How to make distilled water

[ATCclears]

I'm starting to explore this topic more and came across this article with several ideas.
How to Make Distilled Water: 18 steps (with pictures) - wikiHow

Has anyone found plans or an article on how to build a larger unit to provide a larger volume of distilled water? I was thinking about something over a campfire.

Peter

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[MarkAd]

just look up how to build a still.

 

[lowly monk]

Solar still.

 

[So Low 2]

How about the Stovetec water pasteurizer.

Water Pasteurizer with WAPI

larger image StoveTec SS Water Pasteurizer
Retail Price: $55.95
NOW with FREE SHIPPING in the Continental US! Alaska, Hawaii, & Puerto Rico must call 541 515 4394 or email orders for USPS shipping and postal charges. All orders for Canada are processed by our Canada partner: The good news is we now have a distributor in Canada:

Stovetec Canada | Rocket Stove | Camping Stove | Emergency Cooking

Canadian phone number: 416 830 7772

Make safe drinking water on our rocket stove! The exciting news is we have added a pasteurization indicator to our pasteurizer. Remove water cap/knob assembly and inspect pasteurization indicator tube to verify the red wax has liquefied and dropped to bottom of pasteurization indicator tube. This indicates water has reached pasteurization temperature and is now safe to drink! Turn pasteurization assembly upside down on flat top and indicator wax will return to top of tube and solidify for next use.



Water pasteurization is a heat process used to kill harmful bacteria and make water safe to drink for human consumption. Heating water to 65º C (149º F) will kill all germs, viruses, and parasites. Pasteurization can be accomplished without having to bring the water to a boil. Paired with a StoveTec Rocket Stove, approximately 4 liters of water can be brought up to 65°C (149º F), the temperature required to pasteurize water in mere minutes. There is no water filtration system included with this product. Heavy metal contamination or toxins are not affected by pasteurization. Pasteurization will not help if water is brackish or chemically contaminated.

The pasteurizer container body is made from lightweight stainless steel alloy; the spout above the water line is made of cast aluminum. Do not fill pasteurizer above bottom of spout, to prevent hot water jetting out of spout. An overfilled pasteurizer can cause burns. This product is designed to maximize surface area and optimize heat transferability via its hollow inverted tube design in combination with the rocket stove. Water is poured into the inverted conical walls of the pasteurizer, brought to temperature, and then allowed to quickly cool when removed from the stove. No other product enables you to make 4 liters of safe water as quickly and inexpensively as this pasteurizer with very little fuel.


Dimensions: D - 9 3/4 in, H-16 in (Made to fit perfectly with StoveTec stoves)

Features

Lightweight, stainless steel alloy

Reinforced cast aluminum pouring spout above water line
Attached handle at base for pouring stability

Built-in skirt for greater efficiency

Removable wooden and steel handle
New water pasturization indicator modification Fall of 2011!








StoveTec Stove Store
3400 Franklin Blvd
Eugene, OR 97403 USA
+1-541-515-4394

 

[So Low 2]

Sorry for the long post I mostly wanted to link to the picture. There was no preview button. I am not a Stovetec employee.....Marc.

 

[ATCclears]

Marc, thx. This is interesting and the price is right. I'm just not sure if pasteurization would be enough.

Peter

 

[Dunerunner]

distilled would be better, I'm thinking. i also have to look at desalinization.

 

[hackercat13]

Living as close to the Puget Sound as many of us do, a way to efficiently desalinate/distill drinking water in a crisis would be very valuable!

 

[hawaiian420]

Dont forget to research the effects of drinking distilled water for long periods of time. Some doctors do not recommend drinking distilled water at all since it is dead water. Personally Id much rather drink distilled water rather than tap water. FYI try distilling tap water for one week and see what you have left over. Its freaking GROSS!!!

 

[contrarian]

Living as close to the Puget Sound as many of us do, a way to efficiently desalinate/distill drinking water in a crisis would be very valuable!

Might be wrong, but the process of distillation [evaporation and collection] should leave the salt behind, no?

 

[hawaiian420]

Might be wrong, but the process of distillation [evaporation and collection] should leave the salt behind, no?

Yeah thats what hes saying. Distilling water leaves EVERYTHING BEHIND, im sorry distilling water by boiling it leaves everything behind including the minerals. which is why its called dead water and shouldnt be drank long term. So say some Doctors. Solar distillation can and does bring some things with it. For example when you try to distill water with red food coloring by sun rays your "distilled" water will come out pink.

 

[contrarian]

I would suspect that any minerals lost or left behind as a result of evaporation would be covered by eating other organics. I know that bottled water often lacks flouride treatments.

