Looking to install a desalinator in the next 6 months.Interested in the Rainman petrol driven portable desal. unit manufactured in Sydney.Has anyone experience of this unit. Any comments appreciated
I was looking at doing the same , but was opting for the electric drive and run it off our honda genny, So while we make water we can also charge the battery bank.or run it off the inverter depending on the battery drawdown..
Select to expand quotenswsailor said..
Mmmm.. don't think I'll be spending $7K to $10K on this.
Why not? They were hoping to get rich really fast and you just shattered their dreams. Plenty of DIY plans out there, excellent opportunity to save big bucks for spending on beer.
I am a great believer in having some money left over for beer.Can anyone point out where a good DIY plan can be obtained .Sourcing components appears to be a problem especially a powerful enough 12v motor.
Once again any help appreciated.
Select to expand quoteBobg said..
I am a great believer in having some money left over for beer.Can anyone point out where a good DIY plan can be obtained .Sourcing components appears to be a problem especially a powerful enough 12v motor.
Once again any help appreciated.
You could run a pulley off the auxiliary motor with a magnetic clutch ((wreckers off a car ac system) buy a cheap high pressure washer off I think K archer (bunnings)$150 to $300 has a ceramic pump1500 psi and presto you only have to buy the membranes and filters and some high and low pressure piping
Select to expand quotecisco said..
I am waiting for the release of the desalbeerator.
Bubbles has one for spirts he can power his stove or drink it 
yup all my boat stove fuel starts its life off being fermented in my 200litre barrel and then distilled to 96%. burns well in the stove. get about 10 litres of waste for fuel per year.. keeps me going and the rest is to drink :).
What I would like to see in this thread is some brain storming to achieve a excelt result in a home made water maker. Once this its done we will move on to
Ciscos Quote "desalbeerato" and make megga bucks and all buy 80 ft yachts and live happily ever after 
Well so much for fairy stories 
Select to expand quoteBobg said..
Me too
What I would like to see in this thread is some brain storming to achieve a excellent result in a home made water maker
Do you mean me to for this Bobg?.
It would be worth the time to brain storm
Yes HG02 it would be worth the effort to design and build your own watermaker.I have some of the necessary skills and mates who would have some input.Very happy to have ago.Hope to sail to Asia next year and think a watermaker worth having.Have just read a report on the engine driven Rainman in latest Cruising Helmsman.They give it a good wrap but report it to be quite noisy.
Well... is there a manually operated water desalinator which is able to keep you alive in emergencies? Which is able to produce a gallon of drinking water a day if you need it?
I personally find the cost of this Rainman and its ilk quite prohibitive and unnecessary after all l do wash myself and my clothes even cook most of my food in salt water, if l have to for a while, the only real need is water to drink.
I've seen my mates pump, a manual-one years ago - it looked like those old grease pumps mechanics use to have - and it was quite expensive too, about $1.800 but could not find one recently. For l would use it only in case of serious need, l could for the difference in price, buy an ultra-light aeroplane for $4.500 ex Europe and fly around a bit.
I never researched the subject in detail but why are desalinators so expensive? After all - as you stated - the bits could be had for a song at B. For a song compared to the asking price of a readily available unit anyway. I know, very high pressures are involved and the filter or membrane is quite special, but still...
The cheapest would be using the sun's energy to boil sea water and distill it if it could be figured out how?
The pressures aren't really all that high, only about 800psi. Form what I have read it seems the biggest problems are getting parts that will be around in a few years time so that spares parts (or lack of) don't render your system useless, this is possibly why commercial systems are more expensive as they tend to use proprietary well established brands for their components.
Distilled water whether produced by solar distillation or boiling and distilling is not fit for human consumption as it doesn't have enough TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) in it and has a very strong diuretic effect and would pass through you like a dose of salts and dehydrate you to the point of causing death.
www.fcubed.com.au/cms_resources/F%20Cubed%20Brochure%20%20WEB.pdf
Interesting system ....don't know if it will work with boat motion...not underway...while not a huge output, continual addition will extend time when out.
This system - if l read it correctly - produces fresh water 1-10 ppm. Does this water qualifies as"distilled"???
