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Lately I have been thinking about designing and building a solar-powered water distiller that would be placed close to my house in my backyard.

One thought that I have is installing a bypass valve on the pipe coming up from my sump pump so I can redirect the water being pumped by the sump pump through another pipe that will go out to a large water storage tank in my back yard. This water would then be fed into the solar-powered water distiller and the fresh water produced from this distiller would go into another large water storage tank in my backyard.

The primary concern I have about using sump pump water for a solar distiller is the issue of Radon gas. Assuming that there is Radon gas contained within the sump pump water, when the solar distiller causes the sump pump water to boil and turn into water vapor, will the Radon gas within this boiling water be released and transferred along with the water vapor over to the fresh water tank?

As a secondary question to this, if this is something that will occur, is there a special filter that I can buy which will filter out all the Radon gas so none of it gets into the fresh water tank?

I would like to avoid drinking any radioactive fresh water.

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    Can you test the sump water for radon? It would be best to determine if you need this operation rather than assume it. You can purchase radon test kits. – J. Ari Jan 12 '23 at 22:20
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    For Radon removal, a local water authority should be able to give you info. You can also review this: https://extension.psu.edu/reducing-radon-in-drinking-water – J. Ari Jan 12 '23 at 22:24
  • @J.Ari, I checked out the article that you posted and found out that I can get a Radon testing kit from the Home Depot. So, I guess what I can do is periodically test the level of Radon in the water inside of my fresh water tank before consuming any of it. I also found out that there are carbon-based water filters that remove Radon from water. –  Jan 12 '23 at 23:08
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    I would test your water now (or whenever feasible) to see if you will have this problem at all. But if you think there's it will be an issue in the future, I think the testing should be done on the water before it is distilled. That way you can quarantine a batch of feedwater before you risk contaminating a batch of clean water. The more expensive but more robust design option would be to install the Radon remediation device upfront and just keep up with its maintenance. – J. Ari Jan 13 '23 at 15:54

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