Very good...
I haven't looked at the interiors for a long time, but I liked the look from the outside.
I wish you good luck with your project. I love the motorhome/trailer life for short stints at a time.
Posted on 04/13/2017 1:42:49 PM PDT by NoLibZone
we use shower water to flush the toilets
Which one did you buy, and would you recommend it?
Cool. As a sort of personal usage experiment.
If it becomes compulsive (I’ve found that I can do this, therefore I feel obliged to continue), that’s psychopathy.
If it gets projected onto others (I’m doing this, and everyone else should, too), that’s liberalism.
If it gets FORCED upon others (”This is a moral obligation, and there oughta be a law...”), that’s totalitarianism.
So, one manifest difference between Conservatives and Liberals is knowing when to STOP.
Still it all leads me to wonder how much of our legal/regulatory structure originates as a university research lab experiment.
I advocate for desalinization. Here in California it’s just about insane not to. We have hundreds of miles of ocean front. Some folks will be surprised by that, because I disagreed stridently that it was wrong of California to take Colorado River water. Hey, it’s California’s river too. We shouldn’t get all of it, but we should get a portion.
When I talk of using 1/10th of a gallon of water per day, you need to understand it would be something of an extreme apocalyptic situation. It would involve recycling shower water and urine.
You still take showers. You still drink your required water per day, which for me is around 92 ounces right now.
Hey, you’ve got four gallons to last you months. What do you do? Could you make it through?
I’m not an expert on the subject, but I have studied the issue and read up on what all you can recycle. I think it’s doable.
The condensate from a standard home heat pump
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My AC condensate in Florida fills a blue barrel that I use for watering plants,, gallons per hour when running..
Hey, why not. If it impacts your water bill enough, I’m all for it.
Got it. Sorry for misunderstanding. Tough times call for tough measures
I found that the experience was equal to showering the normal way. I just kept doing it. I don’t feel compelled to do it.
Who knows, some day I may go back to showering the normal way.
No problem at all. Take care.
Try wicked lasers. They make an attachment for their lasers, turns them into a lightsaber. Cool but not battle ready.
I don’t know how much you know about these, so this may be a lot of redundant information.
This is not an industrial or household in-line system.
It’s more for off the grid or possible camping use.
I own the Avapro system. You pour water in, it flows by gravity through a filter and you access it through a spout.
Some units allow you to have up to four filters in the filter area. This doesn’t mean that your water goes through four filters. I means that flow to the “already filtered” area speeds up.
This IS NOT an endorsement, because I have not used it yet. I can’t vouch for it due to that. At the time I bought it, I had read up on it, and I felt it was a reasoned product to have based on it’s characteristics and potential.
I’m going to give you a link to the product at eBay. You can read up on it there.
It’s important to know what micron rating the filter has. I believe it was 20, but please verify that. That should get you down to where almost everything is filtered out.
Bacteria and particulate matter are gone, and most viruses are (I believe). Some may remain, so it’s also a good idea to have a UV light system for killing off the viruses. That sounds iffy, but the right UV light system will disrupt the virus’ ability to replicate, so even if it makes it into your system, it can’t replicate and harm you. It only takes a minute and a half or so. (It’s possible that if put into a clear bag, the water could sit in the Sun for a few minutes and do the same thing.) I get the impression that’s how stream water is cleansed in part.
Also know that filter units are expensive, and they can only handle so many liters/gallons.
Here’s the link. Take care.
I’ve been piddling with solar, with the intent of eventually putting as much on as I can get up there and still be roadworthy but not unsightly. There are some portable RV wind turbines around that put out a surprising amount of power in steady winds at 10 mph or above, too, but annoying vibration is an issue without expensive mounts with dampers, or so I understand. My “stretch” goal is to have a self-sufficient RV that can support two people for as long as we want or need to stay in it. Getting rid of the blackwater holding tank is a big one. Replenishing potable water is another. But, the biggest is climate control. There are mini-split heat pumps that play well with solar and have very low power draw, well very low for air conditioning and heat. Popular in RV’s and trailers in Australia and Europe but not here, people are taking the smaller home units and ruggedizing them, mounted on the hitch in front if a trailer or on the rear bumper if RV. Sloppy aesthetics, I’m trying to figure out a better looking, more discrete way.
As for solar vs wind, you’re traveling over the same ground I’ve been thinking of traveling. The wind can be 24 hour, whereas the solar can only be for a good 2+ peak hours and dwindling down the bell curve on both sides.
Then you have to be in a good place to get nice steady wind too.
Some of the desert areas have steady wind. Some passes.
The regulators for wind are something I don’t fully understand. The solar ones auto cut-off, but the wind ones don’t see to. It’s as if the wind generator has to be discharged into the batteries or you have a problem. Do you understand that?
I haven’t worked on the cooling. I did pick up a small heater. It’s rated at 60 watts per hour. If you have a better suggestion I’d be interested. Perhaps your mini-split heat pump is the right idea. I’m not familiar with them.
If you’re not talking about severe cold (say not into single digits) or severe heat (say not much above 100) the mini-split would work depending upon model, but if the heat strips kick in it’s going to drain the battery bank more than you’d want. That temp range is fine for the southeast. Another thing I’ve got kicking around in my head that I’ve been sort of working on is condensate recovery to replenish potable water, which is what prompted me to reply on this thread in the first place. Plenty of that in the humid southeast, not an issue at all. As far as inverters for wind vs solar, I’ve got my mind pretty well wrapped around solar but have not spent much time yet on wind. I travel to places in NC that get pretty decent steady wind, on the coast and in the mountains, but not here in the middle where the only steady wind seems to be March-April.
I’ll have to give that mini-split some study. Thanks for the suggestion.
When I think of temperature needs, I try to think of every way I could make it more efficient. Creating a smaller environment can help.
At night, just heat the area two or three feet over your bed.
It heats up quick, and if insulated just a bit can hold the heat for a while.
I live alone, so it’s easy to wrap up in blankets.
I found a way of wrapping myself up like a mummy. The end wrap has two layers below and four above. And if need be, one additional layer on top.
You’d be surprised how warm and snug you can get down into the 40s. Of course this is somewhat unnecessary. You can get sleeping bags down into the teens. Some of them connect so that two can sleep in them.
In a confined, well-insulated space, body heat can be sufficient to keep the temperature in a relatively comfortable range. My problem is what I’ve got to work with, I love it, love the looks of it with all the huge windows but it makes both cooling and heating more of a challenge. An old 70’s GMC motorhome basically fell into my lap very cheaply so that’s what I’ve got to work with.
Whoopee! 3 liters is 0.79-gallon. Not even 1 gallon of water produced in a day. And at what cost?
Thank you so much for this information, DO. I don’t know very much about this topic, and this info was thorough and helpful.
I imagine others reading it found it useful as well!
Thanks again!
I haven't looked at the interiors for a long time, but I liked the look from the outside.
I wish you good luck with your project. I love the motorhome/trailer life for short stints at a time.
One thing I forgot to mention, is the throughput is limited by the number of filters. Read the rating on volume per day. If you are going to need more than one filter will provide per day, you may need the second filter on up to four depending.
Take care. Glad to help.
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