Homemade Solar Distillation
Solar distillation uses the heat of the sun to remove salt from water. It is used to create fresh drinking water when it is otherwise unavailable. There are two basic types of stills that you can create. One is set in the ground and the other is an independent freestanding unit, also called a basin. Which to choose depends on the purpose of them as well as basics such as weather and surroundings.
How it Works
All solar distillation stills use the same concept. The sun heats impure water, causing it to evaporate. Since salt can not evaporate, the vaporized water is purified. The still captures the vapors as they condense back into water. Think about when you boil water in a pot. When it steams, water collects on the lid of the pot. Those drips are purified water. If you were to evaporate the entire pot of water, you would notice a residue left behind in the pot, which was the salt content of the water along with other additives that couldn't evaporate. A solar still uses the same concept, but with the sun as the sole heat source.
In Ground
A ground pit is most commonly used as a resource for clean water while hiking or performing other survivalist feats. To create a ground pit, dig a conical hole in the ground, about 2 feet in diameter. Place a cup at the bottom of the pit. If available, take a few pieces of vegetation and place it on the sides of the pit. This vegetation will encourage water production within the pit. Take a large piece of plastic and hang it over the whole pit, with the lowest point resting just above the cup. Place a small rock in the center of the plastic to keep the low point above the cup. Secure the plastic in place using rocks or other heavy objects. Water should collect on the plastic and run down into the cup.
Basin
A solar basin still is a freestanding unit that has the same basic process as a ground pit, but with the advantage of portability in some cases, and longevity in most. Many plans are available to construct a still from basic materials available at large home construction stores. The most common still uses a single tilted piece of glass to collect the water. The process varies slightly depending on the plans you have chosen, but most have the same basic process. A piece of glass is set on an angle over a basin of impure water. The basin can be made of any waterproof material such as wood or plastic. The bottom of the basin is most commonly concrete and sometimes stained a dark color to draw the sun's heat. The sun heats the water, causing it to evaporate, rise, and condense onto the glass above it. The newly purified water runs off of the angled glass into a series of tubes and into a storage unit.
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