Alone in South America?

[Operator]

Originally Posted by asteram

A friend and I were talking the other day about the amount of distilled water from the air that air conditioners produce that is simply wasted. Likely everyone on this island who has an air conditioner is throwing away enough pure water every day to supply their drinking and cooking needs. I don't have a/c so that doesn't apply to me, but I'd say about half the people on Margarita do have a/c.

I have 2 airco's available but I hardly use them. Only when there is no wind it might get unbearable warm (anyway to work).
Well airco's tend to get very dirty and there are a lot of bacteria after a while (no matter how many times you cleanse them).
So I would suggest not to use this water for consumption ...
I always collect this water and it is suitable for watering the plants. Since I grow my own food there is always need for this kind of water.

One tip for the tropics though: shield the water container with a piece of mosquito shielding. Otherwise it will be crawling with larvae
and consequently there is malaria and yellow fever danger in your direct surroundings.

I want to build a contraption soon with Peltier elements. They use DC voltage on input so they can be used directly from the car batteries that
I charge with my windmill. This system is easier to clean and might yield water suitable for consumption.
Distilled water should also be activated with crystals I believe. I am trying to figure that out as well. And although there is no real ground-crew here
I am blessed with a fantastic neighbor and a meditation center less than 25 meters away. They seem to have the knowledge about crystals.

Distilling fresh water from sea water using sun power is also feasible. I have already built something like that before.
However, although I cannot be further from the sea than max. 4 kilometers it still takes quite some energy to transport a daily portion of water
over this distance. And I am not sure if cars will still be operational (and airco's !) under these circumstances.

Cheers,

Operator