[may1990]

Hello Everybody!
I am currently developing a closed loop purifier for shower. I am trying now to find the right market to sell it, that is why I was wondering if this product would catch the interest of the sailors!
So I am asking you guys, if there exists a shower that needs to be supplied with 60L of water and that volume of water can be used via the shower for about two weeks and then the water needs to be purged, would you think to buy it? (about 5900 dollars)
thanks for your answers!!

 

[bigdogandy]

No. Too expensive.

 

[killarney_sailor]

Not at anything remotely like that price. You can get a water maker and have lots of water for all purposes.

 

[Minnewaska]

I agree with early responders. I would not even consider at that price.

On passages where shower water may need to be conserved, a box of unscented baby wipes is pretty cheap.

There are several other solutions.

 

[dacap06]

That's an interesting idea.

I don't think there's a boat market for it at any price that makes sense for the equipment involved (for the reasons already mentioned -- a water maker provides far more flexibility).

Instead, think about a different market -- one in the middle of arid areas where water is almost unavailable without significant civil engineering projects.

The way California and that area is heading, I doubt such projects could survive publishing the environmental impact statements. And don't think just showers -- think household-wide. Greenies living in those areas might go for it. Bigger arguments on what to do with the Colorado River are stronger arguments for just such a system.

Maybe the middle-east could provide a market too.

 

[Minnewaska]

Just curious about power usage, tankage requirements and maintenance to filters, etc. I'm assuming, beyond the cost, that these could be discouraging as well.

 

[Delta-T]

Quadruple the price and market it to NASA for the ISS. I can't imagine that they do not use water for showering. Trucking water up is too expensive. And, they only have a minimal amount of cloth changes. They said, two pairs of socks, two shirts, two pants and 7 changes of underwear. I did not pick up on how long that had to last them, but I can see them in only tidy whitess when not on camera.

 

[Barquito]

As decap06 boat name suggests, I think the only market for this would be for space travel (or the equivalent on earth).

 

[mad_machine]

too expensive for the average cruiser.. but the owners/crew of larger yachts might like it.

 

[Stumble]

too expensive for the average cruiser.. but the owners/crew of larger yachts might like it.

Not really. Larger yachts almost always have water makers which are much more flexible. And large yachts are typically owned by people who don't want to shower in used water.

Frankly I don't see the draw for anyone, except desert dwellers. A reverse osmosis system can easily match this output for less money and far more flexibility in the way the water is used. So the only draw I can see is where water itself is a high dollar priority. But since the output isn't potable that greatly reduces the people who may have a demand for it.

 

[capta]

I also feel this is not a market for your product. As mentioned, one can get a pretty nice watermaker for a lot less than that and even at a dollar EC per gallon, us6k is a whole lot of purchased water. Sorry.

 

[Geoff54]

Is this the Mehrdad Mahdjoubi/Orbital Systems/University of Lund/NASA system? I read about that a while ago and found it interesting enough to bookmark it.... but nothing further seems to have happened since. For anyone who is interested:

Futuristic water-recycling shower cuts bills by over $1,000 - CNN.com

Orbital Systems: Recycling Shower of the Future

The idea is not new and has possible applications for high volume water users who buy their water, but we have plenty of water that just needs the salt removed. As others have said, for boats, that price point seems way too high.

 

[Lake Superior Sailor]

Not to mention the weight of all that water!...Dale

 

[tdw]

Question that vaguely relates to this .... has anyone worked out an alternative feed into a hot water tank ? I was mulling over the idea of being able to drain a solar water bag into the tank. It seems rather silly to me that we have to run our engine simply to get hot water when we could be using the sun.

There could of course be a very logical reason why the idea is monumentally stupid but if it can be done it would be very useful indeed.