When I first thought about building a home here, one of the ideas that was very appealing to me was living as self sufficient as possible. To start a house from scratch with the idea that my home would not be reliant on town water, sewage or electricity and should a hurricane hit to be up and running as quickly as possible.
This in mind I have been doing some research on home R/O and was surprised at how inexpensive a compact, ready to install wall mount unit can be purchased for. And it seems, well, quite straight forward. The one I am reading about is a 1/2hp 150GPD unit and costs just under 1700$USD. This is a model designed for water front properties, using ocean water from source.
I was just wondering if anyone here has installed one, or has one in their home. Or invented their own method of purifying ocean water. Not to levels of drinking water, just to be able to shower with it, use it in the washing machine and toilet and irrigate a garden. what are some of the problems that arise from installation pains to usage and such? Did anyone couple it with solar water heating? Has anyone tried a garden hose method of heating water? Pitfalls? It just seems like there so many opportunities to try out ideas and such here. I guess I am looking for any feedback on living "off-grid" so to speak. Right now this is just out of curiousity, but in a year or two who knows. A gal can dream right.....?