Re: [Paddlewise] PaddleWise News

From: alex <al.m_at_3web.net>
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 12:19:07 -0700
> How do reverse osmosis pumps work? And what do they cost? I live in South
> Africa where anything like this has to be imported and costs a bomb.

Since Dave has already explained how do they work, I could tell "how do you
work them" :-)...  You pump, and pump, and pump.  1 liter per hour for
PUR-06 (didn't see them cheaper than $500 new, but got mine for $150 - army
write-offs, 6 yrs old).  They exist in "military" modification, i.e. with
extended levers, and used units are often sold with such levers.  Pretty
small, I keep it in a bag 6"*10". Pumping is easy, prescribed frequency 1
stroke per second can be maintained by alternating hands. But is is so
boring...  Doing this every day for 4 hours will drive your crazy - and it
takes energy too.  Incredible Timo Noko :-) has designed wind-operated
PUR-06, photo can be found on his website.  After you use it in real-life
conditions, and then leave it for more than a few weeks, you have to either
pump clean chlorinated fresh water through it (preferably, once a month), or
fill it with "biocide" solution to prevent micro-organisms growth on the
membrane.

PUR-35 costs 3 or 4 times more, and is 2 or 3 times larger (but again, see
T. Noko's modification with removable fiberglass lever), and can provide 3.5
or 4 liters an hour.  It is said to be more difficult to pump, but it has
longer lever, - so I don't know.  I never tried it.  It can be used with 12V
motor, but is sold without a motor as well, with a handle for manual
pumping.

There is also PUR-40, which is said to be more sturdy than PUR-35 (and
probably provides 4 liters an hour).

With a motor the efficiency will be much higher - I don't remember the
specs.  They are made by "Recovery Engineering".
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************
Received on Tue Aug 17 2004 - 12:23:25 PDT

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:16 PDT