Posted on 11/21/2016 8:44:41 PM PST by Baynative
It takes energy to make dry ice.
There's the secret! Everyone get a bunch of dogs and they'll produced plenty of water! /s
Yes....
The concept of this thing seems to me to be the equivalent of a heat pump with a “sink” but instead of conditioning air, it is intended to produce condensate from the moisture in the air. But there has to be moisture (water) in it to work.
Swamp coolers take advantage of the fact there is very little moisture in the air and that by passing sprayed/running through an air stream creates colder air because the evaporation process of the water takes the heat out of the passing air. They don’t work very well at all in high humidity areas.
It just doesn’t seem to me to be a very abundant water producer in any kind of a desert environment. And, in areas where it would work best have high humidity - which tend to also have water, IMO.
The caves in NorthWest Arkansas have been doing this for a few years.
I think what is missing is "science".
I heard a while back about a simple filtration system based around two 2-liter soda bottles, supposed to be real inexpensive to make them in bulk for the third world. Then silence. Go figure.
Also, there is a type of stone set up at The Oldest House In America in St. Augustine, Florida that filters water into drinking water.
Finally, I too am skeptical as to their volume claim unless they tested it in a Florida sand pit on a 99° / 99% humidity day. Who designed that contraption, Liet-Kynes?
That stat includes drowning victims and children in five gallon buckets
Interesting. However, the Warka Water website claims: “Daily water collection = 13 to 26 gallons (50 to 100 L), annual average.” Then it goes on to claim the water can be used for irrigation.
Reality stop! Irrigation uses quite a bit of water, especially if conditions are dry. Using a middle number, 20 gallons a day is not going to irrigate a whole lot.
never a creation of energy without using as much or more energy doing it..
Dispersed by hand, 20 gallons a day in irrigation water would suffice for a subsistence garden. Add in another collector and a few animals can be supported. In many places in the world, that can feed a family.
Back in the late 1980's I taught a young man in Kenya to bore wells using a hand auger. After that, he installed a simple homemade PVC hand pump. In 1996 I looked him up and asked, "How many wells have you done?"
"220 and I've installed 40 more pumps on existing hand dug wells."
"How many families use each well?"
"Most about 3 families. Some as many as 10."
"What do you charge to install a well & pump?"
"Depending on depth, about US $150 +/- $30."
This Water-Seer is an interesting device. However, ground temperature down to about 10 feet depth follows the average air temp, seasonally lagging about 3 months. In the arid areas of East Africa, at least, nighttime air temperature is far lower than ground temperature.
Also, in very dry climates, there is little or no condensation on glasses of iced tea (or water, Coke, etc.)
We’ve been draining our compressor tanks since they were invented. Compress air and eventually the moisture in it reaches saturation or dew point and collects at the bottom of the tank. All atmospheric air contains some levels of moisture and that level will determine how much is collected over time. Our gas lines coming off the casing goes through a scrubber tank to remove liquids (commonly called drip gas) before going to the engines, ignore it over time and the liquids build up and eventually shut your engine down. Basically all I see is a wind driven compressor which you could duplicate with any type standard electric compressor and wind vanes large enough to turn it. And no we don’t collect the drip gas and run it in our vehicles but we do collect it and put it into our tank battery’s.
The basic theory is one that looks sound at first glance, but doesn’t hold up under scrutiny or real-life testing.
The theory is, things that are underground tend to be a constant, cool temperature. Water condenses at cooler temperatures. Therefore, pump air underground where it’s cooler than aboveground, and the water will condense out and become usable.
The reality is, pumping air underground causes the ground in that spot to warm up, until it matches the average temperature of the air being pumped in. End result: it might condense water out of the air for the first few hours, or even a day, but then it stops working.
(It also only works if the air is warm enough and carries enough humidity.)
Parts of that design look like something I’ve been toying with that uses peltier devices to achieve the right temperature, but the ground itself will never do the trick. And even then, the one I’ve been toying with is meant as a low-power dehumidifier, not a constant water source.
^^^^^ This Plus don’t intend to survive on it in arid regions, and in regions with high enough humidity there is usually surface water or ground water accessible and treatable. Sounds like someone is trolling for venture capitol.
What I really need is a droid that understands the binary language of moisture evaporators.
Well, we garden in a region with moderately high humidity levels and clay soils (good water retention), and during our dry spells, I don’t see how, even with hand watering, a garden big enough to sustain a family of 4 would get by on 20 gallons of water per day. (Plus, you’d have to subtract off direct usage by the humans.) Maybe if evaporation can be limited and rainfall is “borderline” to begin with...? Then you gotta have another unit for the animals.
I’m not saying two Warka “towers” could not get a family of 4 doing subsistence farming through, say, a 4 month dry spell, if they had plenty of food stored or otherwise available. But the website depicts a single tower as being the supply for a small(?) village. It even claims the water supplied usable for “reforestation”. Maybe with a forest of towers...
Looked at another way, 0.1” of rain falling on one acre of garden in 5 installments, and assuming no runoff, equals 13,576 gallons of water. (43560 sq. ft./acre x 0.5”/12 x 7.48 gal/cu. ft.) One acre at 0.5” of rain a month is not going to produce much, even if the garden is well executed, and every drop goes to the crops.
That's 3,285,000 people a year. Is that possible ? Sad if it is.
The issue is mostly "clean", not "water". The deaths are mostly due to disease, not lack of water.
Yes, only deserts it works in are on the Ocean.
Only one way I am aware of to “create” water - and it results in an explosion...
The amount of water on the planet is static enough to be considered a constant.
If there is no humidity, this device will not “create” water. It will - however - create a deficit in the wallet of anyone who chooses to invest in it...
Not even going to address their assertion that whatever water does show up will be distilled.
It probably works well in very humid places where nobody needs to collect water in the first place.
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