A simple solar still is very easy to make. Survivalists can make them almost anywhere. All you need is water, something to trap the vapor and a collection area. The Team Clean Water Solar Still was designed in order to increase the rate of evaporation so it is a bit more elaborate. The materials used for this still include:
- Plywood
- Steel Sheets
- Insulation Board
- 2" x 4"
- Epoxy
- Screws
- Acrylic Sheets
- Weather Stripping
- PVC Pipe
The finished product can be seen on the blog's home page. If you would like to make a solar still of your own, you can follow along with our progress, find a different design like the ones shown below, or come up with your own design. Different designs can be found online and a few are shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3. Have fun!
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| Figure 1: Example of an Inflatable Solar Still |
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| Figure 2: Example of a Box Solar Still |
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| Figure 3: Example of a Survival Solar Still |
How to Test Your Solar Still
Things that you want to test for in your solar still are the amount of water produced, temperature, and possibly pressure. Lowering the pressure in your solar still theoretically increases the rate of evaporation. However, it is difficult to make a solar still airtight and remove pressure. You will want to have a thermometer and graduated cylinder of some kind before you begin testing. Try to test on days when the weather is nice in order to get the best results. You could test your still on days when the weather varies to see how weather affects your results. Figure 4 shows the Team Clean Water Solar Still being tested. The temperature inside the box heated up to around 163°F.
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| Figure 4: Team Clean Water Solar Still Testing |
Works Cited
1. Inflatable Solar Still. Digital image. howstuffworks.com. HowStuffWorks. 2004. Web.2. Cactus Bush. Box Solar Still. Digital image. cactusbush.wordpress.com. WordPress. 2 June 2014. Web.
3. Survival Solar Still. Digital image. howstuffworks.com. HowStuffWorks. 2007. Web.
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