If distillation is run at 212 degrees F, anything in the water that has a lower boiling point (alcohol,for example) will be carried into the final product.

 

[Stomper]

Drinking distilled water (de-ionized water is even worse) long term will act as a "sink" and leach vital minerals (i.e. calcium... Can you say, "brittle bones") from your body... The "nature abhors a vacuum" thing.

 

[coop44]

Pasteurization will kill MOST bacteria, viruses, parasites, etc. as other folks posting to this thread have said, be careful, I still treat it with water purification tablet. Better to be safe than in the woods with a case of the trots.

 

[Grunwald]

There is no such thing as dead water. Water molecule is 2 atoms of hydrogen and 1 atom of oxygen. Anything additional is impurities.
Eat you vegetables and meats and you won't have to worry about trace minerals. Eat factory processed crap and water from planet Krypton is not going to save you.

 

[motoman98]

Remember what the guy said about "opinions"? Worth exactly what you pay for 'em
I wouldn't drink distilled water unless there was nothing else.

 

[AMProducts]

There are more than a few things that have been left-out of this topic...

Distilled water is useful stuff, if you need to refill your vehicle's radiator and have undiluted anti-freeze this is a must. It's also recommended for mixing baby formula, and can be used as a basis for drinking if you add things that replace the missing minerals i.e. gatoraide.

Anyways, unlike making alcohol, distilling water is much more simple process and can be done very easily using a continuous still rather than a pot still like you would use with alcohol. If you have a source of water, having water flow into a copper coil, that is heated by a fire until boiling and the boiling will drive it out the end of the tube, you can then run it through a condenser, which usually is another copper coil that can be cooled either by liquid water, or can be cooled just by having the coil hang loosely in the air.

Distillation will easily separate dissolved solids and salts, however it will also gassify toxic organic compounds in the water (such as benzine and other components of gasoline and oil) the trick to separating these out, is to control condenser temperature so you will not condense chemicals with a boiling point below 200F or so. If you want to take a more involved process, you can still use a pot-type still, and use a refluxing tower. For those that are making alcohol, you need much closer temperature control using a reflux tower, but it produces much higher quality ethanol, in 1-2 distillations you can easily produce pure ethanol at up to 95% purity (alcohol is hygroscopic, so producing ethanol of higher purity is not possible without using something to dehydrate it such as MEK or sulfuric acid).

On the whole, flash distillation is much more practical for water distillation, as you only add as much water as your heat source is able to boil, thus production happens much quicker. It's like waiting for 1 cup of water to boil, vs waiting for 5 gallons to boil. You can also put more heat into a smaller volume using a continuous boiler because you do not have the same entropy losses from other parts of your system due to radiation.

If you're not worried as much about VOCs as you are dissolved solids, you can also employ a recuperator, in which your input water runs through a jacket on your cooling coil allowing it to perform 2 functions... first it will increase the cooling rate of your distillate, and it will pre-heat your input fluid making the whole thing more efficient. For max efficiency, all of these components need to be sized appropriately, and you need good flow control to maximize heat recovery, but you can get satisfactory results without really trying.

 

[ATCclears]

Thanks for the responses so far. I have no intent to rely solely on distilled water, but I thought it would be useful to learn more about the process. My probable source for drinking water would likely be rain water that is captured, filtered (somewhat), and boiled over an open fire.

Peter

 

[HansC]

David Blume wrote a book called "Alcohol can be a gas" which is about small batch production of ethanol. I think this might be a valuable resource, although not directly related. Useful since it might give instruction on fractional distillation, which might be really important if the only water available was poisoned with volatile organic compounds. I don't see how any other process besides controlled distillation could purify water of certain pollutants. Water quality in my area is so good I scarcely ever think about this, but I know a flood or chemical spill can really mess this up. Thanks for bringing up this subject.

 

[HandLoad]

Wrote you a full page of stuff - was refused posting? Had logged in??

Anyways, I have a distiller here. Cost me around $400. Will distill perfect Pure Water (pH 7.00, 0.00ppm TDS) from MudPuddle Water, DitchWater etc. All Stainless and Glass Construction. Size of a Coffeemaker. Makes .8 Gallons in every 3-Hour run.

Everybody who visits comments, Unsolicited, that our water is Heavenly. Benefits are subtle, but longevity-enhancing, IMHO. Kidneys and Liver have less to filter out. Food and Drinks taste much better. Ice-Cubes can be made without Flaw - they look like Optical Glass in purity!

I was a Merchant Marine Engineer for a Number of Years, and aboard ship, all the potable water is Distilled. Maybe just a Coinkydinky, but average age of passing for Marine Engineers is well over 80. We have become Water snobs - we haul water with us wherever we go.