Yet another way to create drinkable water, pulling it from the air

[Sea Dreaming]

According to this New York Post article: Solar-powered device turns air into drinkable water | New York Post

Scientists have created a solar powered device that can pull water from the air. Wow!

Imagine every cruiser with one of these! How about two so you can give one to a favorite community?

[SV THIRD DAY]

If you search the archives this topic comes up every year or so, but when you dig into the amounts of water it can produce....well....the dream fades away into a Hudson Garden Sprayer for a shower....

Most cruisers today what enough water for not just survival but for showering, deck and gear rinsing and even dare I say, replacing their salt water anchor chain rinse down with fresh water

[Sea Dreaming]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

If you search the archives this topic comes up every year or so, but when you dig into the amounts of water it can produce....well....the dream fades away into a Hudson Garden Sprayer for a shower....

Most cruisers today what enough water for not just survival but for showering, deck and gear rinsing and even dare I say, replacing their salt water anchor chain rinse down with fresh water

Fer crissakes...nothing is possible without imagination. There is no invention that started out exactly perfect and market ready. That does not mean these invention should be ignored. Rather they should be explored so that they can become more of what is really needed.

[wsmac]

The real undisclosed downfall to these sorts of 'free water' devices are..
- you are stealing water from the air, which causes droughts on land and also is instrumental in aquifers drying up!
- with those hydrogen setups, you're robbing the air of hydrogen, making the air we breath of a lesser quality (those hydrogen cars... they'll be doing the opposite! robbing us of clean air in exchange for making hydrogen and dirty water out of a car exhaust pipe!)
- taking water from the clouds and surrounding air also affects the natural weather cycles... fewer or less robust clouds when it's SUPPOSED to be cloudy
.
.
You NEVER see this information given out when some new wonder device for 'making water' is heralded!
I wouldn't be surprised if my post here gets deleted... they just don't want us to know!
Stick to water sources humans have successfully used for centuries!
Tap water is there because it WORKS... it's PLENTIFUL... and you can have hot OR cold versions of it with just a twist of the handle!

And that's all I have to say on the matter this first day of April...

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Sea Dreaming

Fer crissakes...nothing is possible without imagination. There is no invention that started out exactly perfect and market ready. That does not mean these invention should be ignored. Rather they should be explored so that they can become more of what is really needed.

Who said they should be ignored, I said every year or so this concept gets posted. It's the Math of how much water they will get you that is the problem and that is limited by the amount of humidity in the air. So in the Sea of Cortez (where I have my cruising experience) no amount of exploring and imagination is going to add humidity to the dry desert air.

But you also have to remember how Cruising Chat rooms work in the creation of Cruiser/Dock rumors. One guy posts about recovering water from air and then the next guy posts about how he collects the condensation from his hatch air conditioning unit, and then the third guy actually drinks said condensing water and gets sick. I could almost write a book about how things go from Chat Room/Dock rumors to bad, like the guy that used Urine to pickle his water maker because someone on a chat room told him it was sterile and could be used for pickling....no joke....

[[for future reference, the use of Emojes denotes smiles, laughter, and tounge-in-cheek comments...so to take offence is then a waste of energy]]

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Sea Dreaming

According to this New York Post article: Solar-powered device turns air into drinkable water | New York Post

Scientists have created a solar powered device that can pull water from the air. Wow!

Imagine every cruiser with one of these! How about two so you can give one to a favorite community?

"“We wanted to demonstrate that if you are cut off somewhere in the desert, you could survive because of this device,” said Yaghi. “A person needs about a Coke can of water per day. That is something one could collect in less than an hour with this system.”"

There are so many things wrong with this statement that I don't know where to start.

[robbievardon]

If you want water in the desert,dig a hole, put a tin pot in the bottom, cover the hole with a piece of polythene and place a stone in the middle, above your collector pot, to create a funnel shape and you have a water maker. This is very old survivalist technology. To describe it as a solar powered discovery for water making is stretching things a bit. I wonder how long it took these Scientists to discover this process and at what cost? Did this earn somebody a Masters Degree? Unfortunately in my mind this discredits Scientists and bolsters the pronouncements of Trump regarding Climate change.

[Stumble]

Originally Posted by robbievardon

If you want water in the desert,dig a hole, put a tin pot in the bottom, cover the hole with a piece of polythene and place a stone in the middle, above your collector pot, to create a funnel shape and you have a water maker. This is very old survivalist technology. To describe it as a solar powered discovery for water making is stretching things a bit. I wonder how long it took these Scientists to discover this process and at what cost? Did this earn somebody a Masters Degree? Unfortunately in my mind this discredits Scientists and bolsters the pronouncements of Trump regarding Climate change.

In this type of solar stil you also add broken up or cut vegetation to the bottom of the still to provide the humidity needed to turn into water. It's really a way to convert vegetation to drinkable water, not pull water from the air.