If it does, won't Loose Change's earlier explanation of the effects of consuming distilled water - quite correctly, must add - apply here?
I would mix it with sea water, just a tad, 1:25 - 1:50 and so get some solids, salts back into it and presto. I am not talking about living on it forever, just in an emergency, l guess one could live on it for weeks if not for months. I got Immodium on board at all times as part of my first aid kit.
Isn't p u r e rain water "distilled" in theory anyway?
You are correct that rain water is "distilled" insofar that it has been evaporated from liquid and then condensed back to a liquid, but on the way back down it has managed to pick up solid matter thereby rendering the distillation as being not quite so pure any more and not so injurious to your health.
You can drink distilled water, short term only, like what the trendy people do when they go on their various "de-tox" diets as it will strip the minerals out of your body, including magnesium which is one you really should never be without.
Health effects
Long-term consumption of distilled or demineralized water, containing low TDS levels, is not recommended and can be linked to increased diuresis, body water volume, and serum sodium concentrations, decreased serum potassium concentration, and increased elimination of sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium and magnesium ions from the body.
As this system does not produce vast volumes....just add it to the existing water tank, or separate for showers etc
Quite right nods, the message that needs to be conveyed to people is that distilled water is pure, but it is not safe .... well not long term anyway.
I think most marine desalinators use the reverse osmosis principle, since they can be very made very compact. Unfortunately they require high-pressure pumps and high-quality semi-permeable membrane filters that are expensive and wear out, hence the high cost.
Thermal distillation seems like a better way to build a low-cost desalination system. Specifically for a boat with an engine that is run from time to time, one could use waste engine heat to boil seawater to produce water vapour, which then condenses to produce freshwater. It's like a superheated version of those marine hot water systems that work by capturing waste engine heat.
How would a mixture work a 50/50 mix of your own tank water and distilled at least you could extend your stay away
Select to expand quoteLooseChange said..
You are correct that rain water is "distilled" insofar that it has been evaporated from liquid and then condensed back to a liquid, but on the way back down it has managed to pick up solid matter thereby rendering the distillation as being not quite so pure any more and not so injurious to your health.
Are you saying that rainwater is "injurious to your health" Loosechange????
Select to expand quotenswsailor said..LooseChange said..
You are correct that rain water is "distilled" insofar that it has been evaporated from liquid and then condensed back to a liquid, but on the way back down it has managed to pick up solid matter thereby rendering the distillation as being not quite so pure any more and not so injurious to your health.
Are you saying that rainwater is "injurious to your health" Loosechange????
No, not at all, all I was doing is to agree with sirgallivant's statement saying that rainwater is distilled but because of the impurities it has picked up via its journey back to Earth and now has a high number TDS thereby rendering it not pure distilled water any longer.
Select to expand quoteHG02 said..
How would a mixture work a 50/50 mix of your own tank water and distilled at least you could extend your stay away
For sure you could do something like this.
BTW, there are plenty of other ways for the body to get magnesium, etc., than from mineral water, including eating fish. Doh, there's a thought! Catch some fish while sailing :-)
Yeah, all correct, but l have to emphasise that l am talking about s h o r t t e r m consumption of distilled water in cases of utter emergencies aboard.
Want of water to top up your tanks does not qualify.
You could hidrate yourself with distilled water in those cases, no worries.
Anyone with ideas where could one find such hand operated desalinator pump??? After all that was the essence of the thread.
I am assuming that in order to preserve the shelf life of the membrane it is still in its original sealed factory packaging and not installed in the unit, which if that were the case need to be stored in preservation solution.
That is how I understand the system to work, happy to be corrected on that.
The way I read it is that if I use it, i have to keep on using it or else flush it with some sort of anti-algi stuff.
I have no doubt that the thing is good, brand-new and in excellent condition.
They are just old, excess stock. Well packed etc.
the algecide (don't know how to spell it) is some special stuff you have to buy from them if you want to store the desalinator for more than a month or so.
Maybe if I ever use it, I will buy some off them so I can store the thing properly.
Hope you get what I am saying.
Cheers !
