Inline dripper
I posted about the possibility of having a dripper external to the solar water distiller:
http://bkhome.org/news/201906/testing-pope-2-litre-per-hour-dripper.html
I was able to construct such a dripper, using irrigation parts from
Bunnings. Note, for readers outside Australia, Bunnings is a nationwide
hardware store, by far the biggest chain, in fact, is just about a
monopoly. The only competitor in Western Australia is Mitre 10, a chain
of individually-own stores.
Dripper, 4 litres/hour, openable |
$1.55 |
https://www.bunnings.com.au/pope-4l-h-turbo-key-dripper_p3121722 |
Reducing joiner, 19mm-13mm |
$1.05 |
https://www.bunnings.com.au/pope-19mm-x-13mm-barbed-reducing-joiner_p3126227 |
Glue for plastic |
$7.98 |
https://www.bunnings.com.au/selleys-3ml-all-plastic-fix-primer-and-adhesive_p1230083 or: https://www.bunnings.com.au/loctite-2g-and-4ml-2-part-all-plastic-superglue_p1210073 |
I used a hacksaw to cut the 19mm barbs off the reducing-joiners, and
the 4mm barb off the dripper. Then used a flat file to make the surfaces
smooth.
I bought the Selleys glue, though don't how know how it will stand up
to water immersion. The Loctite glue does state "water resistant",
whatever that means. Here is the assembled "inline dripper":
The dripper has a screw thread, so can be opened for cleaning. Inside, there is a separate piece:
It works by interference principle, as the water swirls around the
channel. The water enters at the center, travels clockwise to the end of
the channel, and there is a hole through to the other side. The hole is
not visible in the photo. On the other side, there is the same type of
channel, the water flows around, then exits from the centre.
I bought the 4 litre/hour dripper, as that was the fastest-flow
dripper that was sold separately, and also openable. If higher flow rate
is required, a bit of surgery can be performed on the channels.
Note, there is also a 8 l/h dripper, available as a pack of 10, and
they cannot be opened. They could be cut open, if desired, to extract
the internal piece.
If I use this external dripper, the internal water dispensing inside
the distiller will need to be redesigned. But that is another story --
haven't yet figured out how to do that.
Tags: nomad