[Mithril Bham]

I invested enough money to buy a nice little sailboat in a company named Watair. Lost every dime. I wasn't the only one. President ran off with all the cash. Interesting concept, however.

[newhaul]

My big question is how big is the peltier unit? If you look close at the picture you can see a plate and power wires. What else would be the reason for such a large heat pipe and sink assembly? I already have a unit like this that .makes water out of thin air it's called a peltier dehumidifier.

[Sea Dreaming]

Originally Posted by wsmac

The real undisclosed downfall to these sorts of 'free water' devices are..
- you are stealing water from the air, which causes droughts on land and also is instrumental in aquifers drying up!
- with those hydrogen setups, you're robbing the air of hydrogen, making the air we breath of a lesser quality (those hydrogen cars... they'll be doing the opposite! robbing us of clean air in exchange for making hydrogen and dirty water out of a car exhaust pipe!)
- taking water from the clouds and surrounding air also affects the natural weather cycles... fewer or less robust clouds when it's SUPPOSED to be cloudy
.
.
You NEVER see this information given out when some new wonder device for 'making water' is heralded!
I wouldn't be surprised if my post here gets deleted... they just don't want us to know!
Stick to water sources humans have successfully used for centuries!
Tap water is there because it WORKS... it's PLENTIFUL... and you can have hot OR cold versions of it with just a twist of the handle!

And that's all I have to say on the matter this first day of April...

The amount of water you would have to remove from the atmosphere would have to astronomical to out pace to out pace natural evaporation and create climate change.

I'll also point out that desalination raises the salinity of oceans in places where desalination is a primary fresh water source. This is an actual and real concern as there is a demonstrated effect on sea life.

There is no "one size fits all" solution to drinking water except conservation. Yet, few complain about the millions (or is it billions) of fresh water used to flush toilets. Of course the black water then must be reclaimed. Often poisonous chemicals are used to do so. No body talks much about that either. We just flush even though there are healthier solutions.

[S/V Alchemy]

I know one thing from this discussion and that's the dreadful failure to appreciate the concept of scale if it's thought that even industrial amounts of water "removed" from the air will have much of an effect on an atmosphere full of the stuff most of the time.

This place makes the Sahara look like a wet sauna. But even here, water can be pulled from the air: Trapping humidity out of fog in Chile - BBC News

[wsmac]

Originally Posted by Sea Dreaming

The amount of water you would have to remove from the atmosphere would have to astronomical to out pace to out pace natural evaporation and create climate change.

I'll also point out that desalination raises the salinity of oceans in places where desalination is a primary fresh water source. This is an actual and real concern as there is a demonstrated effect on sea life.

There is no "one size fits all" solution to drinking water except conservation. Yet, few complain about the millions (or is it billions) of fresh water used to flush toilets. Of course the black water then must be reclaimed. Often poisonous chemicals are used to do so. No body talks much about that either. We just flush even though there are healthier solutions.

OH GAWD FINALLY!
Do you realize how long I've been holding my breath hoping someone would respond to my post?
"will they take me seriously?", "will they see I jest, right off the bat?", "do I even know the difference myself?"
Now I can sleep tonight! THANK YOU!

[idylours]

Didn't Luke Skywalker use these on tatoine

[wsmac]

Originally Posted by Stumble

In this type of solar stil you also add broken up or cut vegetation to the bottom of the still to provide the humidity needed to turn into water. It's really a way to convert vegetation to drinkable water, not pull water from the air.

In reply to the solar still mentioned twice here... I have real-world experience! WOOT!
.
Those solar stills that almost every survival manual, blog, school teaches... they're not all that!
.
-If you carry the necessary equipment for one solar still... it's a fair little package!
-When you dig that hole... do it when it's cooler because you are burning up calories, possibly sweating, which amounts to losing at least as much water from you body as that little still will produce in a couple of days.
-Build 2! Better yet... 3 per person! Seriously... no matter how much urine and/or green plant matter you put down inside your little greenhouse... plus whatever moisture you are bringing up from within the ground... it doesn't add up to all that much!
-Carry those nice big Turkey Basting Bags all the Pot Growers here in Humboldt keep their... uh... 'turkeys' in!
If you find yourself in an area containing a few trees with nice greenery on them... put the bag over a branch (with one corner weighted downward), seal it up, and wait a day... you'll get as much water as you do from a solar still. Seeing as how those bags pack down pretty small... you can easily pack several in your survival kit! As a favor to the plant and to maximize your water production.... rotate the bags, limb-to-limb, each day.
.
That's my personal and professional experience... ymmv?
Things you don't want in either method of collection...
Any chemical so volatile and harmful to your body, that can travel along with those water droplets to your collection base and contaminate your drinking water.