GX-8 water vaporator

For other uses, see water.

The GX-8 water vaporator was the most common type of moisture vaporator used on the arid world of Tatooine. It was manufactured by Pretormin Environmental.^[2]

Characteristics

The GX-8 was a model of moisture vaporator manufactured by Pretormin Environmental.^[1] A roughly cylindrical apparatus that stood between three to five meters tall,^[2] the GX-8 projected a low-powered ion field, and employed refrigerated cylinders and chilling bars to cool the atmosphere surrounding the unit. The condensation that was created collected on the chilled surface of the vaporator, and ran down the unit to be collected in a collection chamber.^[1] The water was then analyzed, checking for any impurities,^[2] before the moisture was pumped into a large, underground storage tank. The vaporator could create moisture in the most barren, arid environments, where the humidity levels could be as low as 1.35 percent.^[1]

Vaporators such as the GX-8 were programmed using binary. An integrated control computer could automatically adjust the ionization and refrigeration levels emanating from the GX-8,^[1] taking readings from basic sensors installed in the unit.^[2] Local atmospheric conditions were accounted for such as windspeed and temperature,^[1] and the computer could alter the intensity of the ion field or the temperature of the chilling bar. Vaporators were designed to operate with a high-level of self-sufficiency, requiring only a small amount of power to run its systems. The GX-8's energy cells were recharged by deployable solar panels.^[2]

Despite being designed to operate in arid and barren environments, sand was the greatest challenge to a vaporator's operation. Sand could block the vaporator's sensors, foul its lubricants and clog the refrigeration machinery. Sand had to be removed on a regular basis, and hours could be spent on cleaning out vaporator's internal mechanisms.^[2]

The GX-8 vaporators could gather around one and a half liters of water per day, and were spaced at least two hundred and fifty meters apart from each other to achieve this goal. In drier areas, such as near the Dune Sea on the planet Tatooine vaporators had to be spaced at least five hundred meters apart to gather the same amount of water.^[1]

On Tatooine, the GX-8 was the most common model of moisture vaporator used, with moisture farms across the desert ranging from Mos Taike to Wayfar. The area around the base of the unit tended to be moist and dark, and was nicknamed the "mushroom patch" because Tatooine mushrooms could grow in the sand.^[2]

However, these vaporators were difficult to hide from vagrant scavengers, Tusken Raiders, and Jawas. Storage tanks were protected with security locks, but they could be broken into by melee weapons such as gaderffii sticks.^[2]