I've been looking to start a morning dew collector, any suggestions?

[Aliquido]

I live in California, so for obvious reasons i've been looking to conserve water and i've been looking at a morning dew collector. Any building tips or suggestions?

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

10 hours ago, Aliquido said:

I live in California, so for obvious reasons i've been looking to conserve water and i've been looking at a morning dew collector. Any building tips or suggestions?

Time of year and location will dictate.  Santa Anna season in SoCal will not be a good time to play with this.

Something like this, perhaps: Fog & Dew Collectors for clean drinking water (inhabitat.com)

(Although, tbh, when I played around with this two decades ago, I found that a black Home Depot garbage bag, a small stone and a coffee can did a fair job)

[Aliquido]

 Thanks, I think I'll try the garbage bag, stone and coffee can first. I also checked out the link and its seems pretty good.

 

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

12 minutes ago, Aliquido said:

 Thanks, I think I'll try the garbage bag, stone and coffee can first. I also checked out the link and its seems pretty good.

 

good luck.  That kind of stuff is fun, and knowing how to get water in a pinch is a great skill.  You might also look into capturing transpiration from trees - also with a garbage bag and a stone. Plastic Bag Water Collection System : 5 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables

w/r/t dew collection: dont forget to use coathanger wire!  

 

Also: I've done this: it works!

Desert Survival: How to Build a Solar Still - DesertUSA

Plus, in a pinch you can cut up a bunch of local vegetation and line the hole to improve your water collection.  Like cactuses.  (Don't generally drink cactus juice directly: you will get the hershey squirts, and that's worse for your survivability than anything) -- Just make sure the veggies don't touch the top of the bag or the inside of your collection setup)

Edited October 20, 2022 by JoeSchmuckatelli

[Nuke]

i once knew an engineer. he built a shop off the side of his house. because of the heat differential and near 100% humidity that comes with southeast alaska, we had to devise a drainage system for the condensation. his prediction for where the condensation line would form was spot on. we just hung a section of rain gutter, hung it from the ceiling on chains at an angle, and put a hose fitting in the end cap. the hose was then routed through the wall and out the shop. would make a cool ice formation in winter. 

i figure the trick was having a clean definition between the cold side and the hot side. in our case it was the point at which the roof was extended, as the shop wasn't insulated and the house was. so i figure the best bet is to put a hard split between the cold side and the hot side. hang a line between two posts, throw a tarp over it. put the hot side facing sunward, shade and insulate the cold side. angle it steeply so that the water droplets will drip down into a collection trough (this could just be a pvc pipe with a quarter cut out of it). the sides will need to be covered partially to contain the humidity gradient.