PolyParadise Water Reclamation - 2006

Evapotron v2.0 Final Report

Hay good humans - This will be the final report on gray water processing at Poly Paradise 2006. The Evapotron v2.0 components went through final fabrication several weeks before my leaving for the playa on Saturday, August 26th.

The components consisted of:

  • 4- 3'x5' redwood frames covered both sides with a swamp cooler material called "Cool Pad"

  • 1- 5'x5'x10" storage basin made from 3/4 exterior plywood held together with 1/4"x3" clevis pins through overlapping finger joints

  • 1- 3'x3' top made from 1/4" HDP that acted as a fan base

  • 1- Basin liner made from 6 mil polyethylene laid in two layers with cloth added for extra liner protection

  • 1- Double row water distribution ring made from 1/2" PVC parts and pipe

  • 1- High output attic fan, 120vac @ 4.5 amps

  • 1- Spare 20" box fan

  • 1- Spare 12" high output fan .9 amp

  • 1- Submersible pond fountain pump with filters, Beckett model G325AG20 .8 amp

  • 1- Submersible pond pump, Little Giant model 2E38N 1.7 amps

  • Hose, screws, tape, staple gun etc.

I arrived on Playa on Saturday around sunset and hooked up with Scotto and WildChild. Spent Saturday evening setting up personal tent, shower and decorations.

Sunday we set up community shower space and built up the Evapotron. We laid out a power line and trenched it into the playa. By Sunday noon we were up and running.

We used the attic fan exclusively and it ran without a problem all week. Both water pumps also ran well all week. The Beckett pump was used as the distribution feed water pump and it lived inside a five gallon bucket. It needed a minimum water depth of over four inches so we used the Little Giant pump as a scavenger. It's inlet could be placed very close to the bottom to lower the  depth as far as possible and it's output went into the bucket. It also served as the shower transfer pump.

Monday saw very little shower use and around 10:30 or so I headed back home for my stint on the hot seat. Before I left I showed camp members what to do until I returned.

I returned Friday around 1am and crashed.

Friday mid-morning I touched base with my campmates and was told everything went well while I was gone. Maybe four or five inches in the basin which translates to maybe 50 to 60 gallons. Lots of showers on Friday with additional input from HCW and kitchen sources. By end of day we were getting close to capacity. We still had all day Saturday and Sunday to drop our levels back down. We  started limiting showers until we got back down to a few inches of water depth.

Saturday and Sunday were much the same and to allow more showers we asked people to take home some bottled up gray water. We had good luck getting people to drag some home too.

Monday morning was takedown day and we did the shower structure first. The Evapotron went down around noon and left about three and a half gallons to take home. I left the Playa around 5:30 and stayed overnight in Reno then next day back to Idyllwild.

All in all, the Evapotron did a pretty good job. The pumps and fan were running all week without a problem.

The water distribution seemed even, but in practice the dripping water flowed towards the center instead of flowing straight down. This limited the effective wetted surface. The distribution system started plugging up and needing cleaning too. This was caused by the poor filter design in the Beckett pump housing.

When sunlight struck a panel, evaporation increased greatly, more than I would have expected.

When we got down to the bitter end, the Little Giant's inlet got clogged with junk and had to be cleaned a few times.

The Evapotron did it's job ok. Not great, but workable.

The future...Some improvements I would like to see

  • Tighter integration between shower and Evap system.

  • Might have to rebuild shower to be a little smaller and be a single person operation.

  • Would like to see shower floor and basin raised enough so water could flow to Evapotron by gravity.

  • Would like system to run on solar power.

  • We need a better filter system.

  • Several people mentioned a squirrel cage style fan is more efficient than a blade style. We should think about going that direction next version.

  • People were impressed with the coldness of it's exhaust air. Give me some practical ways we can make use of that cool air. The drain basin water was cold too. Ideas?

  • Would like to see a separate system over in the kitchen. We already know we need a better filter system there too. Can we mount a semi passive, no fan Evap unit up on the roof? For that matter could we use it to Evap shower and HCW water too? Hmmmm, something to think about.

OK folks, that's about all I have from my end of the project.

Thanks to all who helped on this project. WildChild and Scotto,  thanks for letting me run with this idea and see it through. Painter Dave, for working with me and lending good advice. To all who  stopped by and gave me positive reinforcement all week long,
thanks!

 Tailfeather
Evapotron v2.0 Master