Solar Still experiences anyone?

I'd like to hear from everyone who has made a solar still, succesfull and unsuccesfull. What was your solar still like? What was the environment? What was the ground like where you dug it? And ofcourse, did you get anyone water out of it? How much? Did you actually get more water from the still than you sweat away while digging it?

Also, any experience with transpiration bags?

We all know that solar stills diagrams appear in many survival books, especially old military survival manuals. I've mostly only heard bad things about them. I'd love to know more about them. Nothing beats real experience. And short of going out and making tons of solar stills myself, I am asking you guys what experience you have had with them.

I did try the plastic bag around the branch thing.
It was summer, in the evening i wrapped it around a cluster of branches and left it over night.
Came back in the morning, around 7am & there was about 2 ounces in the bag.
It tasted like pine tree water & plastic Laughing

but it worked.

_________________
A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

I had better luck here in midwest illinois with the transpiration bag.
too much work to dig the still for what I got back in water

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SURVIVAL..........it's all in your head

I have done it before Smile

My property is all sand and it was easy to dig. The sand warms up nicely and the vegetation sweats. The water taste funny and its hot but it is good drinking water.

There are yet other means of getting liquid though to survive .

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"There dosen't look like there's much shelter over in those mountains, but that's the only choice I got right now, this is gonna be a long week" - Les Stroud Arctic

I think Azarcher made a video of him making a couple of them Very Happy

eric

Thanks for the replies. Can you guys tell me how much water you were getting out of the still? Are you getting a few tablespoons a day or a few cups a day? Also, was the ground fairly moist to begin with?

The ground was moist but it dried up very fast.

There were only a few tea spoons in a span of 2 hours. It was a small stil though

_________________
"There dosen't look like there's much shelter over in those mountains, but that's the only choice I got right now, this is gonna be a long week" - Les Stroud Arctic

I don't like solar stills in most situations as they do not produce enough water to keep you alive in most situations.

The one place I have found them to work pretty well is in water purification.
On the prairies or the badlands, you can find water, but it is usually stagnate pools from a rainshower, seep water holes with plenty of wildlife and cattle "flavorings". Even running water can have contamination from several sources or the bane of the prairie, Alkali.

Alkali is a water soluble salt/mineral combination that can give you a raging case of the GI 2 Step. A solar still does work to seperate the water from the impurities. If you put a container of the water in a hole or a couple small containers, with the collecter cup in the middle, the sun on the prairie is pretty intense on most days and will actually get you potable water.

This actually works better than boiling in this situation as the dissolved salts don't evaporate with boiling so you end up with purified boiled alkali water, where the still produces a form of distilled water, without the salts.

You do need several stills working to provide the minimum amount for a days consumption, but by using the bad water you produce far more than just using greens.

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All gave some, Some gave all.

	Drummer Dave wrote:
	It tasted like pine tree water & plastic but it worked.

lol as long as it works eh dave Very Happy

That's true. I'll take any water when I really need it. But only two ounces overnight? Your body pobably lost more water during that time. I guess if you could make ten of them you might be able to get by.

^ 2 ounces is better than 0 ounces. Cool

_________________
A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

Last edited by Drummer Dave on Fri May 09, 2008 12:19 pm; edited 1 time in total

	Drummer Dave wrote:
	2 ounces is better than 0 ounces.

Very true, Dave. Cool

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Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. - Prov. 27:17

I don't think you guys understand. If you just got two ounces for free that would be great. But it didn't work like that. You had to dig a hole and make the still. You probably lost more than two ounces by doing all that work so it would have been better to just sit on your butt in the shade.

	Jeremiah Johnson wrote:
	I don't think you guys understand. If you just got two ounces for free that would be great. But it didn't work like that. You had to dig a hole and make the still. You probably lost more than two ounces by doing all that work so it would have been better to just sit on your butt in the shade.

Yeah but once you have it, it's going to keep producing water until the source of water has dried up. You pay the price up front, but the still will keep giving. If you're a week into a survival situation you'd probably wish you would have built a still earlier. Cool

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You got it Mystick. At least you have some water you can collect. Yes you may use some to make it, but you get it back, the next day you sit in the shade you can collect 2 onces more, etc. Cool

_________________
A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

Haven't tried it yet but its on my list of things to do. Cann use it as a "Pee Still" too Very Happy

. Cheers.

_________________
-Thou may'st break, but shalt not bend me.

-Idleness brings want
To work today is to eat tomorrow
It is best to prepare for the days of necessity

-Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder's eye on the Last Day.