Power vs water cost

[Craiguzzi]

Which would be more expensive, the power to run a pressure pump to recycle water from a rain water tank or the cost of water from tap for 4 hour still run?

[hillzabilly]

Its more of a moral question ta me ,power we can generate from green methods,but water is a finite resorce.I would rather re-cycle water and pay extra for power than waste the water .With small set ups the numbers are small but go to 100lt boiler running neutral and multiple runs ,like my spirit runs go for up to 16hrs with 3600wt wich requires a lot of water and power.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

[Mitcon]

If your using a T500 you will be using from 300L upto 500L for a run going by the last couple I ran into a tank.

[Plumby]

When I had my still spirits 25 litre Super Reflux still. The predicessor to that t500, I filled a 1000 litre IBC in 2 and a half runs. I now have been using the same water for around 3 years now and even with strip and spirit runs on my pot still I haven't noticed any major increase in power bills.
The down side to reusing water is I no longer have nice green grass, its just as brown as everybody else's.

[RC Al]

If you go a pond pump, they dont draw much power, the aquapro 1050 for example is only 24w - 10 hours of running for 25 cents where as the bigger 3000 model is 60w, more than twice the power - but still negligible in the grand scheme of things with our level of use cost per litre of product
The 600w sump pumps recommended in older posts have a massive head height on them, but its going to be over 20x the power to run

Im in agreement with Hillz, just pouring it down the drain seems wasteful, but, just to throw a curve ball into that, power generation consumes water too, cant find any definitive numbers and, see the link below, depends on your local power plant, 2l to 150l per kw ive found quoted... first answer on google says 76 to 190l / kw based on 2014 usa figures :o

We are on tank water and its 1.3c a litre if we need a tanker out, town water last time i paid for it was 20 odd cents per 1000l

https://environmentvictoria.org.au/our- ... water-use/

Moral of the story, depending on your litres/hour needed, at the least a low wattage pump on a recirc system and it may well be better for the planet to water your garden at 190l per kw.... :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:

Also on a recirc system try to get your cooling water at the same level as your still as to not need a massive head rating on the pump, thereby smaller pump needed

Mitcon, what was your run time for those figures?

Kinda makes an additional good argument to run on gas too on a side note, cheaper and better for the environment

[Mitcon]

Run time was around around 5-6 hours, just depends on if your collecting @43c or 50c+ . Mind you I'm new and only done 2 runs, both I did a little different trying to find my groove and drip rate etc. Also on the 2nd run I tried the unit in reflux mode after collecting fores for a while, so this increased time and extra water as well.

[Arismac]

If your using a T500 you will be using from 300L upto 500L for a run going by the last couple I ran into a tank.

Western Australian water currently costs a bit more than $1.50 per 1,000 litres. So a four hour distilling run of water consumption of the T500 will water cost around $0.75. Sydney and Melbourne prices are higher than this. Only Hobart is lower.

Not a lot of money but worth re-using on the vegetable patch or lawn.

[Mitcon]

Sounds about right, it's only costing me about $1 here per run at the most I think which is cheap as, but we have a lot of plants/trees and produce a lot of our own food and our water bill's are massive. I got a 600L ibc and was going to pump 'n recycle but we use so much water anyway I'm just using the tank to store the water for a few days and disperse it around the gardens as needed. I hate waste let alone something as precious as water but I figure this way it's water I would be using already, I just use it for cooling now before watering :dance:

[woodduck]

When I was running on mains water I would water the garden while I ran the still. Just start with the hose on the far part of the lawn so you can easily drag the hose across the lawn as you go without loosing sight of your still. Please don't get up during a run and walk around the back yard watering and forget about the still.

[andybear]

I use tap water and collect in a 205 litre tank. I then pump it out onto the garden after it has cooled down. So from an environmental point I think that's okay. For my 4" glasser I use about 120 litres in winter and about 240 litres in summer so loose a bit here, but sometimes use buckets for the last bit. This is normally a 4 hour run. I don't really have the space for a recirc system so this works for me.
As for the cost I'd think the water now costs more than the power would but you should also look into the set up cost of whatever you decide. The pump I use was salvaged from a washing machine so was for nicks.
Hope that helps

[Mitcon]

Please don't get up during a run and walk around the back yard watering and forget about the still.

Bloody good point, it's easy to get distracted about the garden. Thinking about that now I'm still glad I bought the ibc to collect the water, I thought it may have been a waste since we use so much water anyway. Being able to collect it into the ibc and use it at will/free time at any point later works out very well for safety and just convenience. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Fatguts]

If your using a T500 you will be using from 300L upto 500L for a run going by the last couple I ran into a tank.

Ive always hooked the T500 into the mains and let the water go down the drain but after reading that i think its time for a change. I have 2 9000 litre poly rainwater tanks that I use for the watering the lawn and garden. I also have two 190 watt portable solar panels and a MPPT charge controller running two 120 amp deep cycle batteries. Im thinking a 12 volt pump from one of the rainwater tanks and then pump back into the tank after use. Depending on the amp draw of the pump it might work. Has anyone tried the 12 volt option with any success?

[Dick Jane]

If your using a T500 you will be using from 300L upto 500L for a run going by the last couple I ran into a tank.

Western Australian water currently costs a bit more than $1.50 per 1,000 litres. So a four hour distilling run of water consumption of the T500 will water cost around $0.75. Sydney and Melbourne prices are higher than this. Only Hobart is lower.

Not a lot of money but worth re-using on the vegetable patch or lawn.

Takes a lot of runs to pay for a pump and tank set up at that rate.....once you factor in power too.


I just used a fish tank pump that I had from a few years ago and it worked fine (Pot Still). but to be honest it is probbly a waste of time if you are on town water.

[EziTasting]

I'm going Solar for power!!! But then, we run our AC 24/7 (its just a little warm over here)...

We have been recycling the water while we still and then tipping it out after we finish, but now that so many good points have been raised, I am thinking of all the opportunities I have available to me where I can save money, like:

1) AC condensation water ... I could collect that (instead of it draining into the dead garden patch;
2) We have a pool - easy 16KL of water for recirculating water supply (save on getting an IBC - they're better for our raised bed poo-farm anyway!);
3) any water I use from here-on in could be collected and used in a closed recycling system... Kimbodious has a cooling tower set up somewhere that I was going to copy (sorry, can't find the post) and he lives in the tropical north of QLD so if it works there, it should work anywhere!

I think we should all consider our environmental footprint (BACK! BACK you greeny-monster!! :teasing-nutkick: )

[wynnum1]

How well does solar run in very high temperatures does the output drop off and would the system break down in less time the inverter seem to be the first thing to break and need replacing.

[EziTasting]

How well does solar run in very high temperatures does the output drop off and would the system break down in less time the inverter seem to be the first thing to break and need replacing.

The contractor doing the install is killing it where I live on service and product quality, they're installing a 6.5KW system (which does loose efficiency due to the heat) to feed a 5KW inverter.

We see.

I'm not easily ignored, so if things don't go wright, they have to deal with 300 pounds of Ugly... :)) and I know where they live...

[bluc]

:laughing-rolling: