Living offgrid with small solar system(s)

[grollies]

On 28/09/2017 at 6:49 AM, Jing Joe said:

Hi George and all the old mates.

Good to see George back again in August after long absence  (like me)  

My pumped water-panel solar hot water system is now 6 x 250W solid state solar hot water and works REALLY well. No moving parts, no leaks, no faulty Non return valve etc.

The 180Litre tank is up to 65 degrees by 11am and 12v  through the thermostat turns off the 40A Solid Stare Relay that handles the 80V at 16A  (approx) into the1500W  48V heater element that replaced the 240V never used element.

    Bypassing the thermostat it easily went to 96 degrees by 2pm.

The second hand panels were about $50 each.

Needed experiments more than just paper calculations as to the final configuration of panels and element connections. Internal  resistance rather influenced it.  More info later  if anyone wants it.              George you have my email address.

Now there are 36  panels on the roof for home power and great for the large air con.

Very likely George could easily boil water for hours on end each day in a small boiling chamber with an element and 6 panels.   You could distill quite a bit of water each day.

An automatic water feed could  maintain the level of the small volume of boiling water.

Some commercial distilled drinking water has ozone added for extra (??)   purification and this breaks down to quite oxygenated water and is delicious.

 

There's been quite a bit of bad publicity about drinking distilled water but my question is ;-  Apart from some possibly dissolved oxygen or nitrogen in rain water, whats the difference?     Cool evaporation is how nature does it and maybe if it wasn't for the distillation rain water process, wouldn't all the water on earth have become more and more polluted?

Just thinking.

 

Drinking distilled water is really bad for you long-term.

 

It contains no trace minerals and will eventually leech minerals from your body.

[George Harmony]

Sorry for this late answer. Thanks for your info @Jingoe. Almost all product i use myself are in fact also testing. Testing practical products as cheap as possible which can be used in rural areas.

 

We talked before also about joule thiefs. 220volt led bulbs are here now easy to get. Dc lamps (bulbs) are more difficult to get and also most of them more expensive. Someone here made a practical fitting with built-in joulethief 3-5 volt dc to 220v ac max 7watt and if in production only 2usd. I myself tested this already and it works fine. Even in rural areas they use powerbanks and i thought perhaps its handy for areas with no electricity or frequent power outages. Charging mobile phones & burning ac leds. Bulbs & powerbank easy to get here and cheap :) 

Edited October 6, 2017 by George Harmony

[George Harmony]

This joule thief he  build in

[George Harmony]

here is another built-in joule thief idea but with 2 AA batteries

[Jing Joe]

Hi George.   Be good to catch up some time on email perhaps?

My PV solar hot water system has been great as described above.

 

Hi grollies.

You cautioned against distilled water by saying:-

Drinking distilled water is really bad for you long-term.

It contains no trace minerals and will eventually leech minerals from your body.

Ive read about it and found it hard to believe on the basis as I said that rain water is distilled and may not contain trace minerals you refer to.

The dissolved minerals in creek water are usually in compound form and therefore are not readily bio available for our bodies.

Veges do have pure minerals that they convert from compound minerals.

If there's credible research that distilled water will leach minerals from our bodies I could be convinced. 

"I may be wrong and sometimes am".. Smile please. We can learn something new every day.

 

 

 

[Muhendis]

Every time we sweat, urinate or cry we lose water and the mineral content thereof. By eating a normal, varied diet we replace the lost minerals. Drinking only distilled water will have the effect of not replacing these minerals which our bodies need however the water does not in itself pose any hazard since, as Jing Joe says. we get more than enough minerals in our veges. You might like to read this:

www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317698.php

[Jing Joe]

On 12/5/2017 at 4:45 PM, Muhendis said:

Every time we sweat, urinate or cry we lose water and the mineral content thereof. By eating a normal, varied diet we replace the lost minerals. Drinking only distilled water will have the effect of not replacing these minerals which our bodies need however the water does not in itself pose any hazard since, as Jing Joe says. we get more than enough minerals in our veges. You might like to read this:

www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317698.php

Hi M.    and thanks for what could be a reality that dispels myths that distilled water can leach minerals.  To get any calcium from so called spring water, i understand you need to consume huge quantities of say the calcium carbonate  compound.

