> Today is my day for 20 questions. Good questions, too!
> I live in Florida and every year this time, I start > gathering my hurricane supplies and I was wondering > something. In the event of a hurricane, if I had a > supply of CS that we used up and and we were unable to > buy distilled water from the stores for several weeks, > would I be able to purify tap water with CS to use for > brewing a new batch or is that off limits. I guess my > basic question is....is distilled water the only > source for brewing CS? We actually have well water > and not city water, however, it has a lot of iron in > it and we have a basic filter on it, but it doesn't > filter all of it out. Any thoughts or advice? There are several questions in there, yes. The easiest thing to do is stock up on distilled water as well as regular drinking water. Make sure the CS generator you use can run off batteries or a small solar panel. The keep an extra set of batteries on hand. CS making doesn't draw much so the batteries last a year, easily. You can sterilize water by hooking up silver wires to a battery and swishing or stirring the water as the wires generate silver ions that will kill bacteria. It should only take a couple of minutes. You're not trying to make CS, just kill any germs. Depending on how your CS generator works, you may be able to use it for this as well. If all you had was clean bottled drinking water with the usual minerals in it, you *could* still make CS in it, of low quality, if it was a matter of survival. THIS IS IMPORTANT: Just be aware that the minerals in the water will make the reaction go VERY FAST. It will take no more than a few minutes to finish a small batch. You will actually see the reaction happening as the negative wire generates streams of bubbles and the positive wire releases a visible cloud of large silver particles. You'll be making an uncontrolled mix of silver salts, so you won't really know what you've got, but it will still work. It will also increase your risk of argyria. So keep the brew time short, stop when it's still clear and only a tiny bit milky in color, use the smallest quantities that are *effective*, and switch back to using distilled water only as soon as practical. To put this in perspective, a couple of people got argyria after they misunderstood instructions they downloaded from the net and used regular water with an unregulated generator to make dark, muddy sludge, and then took large amounts for months at a time. If you stop well short of "muddy sludge" and only use as much as you have to for the necessary effect, you should be okay for a period of days or a week or two. Maybe longer, but there are no guarantees. Again, if it's an issue of survival, then using regular water to make CS is an expedient option. Another couple of things to think about: Catch rain water. If you let the first couple of minutes wash the dust down, then start collecting it, it may be better than your well water. Make a solar still. You get strong sun there so it will be pretty efficient and fast. There are plenty of plans on the 'net. It can be as simple as stretching clear plastic across a low box frame and putting a small stone in the middle of it. Put pans of water under the frame and a funnel and jar beneath the stone. The water will evaporate from the pans, condense on the plastic, run down the slope towards the stone and collect in the jar. I hope that helps with your questions. Keep asking! That's why we're here. Be well, Mike D. [Mike Devour, Citizen, Patriot, Libertarian] [[email protected] ] [Speaking only for myself... ] -- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: [email protected] Address Off-Topic messages to: [email protected] The Silver List and Off Topic List archives are currently down... List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
