Distilled Water Association

Water Education through Science and Engineering

Distilled Water

How to Add Minerals to RO water

By

Minerals can easily and cheaply be added to any water, including distilled and reverse osmosis water

Reverse Osmosis water also known as RO water is among the cleanest types of water you can drink. Scientifically slightly less pure than distilled water but for all practical purposes it’s virtually the same thing. Clean, pure, water comes with a tradeoff: the removal of everything, including the good stuff, like minerals. It’s natural that after stripping everything from the water some people want to add minerals back into it. For everything about the minerals themselves, please read How to Add Minerals to RO Water. Here will concentrate on how to actually add the minerals once you already have them in your possession.

The first thing to consider is that most mineral supplements for water are designed to be mixed in large quantities of water (usually one gallon, or about 4 liters). That means you can’t really just turn on the faucet, fill up your glass, and add a drop of minerals concentrate.

If you do, the first thing you’ll notice is a very strong (unpleasant) taste, not just salty (even if most brands of minerals concentrate contain low sodium), but you may also detect too strong of a taste (some people have described it as metallic, while other people say it tastes grainy).

There could also be some serious health problems if you drink too many minerals. The mineral brands available in the market are designed specifically to be soluble over several liters of water; depending on the brand, it could be anywhere between 1 and 8 drops per gallon. One gallon is 16 glasses of water. So, if you put one drop into one glass you’re taking about 16 times the recommended amount. If you’re working out and sweating profusely, then that’s probably not a problem to drink it but if you’re just going about your day and you take consistently 16 times the recommended dosage, that could be harmful. Look, even broccoli in high dosage is bad for you… everything good in life is supposed to be taken with measure.

Another thing to understand is that you can’t just add minerals to RO water and expect it to be ready to be consumed the second you pour those minerals, it’s not exactly coolaid. There’s a waiting period where the minerals need to be allowed to be dissolved into the water.

So, the solution is to fill up at least one gallon in a jug, and put the minerals in the jug. Then let it rest for 30 minutes or so. It’s best if you do Not put the water jug in the fridge prior to adding the minerals otherwise it will take longer for them to dissolve in the water. The warmer the water, the faster the minerals will mix with the liquid. After that, you can enjoy it anyway you like: either leave it out and drink it at room temperature or put it in the fridge to let it cool and enjoy it cold. By the way, you’re not forced to just drink the water as is. You can treat RO water like any other water; make coffee, tea, etc, etc.

Reasons for Adding Minerals to Reverse Osmosis Water

By

There are many types of brands of mineral providers and to make manners more complicated, there are dozens up dozens of different types of minerals themselves. No need to worry, we got you covered in our article Adding Minerals to Reverse Osmosis Water. In this article, we’re going to talk about some of the reasons why you may want to consider adding minerals to Reverse Osmosis (RO) water.

To Add Taste

The number one reason people add minerals to their RO water is that they want to change the taste of the water. Many people have grown up drinking either municipal water (aka from the faucet) or bottled water (which could also mean spring water). Those kinds of water contain impurities, including minerals. In fact, depending on where you live, the water from the faucet might taste a lot of different than the water in a different city or town. Some people are just used to the flavor. Some people love their local water taste and can’t get used to a new taste. The same is true if you go from mineral water to no-mineral water, like Reverse Osmosis or Distilled Water. Your taste buds want some of those minerals and impurities. You don’t want to add the bad kind of impurities, like bacteria, feces, and contaminants that are found in some municipal water systems but adding minerals is definitely a solution if you’re trying to get your taste buds inline.

To Recover after a Heavy Workout

When you workout or exercise, you sweat and among other things, you lose some vital nutrients. We’re all familiar with sport drinks that are designed to re-hydrate you. Some of those sports drinks may have too much of one kind of mineral (like sodium) while at the same time containing too much sugar. Some people opt to make their own sports drinks by adding their own concoction of minerals. It feels great knowing what you’re putting inside your body and knowing you’re drinking super pure water like RO or Distilled, and you know the exact minerals you’re adding (and more important, the amounts you’re adding).

