Does anyone here on The Pit have a home water distiller they would recommend? We have been buying 1 gallon jugs at local supermarkets, but the costs are getting outrageous. Since we use quite a lot, mainly for coffee and wife's drinking water (and my cigar humidor!), I thought having a home device would be a big improvement. Anyone want to help my MCS?
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I don't have one but would like to know about it. -
Yeah, water. I'm sure. You must have had a big corn crop this year.Comment
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GolfGeezer I think Jim White is referring to the act of making 'shine, hooch, homemade, corn whisky, white lightning, or corn in a jar. A still is a still regardless of what one is distilling :-) -
Jim White and I come from a long family line where the people who arrived at Ellis Island changed our names from Whitelightning to White. It was shorter that way :-)
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We had a home reverse osmosis filter and the small faucet that comes with it installed earlier this year. I don’t know how distilling could get the water any cleaner. The World Health Organization is all concerned about them because they take all the minerals out of the water. The wife uses it for coffee and I use it for ice tea, drinking water, and cooking, we have no complaints. It’s a small unit with a 3 gallon reservoir but can refill its self in short order. Ours is a GE unit that with installation and an extra set of filters was less than $400.00. With us using a water softener up stream of the RO unit we haven’t had to change filters yet. It’s worth looking into.
PS the unit uses water to clean its filters as it works. When the tank is refilling you will hear water running into the sink drain below the sink. If I remember right it will use 3 gallons to clean itself for every 3 gallons it filters. If I take 2 gallons out it will be full and ready to go again in about 30 minutes. That’s why we have a small one for drinking and cooking only. I feel it’s worth the extra water used for what I’m getting in return.Last edited by Oak Smoke; December 6, 2023, 12:59 PM.Comment
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When we bought our house it had a RO system, also downstream of the water softener, and I really like it. The water always tastes fresh even if it’s been sitting in a cup or bottle for awhile. I probably wouldn’t have ever thought of having one put in but now that I have one I wouldn’t ever want to go back. -
I have a single stage water filter with a dispenser tap on the back corner my kitchen sink, and have thought of switching it out for an RO filtration system. We make all our coffee, tea and do our cooking with the filtered water, and it tastes much better. But I don't waste filter life on stuff like washing dishes.
It is normal for RO systems to consume water on a 4:1 or even worse ratio. I.e. 1 gallon out for every 4+ gallons in. If yours is 2:1, that is really good.
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How much distilled water do you use per week? I have read that a cup of distilled water is roughly 2 cents per cup, but the time you factor in the equipment, time, effort, and descaling the equipment it a lot more effort than it is worth. Wal-mart, and we are at the end of the supply chain, is only $1.25 gallon. We use 2 or so gallons a week for medical supplies, so while on the margin it might make financial sense with all things being equal (which they never are). I have better ways to use my time than distilling, bottling, storing, and cleaning the still vs. smoking...Comment
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Coffee is best with filtered water, not distilled water. You DO want distilled and pg for the humidor. I have several, 2 larger ones, and a travel one.Comment
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We have this one for my cpap machine and floor mop.
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I only buy distilled water for my CPAP machine, and get a couple gallons a month. I think the best way to get distilled water is probably one of those electric counter top systems folks have posted links to above, but at $1 per gallon, it would take me something like 4-5 years to make up the cost of that water distiller.
The final results of RO and distillation are effectively the same - water with all the minerals and other contaminants removed. If you just need a gallon at a time, a couple of times a week, the electric counter top distiller at $80-100 is probably the most cost effective, not counting the electricity it uses. Any RO system is going to be $300-400+ up front, and maybe half that in replacement filter costs on a periodic basis.Comment
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Thanks for all the tips folks. Turns out SWMBO has put the kabosh on getting an appliance. She would rather just buy the gallon jugs (ripoff!!!), so back to being the porter lugging the jugs…..
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I will comment that you are probably wasting it by using it for coffee or tea. I would buy a water filter or even Pur or similar pitcher to filter water for those purposes. The carbon block filters eliminate chlorine and most taste and odor issues. They will not eliminate lead or other type contaminants however. However, unless you live somewhere like Flint, MI, that is probably not a big issue.
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jfmorris If it were my decision, I wouldn’t be doing anything special for drinking, coffee, tea or otherwise. However, this is her thing and has been for over 40 years. So, on to other things. Thanks for all the feedback and info.
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You can get RO/DI filters from any aquarium or pet supply place. But these filters will create about 3 - 4 gallons of waste water for every gallon of filtered water. That is just how RO works. Steam distillers are more efficient as far was water use goes, but require more energy to boil the water.
Homebrewing stores will have distillers, which will have vastly more capacity than a plug in thing from Amazon.
But really, why distilled? For the cigar humidor that makes sense. But for coffee and drinking water you really do not want distilled. You CAN drink it, but as soon as it touched coffee all the "benefits" of distillation are undone. You can drink it, but unless you use distilled water to make ice as well then you are also undoing it. Not to mention that in nature pure water does not exist, all water on the planet will have minerals and/or ionic compounds in it. As soon as it touches anything. Therefore if you drink a pint of it, it could cause an electrolyte imbalance. Not that it will, just that it can.
Sounds like you really just want a good in-line water filter to me.Comment
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I got a Vevor 1 gallon unit at HD for my aquarium.
Well water and fish don't get along very well. (see what I did there?)
Only costs me 30 cents per gallon. (we have cheap power)
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I would recommend a distiller like the one Smoker_Boy suggested. I've been distilling water with the same distiller for about 18 years and this one is an updated version of the one I have. VEVOR is a name, but the same one is also sold under different brands. 1000's of gallons from the same device, no exaggeration. I lost the bottle that it came with in the first year, so I just rigged up a vinyl tube that fits on the spout.
I highly recommend getting some descaler (I use Urnex commercial stuff, Dezcal), which will help it run more efficiently.
One more suggestion: run it inside in the winter, and outside in the summer.
+1 for texastweeter 's comment about coffee; best way to ruin a pot of coffee is to used distilled water.Comment
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Smoker_Boy , great idea. Our water is very hard, so in our case vinegar doesn't cut it, literally. I've also tried vinegar and citric acid, but Dezcal, which I used extensively in the coffee industry, works the best in our area. -
HotSun Never heard of that. How much do you use in your distiller? Or coffee maker? -
Smoker_Boy , one packet of Dezcal per 32oz of water in a home (non commercial) brewer. I descale it monthly. For the distiller, I use the same amount/ratio, as the scale is generally just at the bottom of the distiller. I operate the distiller without the top section attached, just bring it to a boil for a while. For our espresso machine, I use Cafiza tablets rather than the Dezcal powder. I hope this helps!
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