Mike McNally wrote: >> In corresponding with Pete who's going to paddle the everglades it occurred >> to me that it would be really easy to make a still. ><snip> >> Questions: >> >> What size of tubing? >> What length of tubing to cool steam in 70deg F still air? >> Do you have any corrections or improvements to my assembly ideas? >> >> These aren't simple questions. > >Here's another: given that the typical camp stove takes 4-5 minutes to >boil a quart of water, how long will it take to evaporate a quart of >water? Can you do it on less than a quart of fuel? The heat needed to raise the temperature of water from about 60 F to its boiling point is only about one-tenth the heat needed to completely vaporize (boil away) the same quantity of water. That means (OTBE), it will take about 40 minutes to completely vaporize the water away. On my Peak 1 Model 442 stove, that would be on the order of half a tank or so, which translates to about 1/4 to 1/3 of a quart of fuel. Commercial stills "recycle" the heat removed from the steam in condensation and use it to prewarm the feed water to the boiler, so they are a little more efficient than this. Even so, it's a poor bargain to trade fuel for distilled water. A better bargain is to use a solar still if you are stuck somewhere. Slow, but consumes no hydrocarbons. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR chemist *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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