 

Edit. I just read the  well balanced article thanks M.

Liked this;-

 

"This lack of minerals and additives would only pose a significant risk if distilled water was the only fluid or food that a person consumed.

As most people eat and drink a variety of food and beverages throughout the day, most people will get the salts and minerals they need from these other sources."

 

No mention of rain water.         Surely its about the nearest thing to distilled water?

It's hygienic storage is important -- sure.

There's a danger of Oestrogens in some town water supplies from the H.R.T and contraceptives.

It only takes an incredible infinitesimally  small amount to detrimentally affect us, mostly women.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2017 by Jing Joe

[grollies]

44 minutes ago, Jing Joe said:

Hi M.    and thanks for what could be a reality that dispels myths that distilled water can leach minerals.  To get any calcium from so called spring water, i understand you need to consume huge quantities of say the calcium carbonate  compound.

 

Edit. I just read the  well balanced article thanks M.

Liked this;-

 

"This lack of minerals and additives would only pose a significant risk if distilled water was the only fluid or food that a person consumed.

As most people eat and drink a variety of food and beverages throughout the day, most people will get the salts and minerals they need from these other sources."

 

No mention of rain water.         Surely its about the nearest thing to distilled water?

It's hygienic storage is important -- sure.

There's a danger of Oestrogens in some town water supplies from the H.R.T and contraceptives.

It only takes an incredible infinitesimally  small amount to detrimentally affect us, mostly women.

 

 

 

 

 

You are both right about drinking distilled water.

 

It is de-mineralised water that will leach minerals from the body if drunk. De-min water we used for hydrotesting stainless steel pipelines.

[Muhendis]

I'm going to get myself into terrible trouble now I fear:

 

Grollies wrote............

 

Drinking distilled water is really bad for you long-term.

 

It contains no trace minerals and will eventually leech minerals from your body.

 

Then Grollies wrote............

 

It is de-mineralised water that will leach minerals from the body if drunk. De-min water we used for hydrotesting stainless steel pipelines.

 

Oh me oh my! I'm so easily confused. If demineralised is different from deionised then please enlighten me. I have much to learn Grasshopper.

[grollies]

11 hours ago, Muhendis said:

I'm going to get myself into terrible trouble now I fear:

 

Grollies wrote............

 

Drinking distilled water is really bad for you long-term.

 

It contains no trace minerals and will eventually leech minerals from your body.

 

Then Grollies wrote............

 

It is de-mineralised water that will leach minerals from the body if drunk. De-min water we used for hydrotesting stainless steel pipelines.

 

Oh me oh my! I'm so easily confused. If demineralised is different from deionised then please enlighten me. I have much to learn Grasshopper.

My mistake on distilled water and I acknowledge the info passed on by the good people above.

 

There is a big difference between distilled water and industrial de-mineralised water.

 

I assume when you mention de-ionised water you are referring to drinking water produced by RO?

 

Google WHO report on drinking demineralised water, it should clear up some of your confusion.

[r136dg]

What about adding a mineral filter somewhere before your tap? The ones filled with different types of rocks.

[Muhendis]

I use filtered well water which is quite clean considering it's source but although it is good for general use you wouldn't want to drink it. The well, at 5.5 metres deep is what's called a surface water well and the water will undoubtedly contain pesticide and herbicide runoff from the neighbouring farm land in amongst other things. I have a filter arrangement for whole house water supply which takes care of particulates. For drinking, the water is further filtered using a combination of filters culminating in a reverse osmosis filter. This works just fine, is cost effective and relatively trouble free. I also use a bank of 200 Ahr flooded lead acid batteries for my solar off grid electricity which require watering from time to time. I used to use deionised/distilled battery water from the local stores but discovered to my dismay that the water was little better than tap water. I now brew my own battery water. To do this I feed the drinking water which has a conductivity of around 30 - 60 microsiemens through a couple of deionisation filters (anion and cation) which reduces the conductivity to zero. Ideal for my batteries. The deionisation process uses resins which remove positive and negative charges from the minerals in the water rendering them inert and the water completely non-conductive. I am lead to believe that the deionisation filters are good for hundreds of gallons so won't need replacing for a few years.

[Muhendis]