Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

After moving to a village that didn't appear to be so gruesome, Gu Lang arrived at an agricultural technology service station.

The blue iron gate here was forcibly pried open and is leaning to one side.

It looked like it had already been ransacked; the office was a complete mess.

The computer screen was tilted to one side, and farmer files and land data were scattered on the ground.

After checking around to make sure no one was there, Gu Lang closed the door and headed straight for the equipment room.

I found a soil nutrient rapid tester, a pH meter, a soil moisture meter, a water quality test kit, and rapid disease detection test strips, and packed them all into my backpack.

Next to it is the seed and seedling area, with several bags of vegetable and fruit seeds scattered on the ground. The packaging is printed with words such as "disease-resistant" and "high-yield". Grafted seedlings and virus-free seed potatoes are displayed on the shelves.

Upon opening the warehouse, one finds boxes of agricultural mulch film, insulating straw mats, and pruning tools.

There are even planting grow lights, manual sprayers, water-saving drip irrigation tape, and matching sprinklers.

There were so many good things that he didn't know what to take first.

"Don't bite off more than you can chew; we need to solve the transportation problem first!"

Gu Lang left the service station, intending to find a means of transportation.

Unfortunately, there aren't even any cars in the village, not even a single electric vehicle for the elderly.

Fortunately, he eventually found a pedicab under the tin shed of a remote house.

The condition wasn't too bad, just covered in a thick layer of dust and the tires were a bit flat.

After riding the broken tricycle back to the agricultural technology station, the next step was a tense yet joyful unloading operation.

In addition to the good stuff they just found, Gulang also obtained some pesticides, urea, compound fertilizer, bio-fertilizer, and plant growth regulators.

After finishing the compressed biscuits in his bag for lunch, he moved the agricultural technology station's refrigerator to the outdoor yard and began disassembling it.

The refrigeration system of a refrigerator consists of a compressor, condenser, capillary tube, and evaporator.

First, the refrigerant inside the compressor must be released, because the refrigerant charged in the refrigerator poses a risk of explosion.

Take the refrigerator in front of Gu Lang as an example. Its nameplate indicates "Refrigerant: R600a".

This means that isobutane, a flammable and explosive hydrocarbon refrigerant, is used, which is also the most mainstream environmentally friendly and efficient refrigerant at present.

Similarly, R290 propane refrigerant is also dangerous, as it will explode when exposed to an open flame.

R134a hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant, which has high safety, has been gradually phased out of the market due to its high energy consumption.

After turning on the pressure valve, Gu Lang moved away from the refrigerator.

Just as the gas dissipated and he was about to disconnect the compressor from the copper pipe, he unexpectedly discovered a section of iron pipe at the connection point.

"Heh, that's a really clever design, is it a planned obsolescence?"

This section of iron pipe is located right at the bottom water collection tray, and it is covered in rust due to long-term immersion in condensate.

If it continues to be used, it will rust through in a few years, causing refrigerant leakage and damage to the refrigerator.

This is a typical tactic of using planned obsolescence to create an incremental market, which is one of the reasons why home appliances are becoming less durable.

After cursing the unscrupulous merchant a few times, he picked up a screwdriver and continued disassembling the refrigerator.

Remove all the screws securing the back panel, peel off the plastic sheet to expose the coiled copper tubes of the condenser.

The next step is the most difficult and violent stage, which requires dissecting the enclosure to obtain the evaporator copper tubes hidden in the insulation layer.

Gu Lang removed the refrigerator door hinges and took out all the drawers and shelves.

By forcefully breaking the inner wall of the evaporator, the copper tubes, capillary tubes, and return pipes of the evaporator are exposed.

The yellow polyurethane foam insulation layer was forcibly broken open, and the coiled copper pipe was finally removed.

He rode the tricycle, which was packed full and whose chassis was visibly sunken, and immediately returned to the shore.

After all the supplies were loaded onto the ship, it was already 5:30 p.m.

After waiting for another half hour, the tide finally came in.

Gu Lang turned the engine crank and steered the small boat back to the sandbar.

With all the materials ready and after some simple repairs, the production of the seawater distillation desalination unit began immediately.

Thanks to the previously acquired wave energy generation device, the yacht has an ample power supply.

So he chose to use an electric cooker as the heating solution, and after removing the internal resistance heating element, he installed it at the bottom of the canteen's soup bucket.

Three holes were drilled in the lid of the soup pot. The hole in the center was smaller, just big enough for the refrigerator copper pipe to pass through, serving as a steam outlet.

The other two large holes are located on the edge of the pot lid; they are the seawater inlet and the salt cleaning inlet, respectively.

This completes the basic process of using an evaporator to boil seawater.

The next step was the condenser. With the help of his hands and pliers, he bent and shaped the middle part of the refrigerator's copper tubes.

They are coiled up in circles to form a spiral coil, increasing the heat dissipation area.

Then it is fixed in an empty diesel drum, and after the drum is filled with seawater, the steam cooling part is complete.

Next, fix one end of the copper tube into the hole in the top cover of the evaporator, and connect the other end to the water collection container.

The basic framework of the coil-type coil-cooled still has been successfully constructed.

The seawater in the pot boiled, producing a large amount of steam.

The only way for water vapor to escape is to enter the coil.

When high-temperature steam flows inside the coil, it is surrounded by cold cooling seawater and will quickly condense into liquid water.

Under the influence of gravity, this pure water will flow out from the outlet of the coil and into the water collection container.

The biggest challenge was sealing it, and Gu Lang directly used the repair tool kit obtained from the life raft.

Life rafts sometimes face the risk of bursting during inflation, so they are equipped with a variety of adhesive and leak-sealing materials.

It comes equipped with strong adhesive, special repair cloth, rubber plugs, and clamps, all of which are excellent sealing materials.

Gu Lang carefully filled all the gaps. The process was tedious and tested his patience, as even the smallest leak would greatly reduce efficiency.

By the time the last connector was completely secured with clamps, it was already evening.

He wiped the sweat from his face, his eyes tired yet full of excitement.

Next, the filtered seawater was pumped into the evaporator and the heating module was turned on.

After a long heating process, a crisp "tick" sounded.

A clear drop of water struggled to drip from the end of the copper pipe into the bucket below.

Then, the second drop, the third drop... the water droplets gradually connected to form a silver line as thin as a hair.

Gu Lang stretched out his finger, caught the water droplet, and brought it to his lips.

"Pooh!"

A strange taste in the water made him choke and he quickly vomited.

The first batch of water that flowed out had the smell of residue from inside the copper pipe.

Gu Lang poured it directly into the sea, and after about 50 milliliters flowed out, the water finally tasted normal.

The entire seawater desalination equipment is made of stainless steel and copper pipes, without the use of lead-containing materials or plastic products, to prevent the release of toxic substances when heated.

Distillation produces water of extremely high purity, containing almost no minerals or salts.

He directly found the water quality test kit he obtained from the agricultural technology station, took out the 16-in-1 water quality test strips, and tested various data.

After confirming that there were no problems with the water quality, Gulang pumped the first batch of desalinated water into the yacht's water tank.