[thewindowcleaner1]

A technique used in most ice manufacturing plants that make large blocks of ice is to put a tube in the center of the container of water that is to be frozen. Through the tube they bubble a very low pressure stream of air. Before the tube becomes ice-bound, they remove it, and they pour or suction the water that is left in the center of the ice block away. All of the impurities -- dirt, dissolved air and minerals -- are forced into this water by the crystallizing ice. They fill the void with fresh water (or not) and continue freezing. The core of the block is clouded but the rest of the block is clear. If the core is not refilled and frozen, the entire block is clear

Well i never that little ice machine behind my local bar does ALL that I'm amazed..

[gaza]

Better urry up and get that boat to antartic the ice is melting.

   gaza

[williamx]

Rich

You don't need a IBC tank.

All you need is a container to collect the rain water, say a plastic storage box, put some netting over the top, to stop rubbish getting in and when it is filled just pump it though your di bottle (you can use the same pump that you use to clean the windows with) into your pure water containers'.

William The Mad Inventor

[P @ F]

William , i thought of the ibc cos i dont want to mess about every night , changing  over hoses and all that nonsense , basically if i had an ibc i could just connect up my house hose and leave on trickle permanantely , that way the ibc would always be topping up with 000 TDS water through my home made filter , which i would use new resin in .
Im lucky cos my house is elevated from my van mount , so turn the tap and gravity will do its thing !
This idea all hinges on the outcome of the next experiment , so i will use new resin in my contraption and this will tell for sure if slower flow treats more water than the normal di in van method .
I will still have the di in the van obviously , but this will very rarely need a change if it is being fed with nigh on pure water .
Tell me if you see any flaws in my plan , i cant see any .

  Rich  P @ F   

[williamx]

One slight flaw, if you use a ibc to collect the water, the inlet hole is rather small so the amount of rain water you could collect would be small in quantity.

What you will need is a method of collecting the rain water in a faster way and then channelling this into the ibc.

The greater the size of this funnel the better.

You could use a tarpalin which you pitch over the ibc tank, like a tent, with the centre going into the ibc tank.

William The Mad Inventor

[P @ F]

William ,

 Or i could put a piece of guttering along the back wall of my newly roofed garage , and collect all that lovely low TDS rain in vast quantities !  LOL

                  Rich   P @ F

[P @ F]

Well im sorry to bang on but i have or will by 6 tonight have hit the 450 L mark,
This is still using the old resin from the change on the 16th .
Admitedly this is a slow process , 450 L in 120 hours , about 4 L per hour , but that isnt bad coming from resin that was giving me 15 TDS through the DI !
And the 450 L is all 000 TDS
Once this resin gives up i am definately trying it with fresh resin , im gonna find out for sure if slow flow prolongs the life of resin .

  Rich P @ F 

[P @ F]

 550 now peeps  :

  Rich  P @ F

[P @ F]

HEHEHE , 700 L and still going strong , BORING !
Weather is poop so going to pick up an ibc in a mo , totally out of storage now , the other half might kick up if i start on her saucepans !   

 Rich P @ F 

[dai]

P@F I think I'v figured out how your system works.
When we pass water through a DI vessel there are two forces at work.
Force A- The movement of water through the vessel.
Force B - The attraction of the resin for the ions in the water.
Imagine the resin is a magnate in a plastic pipe. We then blow iron filings through the pipe. At first all the filings are attracted to the magnate. As more filings are attacted, the attraction of the magnate becomes weaker.
Eventually the momentum of the filings become greater than the magnates attraction and some will pass through the pipe.
It could be the same with DI resin.
We can't do anything to increase the attraction without changing the resin.
We can reduce the momentum of the ions by decreasing the flow.
With the flow decreased, the attraction of the resin is once more greater than than the momentum of the ions and they attach to it.
With your system, instead of water passing through at say 50PSI tap pressure. you have only the force of gravity.
I can't see the advantage of using new resin from the start but I think your system could be even more efficient if the water was sprayed over the the whole surface area of your resin bed.
Nice one mate. Keep experimenting. Dai

[P @ F]

Hi  Dai , im still experimenting , just picked up my ibc today , and i changed the resin for new resin , that old resin i was using was up to the 1050 L mark and it was still going strong , so thats 1050 L and at least a weeks work in the di in the van altogether that must have been at least 2000 L in all , and when you think it is only supposed to go for 1250 L in all , i reckon my case is proved .

 Rich  P @ F