NOTE: I've discontinued this project until next spring, the wicked version doesn't work well, I think this is best suited as a vapor condenser alone with some larger vessel acting as an evaporator (ex. Water container in a solar oven, etc.)

I've wanted to take the onus for my water security back into my hands as a citizen for awhile now; I have city water and two wells, but I wanted to locally be able to process water as a vet/prepper. I've been wanting to build a solar still from some old store front windows I was given, but it would take a truckload of wood and be basically permanent. Then I thought of a design pressed out of metal like a kitchen sink, but this also has drawbacks and requires sizable investments to prototype/produce.

I'm glad to announce the first 3d printed whootis that will turn a 1 gallon jug and some 1/2" diameter wicking material into a solar still. They can be linked together with sections of 1/2" PVC to create a solar distillation array. My prototype array (pictured) has 12 jugs, but this is about half of what can be easily set above my 2 barrel setup. My full proto has 24 but I want to test at 12 first.

NOTE: The V1 was sized to 21.34mm for 1/2inch PVC. I suggest printing these in asa-cf or something food grade. I have resized both to 22mm. they fit great on sch 40 pvc

Note: I'm trying 1/2 inch cotton rope and rolled up paper towels now as my wicking material; tiki torch wicks have something water soluble that washes out and is not good for this purpose

This is still prototype-ish, but this version will fit well on most 1 gallon jugs with a snap on lid OR screw on lid. I added a photo of my prototype rig at half capacity. It's producing very little, I'm going to work on circulation. I'm shutting this down until spring and will reattack