporize a gallon of water.

That said, we keep the setup onboard for emergency use.

[Alan Wheeler]

Yes Tennots, it does take a lot of energy to boil water. Actually there is a measured example . I can't remember what exactly. But goes like, it takes X amount of energy to raise the temperature of water to a specific point in a specific time. I know this because it was how we used to measure the energy from a magnatron in a Microwave oven to see if it was producing it's rated power. And it is quite a lot to get water to the boiling point. I think you would be working hard to produce enough water to be of any use other than drinking.

[GordMay]

Everything you ever needed to know about Pressure Cookers? Maybe not, but the best single article I’ve seen on the subject (much better that what I’ve written). Includes a sidebar on “Turning your pressure cooker into a distiller for emergency drinking water”.

“Cooking under pressure” ~ By Theresa Fort (from ‘Good Old Boat’ Magazine)
http://www.boatus.com/goodoldboat/pressure.htm