Does anyone know how to desalinate seawater at home...



Is it as simple as putting seawater in a plastic bucket and then using a  plastic sheet  to catch the condensation? If so how does one then funnel away the fresh water.?

Any info?

You could set up a 'still' on your stove. Boil saltwater in a pot with a lid. Any condensation on the inside of the lid will be fresh - so long as the salt water is not bubbling vigourously. If you get a lid with a hole in it, and attach a pipe (preferably copper) to that hole and direct the pip down into a bucket, you could collect it that way. Metal pipes and buckets work better because they conduct the heat away and allow more water to condense.

The plastic sheet idea works in a survival setting. Dig a hole and put leaves, urine, saltwater, and anything containing fluid in the hole. Put an empty cup in the middle of the hole. Cover the hole with a plastic sheet and place a stone in the center of the sheet so that any water condensing on the sheet will trickle down to the middle where the stone is, then drip down into the cup. Wipe the urine from the bottom of the cup before drinking.

Alternatively, you can put clear plastic bags around leaves that are still on trees. We did this in high school biology. It didn't collect much water, so most of us added some from a tap. Everyone who added some water from a tap got good marks while those who were honest got worse marks.

freediver wrote on Mar 6^th, 2007 at 9:46am:


I have to ask this question....

Have you tried it with urine? If so, what was it like. Mind you I have no plans of ever trying but curiosity is getting the better of me.

I've only tried the plastic bag over leaves idea before, in high school science. I prefer to always bring plenty of water.

Depending on size you can go for reverse osmosis.