On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 22:16:55 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:39:21 -0700, "
wrote:


Capturing wasted BTUs is the most important issue.

Now you've confused me -- bless my heart I am dumber than a box of
rocks. I was good with "I steam distill water because I want steam
distilled water", but if capturing the BTUs is the most important
issue then why use an inefficient desalination system like steam
distilling?

Well, it's pretty well established - I think - that Larry doesn't want
RO water. He wants distilled water. You have said, "Steam distilled
water is a luxury version of drinking water."
IMO, Larry is not one bit averse to luxury.
At the same time, and perhaps in other threads, Larry has talked
about engine waste heat recovery as a separate issue.
And it is.
How the waste heat is used is a different matter entirely, though
Larry happened to be talking about distilling when it came up, or
maybe he was thinking about waste heat and distilling all at once.
Hell if I know.
But theoretically you may use the waste heat to generate electricity

The only really efficient way to convert fuel to shaft work is with a
diesel engine, and the small ones are nearly as good as very large
ones. Steam has to be huge to be efficient. I mean a cube 100 feet on
a side for the boiler. You could use the heat in the engine coolant to
boil propane, if you had cold water, 40F, say, that is. All engines
work on temperature differences. Heat moves from hot to cold, and you
can siphon off some of the energy as shaft work, if you are clever
enough.

to run RO, the TV, an A/C unit, etc, or to heat hot water for the
shower, or to distill.
The only one I see happening is heating the hot water tank,

This is on the market. Most engines are actually cooled by glycol,
which is, in turn, cooled by water. Fresh water or sea water, the
glycol, and the engine, don't care. You simply run hot engine coolant
into a coil in an insulated tank of water.

which
is closer to a distilling system than to a system that generates
electricity.

Exactly.

Hey, too bad they don't make thermal blankets/material that could
enclose an engine compartment and generate electricity from the heat.
I'm not up in physics, and don't know how solar cells work, whether
they use UV or IR, but they work.

You cannot get a solar cell to work on heat.

Engine heated fresh water stills were killed by RO.

Casady