Creating a water desalination system can be a lifesaver in SHTF situations. The inability to when it matters may well be a ticket to “I-died-of-thirst” land.
If you’re lost, you may need to know that desalination is the process of converting saltwater into fresh water.
Now that you know this, I’m assuming you’re cooking up scenarios of getting stranded on an island of salty waters & saying you’ll never be in a situation like that.
First off, while having the mindset that we can’t ever find ourselves in a scenario is wrong & un-prepping-like, you have to realize that you don’t necessarily have to be stranded somewhere for this piece of knowledge to become valuable.
A spoilage in the city’s water supply could be enough reason to seek water from other means, and what if only saltwater is available then. You’re not feeding your kids water that’ll burn their throats, are you?
Steps for Creating a Water Desalination System
Get a Boiling Container
A boiling container is always the first material to obtain for this experiment, and knowing that it will be subjected to fire rules out the use of plastic. You can settle for a lidded glass jar. Ordinary glass bottles with thinner walls may not be used because there’s the risk of them blowing up while getting heated.
However, you may not have options other than a plastic container in an SHTF situation. If so, you need to know that while plastic can be heated at a low temp, there’s the possibility of toxic chemicals leaching into the water. Are the circumstances strait enough to drink from a possibly contaminated source?
Get Your Transfer Tube
The transfer tube is for the transfer of water — as it indicates. You can always find a small piece of copper tube in your garage. If you know where to look, this shouldn’t be a problem.
Again, I advise that you stay away from the typical plastic for this task. Steam entering the tube can be very hot & lead to leaching too.
Find a Collection Container
When you get here, I believe any material can be used. However, the ideal collection container has to be sealed with copper tubing to prevent the escape of steam that didn’t condense.
You can settle for a glass bottle with an airtight lid here. That’s what I used anyway & it worked very fine. You’ll have to poke holes in the lids so the tube can sit in the container.
Completing the Cooling Procedure
Your last requirement is getting an item for cooling hot steam getting into the copper tubing. While you may decide not to use any means & just leave air to handle the cooking, you should know that it doesn’t work very efficiently. The result may be a mixture of water & steam.
You can use ‘contaminated water’ to cool the tube. Contaminated in the sense that you wrap a wet rag round the tubing, such that it is constantly cooled. You must make sure that no drop of water from this rag gets into your water.
Note that you will have to add water to this rag several times throughout the procedure as the rub will heat up with time.
Final Lines on Creating a Water Desalination System
Saltwater may be the only source of water when things go wrong. Remember that lack of water for three days may lead to death. But you don’t have to worry about that, thanks to the easy process for creating a water desalination system. Experiment at home to be an expert at the process before disaster hits close to home.