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RE: Off-Grid: Rebuilding the Rocket Stove Boiler and Connecting Outdoor Plumbing for Spring Showers
So much info in this post @Jackdub. There is a lot to learn here and very detailed, thanks.
I was wondering a little about the shower bed. Are you standing on the mint when you take a shower? Sounds like it would also smell very good as you're taking a shower there. Is boiling Rainwater more effective than filtering it or using a solar still perhaps? Maybe I meant in terms of material and time.
Thank you for sharing
We're standing on the large rocks for the shower. When It gets a little warmer I'll be raising them so the water level doesn't get above the top of the rocks before the end of the shower. The mint garden bed is to trap, soak up, and hold the water do it doesn't go down the hill onto the walkway. Standing in the mint would be a very muddy experience - it would smell nice though :) We don't bother with a curtain so we usually wear our bathing suits, flip flops are optional. We boil the rain water mainly because hot water is easier and more comfortable to clean with. Rain water has already been distilled with the sun - any contaminants it would have picked up would be from the air and clouds. After collecting rainwater into larger storage tanks we treat it with the appropriate amount of chlorine - iodine could be used as well. This treatment isn't so much to purify the water, but to prevent bacteria or algae (if sun light can get to the water) from growing in it. If I was planning on drinking the water or treating it further, then I would go with an under sink 3 phase water filter - they are about $180 or so from amazon. Boiling purification is more for viruses and bacteria and would not remove any heavy metals, pesticides, chemicals, or other industrial contaminants that might be in water - where ever it comes from.
Yea I guess it would get muddy standing in the mint! I have to get my wife to accept dronking filtered raon water. Well I have to also research it too. Of course rain water is already distilled, I must have forgotten for a second or something... maybe I was thinking about the water not touching any contaminants that the roof or "collector" can accumulate? You think the 3 phase filter system can remove metals, contaminants and other nasty stuff?
Like I said, I need to research this now.
I would trust the 3-phase with collected rain water considering where I live - if i was just downwind of an industrial area, I might be more worried. For now we only use the rain water for cleaning and eventually garden irrigation - not for drinking and cooking. To be extra safe you would want to test any water source you have, then purchase the correct filter system to deal with whatever might be contaminating it.
Thanks, for that info. It is an important issue, considering we will be stepping into an age of scarcity of clean water innour near future, on this globe.
I know it's close already, but it could get much worse for people of western worlds who habe no immunity for dirty water or knowledge to clean it up!
This is next thing I want to learn about in-depth. In Puerto Rico we drank rain water filtered through a Burkey gravity clay filter.