Remote Living > Water
dealing with hard water
jlsoaz:
--- Quote from: oztules on February 18, 2017, 04:47:58 PM ---I built a solar power reverse osmosis unit for battery water and drinking water.
The water is not good for you nor bad for you, it is inert, but will detox your system if thats what you want. I like it. It is about 1ppm.
One 250 watt solar panel makes about 600-1000liters per day.
It is the way to go, as it also provides water for peoples battery systems across the island for free as well.
We have the cleanest air in the world apparently, but the wife still won't drink tank water from the roof.
...........oztules
--- End quote ---
Thanks, I'm confused are you talking about Reverse Osmosis or about some sort of electrolysis or distillation using the power from your solar panels? You may well be talking about RO (I'm not knowledgeable really about most of this) just want to make sure I understand what you built.
jlsoaz:
--- Quote from: george65 on February 18, 2017, 07:20:55 PM ---
I believe you get a lot of sun where you are. What about a solar Still ( or several) for your Cooking/ Drinking needs?
Can be very cheap to Build and literally costs nothing to run.
--- End quote ---
Unquestionably if I stay here and save enough money and time, then I will put them into harvesting water. I hadn't thought so much about a "solar still" (which I will look into) as about "rainwater harvesting" but in any event, it would be a good way in my view to continue to move forward with my home and its sustainable and independent aspects.
oztules:
We are talking real/true reverse osmosis only.
Running at about 150-200psi. Because of it's cycling system, drain water is about the same as product water rates, cycling through the membrane is about 6:1.
Total power to run it is now down to about 3.5 amps from a 24v solar panel.... usually about 1.5-2lpm. Long summer days you can get in the >1000liters per day..... winter only about 500........... Colder water and shorter days. ( viscosity goes up as temp drops.)
..............oztules
jlsoaz:
--- Quote from: oztules on March 02, 2017, 04:39:32 AM ---We are talking real/true reverse osmosis only.
Running at about 150-200psi. Because of it's cycling system, drain water is about the same as product water rates, cycling through the membrane is about 6:1.
Total power to run it is now down to about 3.5 amps from a 24v solar panel.... usually about 1.5-2lpm. Long summer days you can get in the >1000liters per day..... winter only about 500........... Colder water and shorter days. ( viscosity goes up as temp drops.)
..............oztules
--- End quote ---
Ok, thanks.
jlsoaz:
Update on all of this, fwiw:
- I have removed the salt water conditioner (or whatever it's called).
- I have removed the reverse osmosis unit, which I wasn't keeping up very well.
- I had to spend money to replace some fixtures which had been damaged over the decades by the hard water, or whatever it was that destroyed them.
That left me with:
- Relatively Hard water coming into the house (hard enough to count on further damage to fixtures or pipes, and difficulty in getting soap going for laundry and dishes).
- some question of how much salt is left in the home system. Discussions with one or two locals indicate they think it may be some time before all the salt clears. I have a salinity detector, and it seemed to be saying that salt is still coming out of all my spigots, and was slightly coming out of the RO Unit previously.
Also:
I appear to have found a plumber I can rely on, and who is open to future projects, such as rainwater harvesting.
So, further measures I have taken, for now:
- all drinking water now is distilled until I figure out a better way. There is a fair amount of "stuff" coming out of the drinking water, but it is unclear to me if it is all just minerals, or if some of it may be salt.
- need to order additional testing strips or equipment to verify if there is still salt before I go back to drinking tap water.
and three somewhat expensive longer-term measures:
1) a somewhat expensive carbon filter on the whole house.
2) 2 different kind of "fringe" and (for me) expensive devices to try to rearrange the mineral molecules so they are not doing so much damage:
a)
https://easywater.com/residential/product/no-salt-conditioner/
b)
https://www.ecoflow.co
Also, it should be noted I'm on a septic system, and only have 1/2 acre. I haven't really done much research on this, but am kind of assuming that the salt over the years might not be a good thing for my septic and my yard. So, once I have verified that there is no more salt going into the septic system, I'll be happy about that.
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