Atmospheric Water Generator – Air to Water H2O Machine

Who Makes This Atmospheric Water Generator?

While the Air to Water Machine may be a recent player in the market, the brand is a subsidiary of Real Spirit USA. This company is mostly known for making air purifiers and water ionizers for both residential and industrial users. With Air to Water, they’re applying their experience in air and water filtration to water generation.

How Does This Water Generator Work?

One of the issues when setting up a refrigeration system, whether it’s used in an air conditioner or a freezer, is condensation. When air passes through the evaporator, its temperature drops below its dew point. Some of the water falls out of suspension, and has to be drained off.

An atmospheric water generator like the H20 Machine turns this problem into a solution for sourcing water. It’s designed to pass air through a cooling system, capture the condensation, and filter it for drinking. That means you can make safe drinking water anywhere that has moist air and electricity.

Where Will the H2O Machine Work, and How Much Water Does it Produce?

The Air to Water machine needs air with at least 30% humidity, and an ambient temperature of 50°F or higher to work. This machine can capture up to 20 gallons (70 liters) of water per day. The on-board storage tank holds 3.5 gallons (13 liters) of clean water.

Temperature determines how much moisture the air can hold, so it has a larger effect than humidity on water production. At 40% humidity, you’ll only get 5 gallons of water per day when temperatures are in the 50s. However, if the air is over 85°F, this machine can capture over 15 gallons of water per day. Going from 40 to 80% humidity roughly doubles output at any temperature. The H2O machine has built-in temperature and humidity sensors to monitor the air. It turns off automatically when humidity or temperature is too low for water generation, conserving power.

This H2O machine won’t work in most of the southwest, due to the area’s low humidity. It also won’t work during the in winter in most areas. However, across most of the country, you can expect this generator to work fine from spring to fall.

Setting Up the Air to Water H2O Machine

This generator is divided into two sections. The water generator and primary storage tank are housed in a 21 x 21 x 37 inch box. Collected water is sent to a second box measuring 19 x 20 x 23 inches. This box contains most of the water filtration system, as well as the clean water storage tank. The weight of the entire generator, including both boxes, is 145 lbs. These boxes are connected by a water line and a power/data cable. There’s also a water line that goes from the clean water tank to the spigot, which mounts to the side of the filtration box.

All the parts you need for setup come with this generator, and the lines and cables are designed so parts can be disconnected and reconnected repeatedly. The installation kit includes several feet of water hose, which you can cut to length to fit your installation. The hoses are held in connections using C-clips. A tool is included to remove these clips, so you can disconnect the boxes before moving them.

Along with the hose connections, you’ll need to bolt a small faucet onto the right side of the clean water tank housing. This faucet can be adjusted to point any direction before being bolted down. The storage tank also connects to the water generator via a Cat5 cable. This allows the transfer of power and data between the two components. You’ll need to provide your own tools to attach the spigot and cut the water lines.

The water generator needs a ½ gallon of clean water to prime the system on startup, and to flush out loose carbon in filters. While this water is safe to drink once it passes through the filtration system, the carbon will make it taste terrible.

Advanced Pure Air recommends running the machine for at least 24 hours when it’s first set up. If you plan on using this system in remote areas, you should set it up at home first, where you have access to clean water and steady electrical power for this break-in period.

Using this AWG

The H2O machine must be under a roof to prevent rain from making direct contact. If water gets on the refrigerated side of the generator, it can freeze on contact.

When the generator is running, condensed water from the evaporator goes to a holding tank in the base of the unit. Once this tank has a half gallon of water inside, it’s pumped to the second unit. Here, the water is filtered to remove contaminates. It has a 5 stage filtration system with carbon filters that need to be replaced yearly. The water generated by this machine has a pH between 7 and 8.5.

The Air2Water generator has sensors for humidity and temperature, as well as the water levels in both storage tanks. If the temperature or humidity is outside of the machine’s operating range, or the filtered water tank is full, it goes into standby mode. Lights on the generator let you know when the machine is on, and when the filtered water tank is full.

The AWG is compatible with the Vector smartphone app. Using this app, you can check the humidity level and temperature at the unit, turn it on and off, check the filter life and storage tank level, monitor power use and order replacement filters directly from the manufacturer. This app is currently available for Android, while an iOS version is in development. The Air2Water uses WiFi for its internet connection, so once it’s set up, you can check on it from anywhere. However, that also means you need a working internet connection to use these features. There’s not Bluetooth option for local monitoring.

The Air2Water generator requires 1,700 watts (approximately 15 amps) of power. It’s “solar ready,” which means it can shut off when power drops off, then resume when power is available again. You still need a source for 120 volt alternating current to power the water generator. This is easy enough to set up with a solar power station and a set of panels.

Warranty

The H20 machine comes with a 10 year warranty on the compressor, and 5 years on everything else. The company says the expected life of this generator is around 15 years.