The importance of water cannot be overstated. As a vital part of our survival, we use it to produce food, clean our homes, and, less seriously, have fun with it. Water is something you don't think about until you're without it, even though it's a crucial part of everyday life.
Rainwater is useful for many things but drinking it directly from your rain barrel is not advised. A lack of clean water sources exists in some communities across the globe. It is possible, however, to find yourself without clean water even in developed countries. No matter whether you're experienced an unexpected power outage or you want to a water for your pool. There is something you can do to get a clean water from your rain barrel.
You may even save your life by making your own DIY water filter. By improvising a water filter, you can improve the taste of groundwater or lake water as well as remove sediment and harmful contaminants. You can make a charcoal water filter at home very easily by following these instructions. However, you first have to learn how to make charcoal at home.
You need the right tools, equipment, and wood logs to make charcoal. The following is the detailed list of requirements.
Gather The tools
Charcoal can be made with an ax or chainsaw, a metal drum with a lid, and a tree. To make charcoal, gather the following materials.
Find And Cut The Wood
For different types of charcoal, you need different types of wood. Most people use lump charcoal, but you can also use briquettes. How do they differ? A hardwood like oak, hickory, beech, and others will be needed to make lump charcoal. There is an irregular shape to the charcoal once it has been formed.
They can burn less evenly and take longer to burn depending on their size. In addition to coal dust and wood chips, other wood by-products are often used in the production of charcoal briquettes, including coconut shells, groundnut shells, etc. When burned, they produce less heat, so they are less common.
The tree needs to be chopped into pieces about four inches long. You should split them if they have a wider diameter. When making charcoal, it is easier to burn wood logs quickly if they have been chopped and split. Charcoal-making is most effective when the wood has been well-cured.
Locate The Fire
Burning charcoal in your backyard is allowed or you may burn it elsewhere if it is allowed by law. If you plan to set up a site, check the regulations in your area first.
Consider the wind direction when choosing your backyard. Open windows that let smoke into your house seem somewhat unsettling, doesn't it? The smoke generated during wood burning should be carried away by the wind if you choose an appropriate location.
Steps To Make Charcoal From One Metal Drum
Lump charcoal can be made with one drum. Your products are ready to use in just 4 steps. The steps involved in this process are as follows:
· The prepared wood should be filled into the drum.
· The barrel should be covered with firewood and piled around it.
· Hours can pass while the bonfire burns continuously.
· Taking it out of the barrel and finishing it up.
To ensure a successful outcome, you must closely follow the steps. In addition to its energy content, charcoal made this way can also be used in grills and stoves. It's true, but only if you have hardwood.
Fill The Drum With The Prepared Wood
In the previous section, we assumed you had your logs or chunks of wood ready. As soon as they are stacked in the metal drum, it is time to lock them in. Leave as few air spaces as possible in the drum when filling it with wood. Proceed to the next step after filling it with wood pieces to the top.
The barrel should be covered with firewood and piled around it.
Under limited oxygen supply, the wood is burned in a drum covered with a lid. The gas must escape and the oxygen must be reduced in order for the process to be sustained. Make sure it remains in place, but that it is not airtight. The drum should be loosened if there isn't any steam coming from it.
Burn The Bonfire Continuously For Hours
Additional dry wood can be used to light the bonfire or heat the drum. Prepare an outdoor fireplace specifically for this purpose and light a fire under the drum. You should be able to fit your drum just inside the fireplace's top hole. Depending on the size of the drum, let the fire burn for three to five hours.
Finishing Up And Remove It From The Barrel
The drum should be cooled down and completely burnt out before being touched. Enjoy your work by removing the lid. The drum will be filled with high quality lumps of charcoal you can use for building a gravity base filtration.
Easy DIY Charcoal Water Filter Process
As well as charcoal, you will need a cylinder container like a bucket or two-liter soda bottle cut at the bottom, a large stone, grass or sand, and a completely cooled flame from a campfire or grill. Moreover, you can use this DIY Water Filtration process to make the rain water safe and drinkable.
Step 1: Craft a funnel
The funnel will serve as the filter for your DIY charcoal water filter. The leaf or bark of a tree can be used for this purpose. The cap of a soda bottle should point toward the bottom if it is used upside down. The bottle cap must be punched to allow water to pass through.
Step 2: Add charcoal
After you've prepared your mechanism, crush your charcoal using the stone, then place it in the funnel. As soon as the charcoal is piled on top of the sand or grass, it will aid the process of filtering.
Step 3: Filter the water
After that, pour the water from the lake or ground into the funnel. A slow filtering process will allow the water to enter the container. The process should be repeated until you reach the desired clarity of the water. To eliminate any remaining microscopic contaminants, boil the filtered water after filtering for a few minutes.
How does a gravity water filter work?
The gravity filter is much easier to work with if you are going to use it. Gravity is the mechanism that makes it work. A gravity water filter has two compartments - the upper compartment and the lower compartment.
First, the upper compartment is filled with water. In the filtration system, gravity is used to pass the water through. As a final step, the lower compartment contains the purified, safe drinking water. The upper compartment may also have a strainer. The gravity water filter works without electricity, gas, or fuel.
FAQs
Is charcoal the same as coal?
Natural minerals, like coal, are formed over millions of years, while manmade products, like charcoal, are made from wood. Barbecues and smokers never use coal alone in their natural state, but add it to charcoal briquettes so they have more energy density.