CANA Provisions AR-1: A Transportable Water Pump for Overlanding and Survival

Unhealthy conditions are sometimes the inspiration for good concepts. In 2008, Zach, the founding father of CANA Provisions, was working alongside Engineers With out Borders in Cameroon. This African nation was torn aside by a long time of financial disaster, warfare, and illness. Clear water — a useful resource most of us take without any consideration day by day — was troublesome to acquire in rural areas, and this led to outbreaks of preventable sicknesses akin to typhoid. Zach’s staff labored to construct and set up water assortment and remedy techniques within the village of Nkuv, however he ultimately returned dwelling to America, the place such techniques did not appear important. However 12 years later, whereas collaborating in a Tactical City Sustainment Course (TUSC) on the revered coaching middle often known as the Direct Motion Useful resource Heart (DARC), Zach realized that a few of his prior expertise was nonetheless related for emergency preparedness. This led him to develop the CANA Provisions AR-1, a conveyable water pump that is designed to assist households and small teams acquire clear water extra effectively.

Growth of the CANA Provisions AR-1

To grasp the AR-1, it is necessary to grasp the occasion that sparked its creation. DARC TUSC is a week-long course that “addresses a number of the ways and strategies that could possibly be utilized by a small cohesive group to safe their belongings and survive throughout a interval of political, social and financial instability with localized recurrent ranges of violence the place the rule of legislation is absent or nearly nonexistent.” Many who’ve made it by way of the TUSC program take into account it a harrowing however enlightening expertise, and this was definitely the case for Zach. He refers to his expertise as “an train in human struggling” — a serious wake-up name in regards to the actuality of catastrophe preparedness.

Above: In emergencies, bottled water costs usually skyrocket, if it is accessible in any respect. It is a good suggestion to have a backup plan for acquiring giant portions of water from a close-by supply.

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Considered one of Zach’s duties throughout TUSC was to acquire and purify sufficient water for his entire staff. He rapidly realized that scooping water from the swamp, filtering out the sediment and particles, and purifying it within the subject to provide 10 to fifteen gallons of protected ingesting water per day was unimaginable with the tools he introduced. This was an enormous downside, and one which remained on his thoughts after the category ended.

Water assortment and purification requires stream from the supply to the clear water container. Hand pumps and filter bottles might be efficient for smaller quantities of water, however producing giant quantities is tedious and labor-intensive. Gravity filters are an alternative choice, however they’re painfully sluggish and delicate to clogged filters.

Above: The chassis was designed to help the pump and fittings for standalone use in harsh environments.

With a purpose to speed up the method, Zach started experimenting with numerous commercially-available water pumps. Many current pumps might produce adequate water stream, however have been designed for in-place use or everlasting set up. Cellular use would require a extra sturdy, rugged housing. These off-the-shelf pumps have been additionally designed to run on clear, secure electrical energy — akin to what you may get from a wall outlet — and lacked the digital “mind” obligatory to simply accept energy from quite a lot of cell sources (automobile batteries, Objective Zero energy stations, and so forth.). So, Zach used his engineering information to develop a variable-pressure, diaphragm-based water pump system that could possibly be used virtually anyplace on Earth.

AR-1 Options

The CANA Provisions AR-1 is described as “all the things you want in a single package to get began transferring water.”  The product description continues, “From supply to container, container to container, pressurizing a pre-plumbed system, or feeding a filter — transferring water is what the AR-1 does. No extra hand pumping, no extra siphoning, no extra dunking containers within the pond.” The package will function the inspiration for a modular ecosystem of water assortment and purification elements to be provided by CANA Provisions.

The AR-1 pump is contained in an impact-resistant chassis with IP65 dust-proof and weather-resistant seals. It options Anderson 15-45A electrical connectors, a user-serviceable 10A fuse, and all of the electronics obligatory to securely regulate energy from quite a lot of off-grid sources. The pump pulls solely 3.5A at 12V throughout regular operation, so it may simply run on a conveyable energy station akin to a Objective Zero Yeti or every other 12V type battery (LiPo, LiFePO4, Li-Ion, SLA, AGM). Constructed-in vibration dampeners enable it to function virtually silently, even when it is hard-mounted to a trailer or overland truck.

To feed the CANA Provisions AR-1, you may want to attach the included quick-detach 10-foot inlet hose and drop the top into a close-by water supply. Then, join the outlet hose through one other QD socket, route it into your most popular water container, and flip the ability change on the pump. The AR-1 produces roughly 3 gallons (or 11.3 liters) per minute of water stream, and its twin in-line strainers filter out particles and particles. Strain is adjustable as much as 55psi.

In the event you’re planning to make use of the water for ingesting or washing, you also needs to move it by way of a secondary air purifier (such because the LifeSaver Jerrycan) to eradicate micro organism and different waterborne pathogens. Chemical purification, boiling, or distillation are additionally viable choices. In any of those circumstances, the AR-1 eliminates the exhausting activity of scooping and pre-filtering buckets of water to feed the air purifier.

Constructing an Ecosystem

CANA Provisions describes the AR-1 because the “first and most vital element of the modular CANA Ecosystem.” Though we’re not capable of announce particulars but, we have heard that the corporate is working to develop equipment that may streamline the water purification course of, permitting customers to ultimately pump straight from a grimy supply right into a clear water tank. The AR-1 may be used to rapidly pressurize water vessels for rinsing gear, from surfboards to mountain bikes, or might even be used to generate water strain for an overland trailer or tiny dwelling. We’re trying ahead to seeing how this ecosystem evolves to cowl extra purposes.

For extra info on the brand new CANA Provisions AR-1, go to CANA-Provisions.com.

Written by Patrick McCarthy