5 ms·

We bought a counter-top distiller 15+ years ago and are never going back. If fact, I think we have worn out 3 now. Highly recommend.

mrfusion 8y ago
Can you link to it? I guess a distiller gets all chemicals out.
- chihuahua 8y ago
  It seems that a distiller would remove those chemicals whose boiling point is above the boiling point of water.
  - tryptophan 8y ago
    Low boiling point compounds, like say benzene, would just evaporate and then condense with your water into your final product. Distillers get rid of heavy things that don't boil, like metals and large contaminants like bacteria and their waste products. A carbon filter would get rid of the organics and low-boiling point things. So optimal water purification would first use a carbon filter, and then distill the output of that. Make sure to add minerals to the final product though. Pure water is a vicious solvent and will slowly melt your teeth away. It will also become quite acidic after sucking CO2 out of the air, so consider adding some pH balancing salts too.
    - dbcurtis 8y ago
      The distiller I use has carbon filter packs at the output of the distillation chiller (at the top of each carafe where the water enters).
- dbcurtis 8y ago
  Basically an earlier version of this beastie: https://waterwise.com/?product=waterwise-3200-countertop-distiller https://waterwise.com/?product=waterwise-3200-countertop-dis... I suspect that this one is identical for all practical purposes.
oskkejdjdkjd 8y ago
Distilling the water won’t remove the chemical.
- etatoby 8y ago
  And it will remove minerals, making the water unhealthy. Drinking distilled water is a horrible idea.
  - andai 8y ago
    Does tap water contain the optimal amount of each mineral? How does it compare to spring water? Is solid food devoid of minerals?
    - freehunter 8y ago
      It doesn't matter if you're drinking the "optimal" amount of minerals, distilled water has none so it leeches those minerals out of your body as you drink it. Drinking distilled water leaves you with less calcium and iron and etc than you had before you drank it.
  - dbcurtis 8y ago
    So, you think I should be drinking water pumped out of the ground in Silicon Valley? First of all, the amount of naturally occurring mercury is very high. (The Almaden Quicksilver mine was the largest cinnabar strike west of the Mississippi, if not largest in North America.) Then there is 50 years of semiconductor fabrication. I'll take my chances with distilled, thanks.
    - freehunter 8y ago
      ... do you know what distilled water is? It's very different from filtered or reverse osmosis water. You can get filtered water in a water bottle that's not distilled water. Dasani, Fiji, Aquafina, Smart, etc... that's filtered water. Distilled water is really really bad to drink. It's acidic, has zero minerals, and has no electrolytes so it will not hydrate you.

mrfusion 8y ago

Can you link to it? I guess a distiller gets all chemicals out.

chihuahua 8y ago
It seems that a distiller would remove those chemicals whose boiling point is above the boiling point of water.
- tryptophan 8y ago
  Low boiling point compounds, like say benzene, would just evaporate and then condense with your water into your final product. Distillers get rid of heavy things that don't boil, like metals and large contaminants like bacteria and their waste products. A carbon filter would get rid of the organics and low-boiling point things. So optimal water purification would first use a carbon filter, and then distill the output of that. Make sure to add minerals to the final product though. Pure water is a vicious solvent and will slowly melt your teeth away. It will also become quite acidic after sucking CO2 out of the air, so consider adding some pH balancing salts too.
  - dbcurtis 8y ago
    The distiller I use has carbon filter packs at the output of the distillation chiller (at the top of each carafe where the water enters).
dbcurtis 8y ago
Basically an earlier version of this beastie: https://waterwise.com/?product=waterwise-3200-countertop-distiller https://waterwise.com/?product=waterwise-3200-countertop-dis... I suspect that this one is identical for all practical purposes.

oskkejdjdkjd 8y ago

Distilling the water won’t remove the chemical.

etatoby 8y ago
And it will remove minerals, making the water unhealthy. Drinking distilled water is a horrible idea.
- andai 8y ago
  Does tap water contain the optimal amount of each mineral? How does it compare to spring water? Is solid food devoid of minerals?
  - freehunter 8y ago
    It doesn't matter if you're drinking the "optimal" amount of minerals, distilled water has none so it leeches those minerals out of your body as you drink it. Drinking distilled water leaves you with less calcium and iron and etc than you had before you drank it.
- dbcurtis 8y ago
  So, you think I should be drinking water pumped out of the ground in Silicon Valley? First of all, the amount of naturally occurring mercury is very high. (The Almaden Quicksilver mine was the largest cinnabar strike west of the Mississippi, if not largest in North America.) Then there is 50 years of semiconductor fabrication. I'll take my chances with distilled, thanks.
  - freehunter 8y ago
    ... do you know what distilled water is? It's very different from filtered or reverse osmosis water. You can get filtered water in a water bottle that's not distilled water. Dasani, Fiji, Aquafina, Smart, etc... that's filtered water. Distilled water is really really bad to drink. It's acidic, has zero minerals, and has no electrolytes so it will not hydrate you.