Portable Potable Water purification?

[newkidontheblock]

I am wondering if there are any small portable water purification systems that exist that can filter Sea Water into potable drinking water. I've seen a wide range of products that say which process they use (Distillation, Reverse Osmosis, etc) but nothing about the water sources themselves. It goes to reason that probably any modern system regardless of its process can be popped into place on your facet at home, but thats not exactly an open body of water like the ocean that can contain god knows what in it. Is anyone familiar with products that do this that dont require a crane to lift or a 50 unit battery bank to power? I'd be fine even if it was a manual hand pump type deal. It just seems like a waste to bring lb's and lb's of drinking water on board when I am surrounded by the stuff and could just reach over the side and grab some. In an ideal world, it would be a small coffee pot looking contraption that drip filters the water at a slow pace like the brita water filters I use here at home. Just fill it, stuff it in the fridge, 15 mins later the water is filtered. It doesnt have to be instant. I'd even by cool with using a brita, but I highly doubt it would filter sea water. But who knows, I dont know anything, maybe it can and I just dont know it.

 

[SolingSailor]

Re: Portable Potable Water purification?

I have seen hand-pumped reverse osmosis watermakers, intended primarily for liferaft use, which work on seawater. They are expensive, and can make I think a gallon a day.
If you're in salt water, you want to bring your own drinking water. Pressure cookers have been used to distill seawater, but of course you need a heat source.
There are also solar powered stills which float just outside your liferaft, and make only minimal survival quantities of fresh water.

 

[StarGazerI]

Re: Portable Potable Water purification?

Eliminator Reverse Osmosis System, Medium
The three-stage Eliminator Reverse Osmosis System provides the purest home-filtered water available. Incoming water first passes through a one-micron sediment pre-filter that removes excess particulate matter that may cause the membrane to become plugged. The second stage is a five-micron carbon block pre-filter. This removes organics and chlorine from the feed water. The third stage of the system is the reverse osmosis membrane. A high-rejection Thin Film Composite (TFC) membrane is the heart of this system and removes over 98% of most inorganic salts and all microorganisms in the water. This unit filters approximately 100 gallons per day and is particularly suited to hydroponics applications since it removes many contaminants and unwanted salts that can be harmful to plants.


http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=EROS220&AC=1


Check it out.. StarGazerI

 

[Doug1952]

Re: Portable Potable Water purification?

Hi NewKid, Are you familiar with a solar still? I'm sure you can do a web search for construction.... 1 large bucket, 1 small bucket, plastic sheeting to cover the larger bucket, 1 large rubber band -- or tie for the plastic over the large bucket, and a rock placed in the middle. Cheap, easy, but also a little slow....

 

[veritas honus]

Re: Portable Potable Water purification?

Reverse osmosis is fantastic for aquariums and hydroponic gardening. It filters tap water to almost 100% pure H2O. The filters and pre-filters are not inexpensive. Filtering ocean water would clog up the filters so fast that you'd be lucky to get a gallon of R/O water out of a set of prefilters. In addition, you can't simply pour water into or through it. It needs the pressure of a faucet. You'd be much better off just having a couple cases of bottled water on board.

 

[Titanium48]

Re: Portable Potable Water purification?

For seawater, it would take much more than the pressure of a faucet. The osmotic pressure of seawater is nearly 27 bar (400 psi). That's the minimum you would need to make any fresh water at all.

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Portable Potable Water purification?

The cheapest manual watermaker (for desalination) you can get will run you close to $1000. The cheapest automatic version is going to set you back almost $3500.