When You’re Low on Minerals because of a Specific Diet

We all know most people get all of the minerals and nutrients they need from food sources alone and so adding minerals to Reverse Osmosis doesn’t really make sense. However, some people may be under a special diet and that may mean eating less nutrients than a normal person would normally ingest from food sources alone. A good alternate (especially when comparing prices) to make up for the loss of nutrients is to add minerals to your RO water. Some people decide also they want to go on a fasting diet… if you’re drinking nothing but RO or distilled water after several dies you might start getting really sick (even die!) because you’re literally not getting any nutrients at all, your fuel tank is literally running on empty. The solution is to add minerals so you’re at least getting something (and you might even consider putting more minerals than the lower bound recommendation).

Adding Minerals to Reverse Osmosis Water

By

Minerals can easily and cheaply be added to any water, including distilled and reverse osmosis water

People often ask how to add minerals to Reverse Osmosis Water after we explain to them how to add minerals to distilled water. The answer is the same. In fact, any kind of water, not just distilled or Reverse Osmosis can be remineralized in the same way. We have the full article on Adding Minerals to Reverse Osmosis Water which is in general directed on the various types of minerals you can put into distilled water so in this article we’ll explain the subtle difference between the two systems.

If you’re used to having a Reverse Osmosis (RO) water system you’re probably used to just filling your glass of water directly from the faucet. Very convenient indeed. The inconvenience comes with trying to add the minerals to the system.

We know reverse osmosis uses several filters under high pressures to spit out water that has virtually no impurities and virtually no minerals. It’s an almost instantaneous process with the only drawback being the expense of changing the filters every so often.

So, if you were to add minerals at any point in the process, you can be certain those minerals won’t make it out of the system and into your glass of water. So, what do you do? Well, you can’t just add the mineral drops to your glass of water because of two reasons. First, each drop, depending on the brand and type of mineral additive you use, is usually good for a whole a whole gallon, that’s about 16 glasses. So, if you put one drop into one glass, your glass of water is going to taste probably very sour, not just salty. Second, you need to let the drops of minerals actually mix in the water, and, once again, that depends on the minerals and brand you’re purchasing. Most of the time, after one drop, you need to let it set in the water for 30 mins or so.

So let’s go through the actual simple and easy steps. From the faucet where you get your Reverse Osmosis water (ro water), fill out a pitcher (at least one gallon), then simply add minerals according to your liking. One or two drops of minerals should be enough. If you’re making an energy drink, you may consider adding a lot more (you can look at the mineral content of various sports drinks, like Gatorade, and then do some quick math on how many drops need to be added to the water).

It’s also dependent on taste. Some people are used to the taste you get from water bottles or the water faucet at home (aka municipal water) and so it requires some trial and error to figure out the right proportion of drops to water to use. The tricky thing is that, for example, if you add one drop to one gallon and you don’t like the taste but then you add 2 drops and realize it’s too strong of a flavor, then how do you split one drop in two? The solution would be to get 3 gallons of water and put two drops. And you might still not like it then!

How Nature Makes Distilled Water Easily Everyday

By

Everyday, every hour, every minute, the earth makes distilled water on its own by evaporating surface water from oceans, lakes, and even the earth itself, through the process of evaporation. And that’s pretty much what distilled water is, water vapor that has condensed back into liquid form.

When the earth evaporates water from the oceans, it creates clouds, which under the right conditions, will release all water back into the earth in the form of rain, and the cycle starts all over again.

Contrary to popular belief, boiling of the water is not necessary to create evaporation. However, if you’re creating distilled water at home, you can either wait “forever” for the water to evaporate under normal atmospheric conditions, or you can speed up the process by increasing the temperature of the water, which eventually boils and becomes water vapor.

When you’re cooking, by putting water in a pot and heating it up, you’re unknowingly creating distilled water. Of course, with a regular cooking pot there’s no way to collect that distilled water – although you might see the water droplets on the lid, which is in fact distilled water.

There are many ways on How to Make Distilled Water Easy, but mother nature definitely takes the crown when it comes to making it the easiest. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, you could also harness the passive power of the sun in your backyard or balcony to create distilled water. You’ll have to build a lot of custom parts, and you can get extra fancy by having the water tank that you’ll be heating up re-fill automatically every time it becomes empty.

There are other ways to harness the power of nature to make your own distilled water. For example, windmills have been popular for centuries. You can either use a wind turbine to generate electricity which in turns powers a water distiller or you can Gerry-rig a traditional windmill design and adapt it to create distilled water through heat generated by friction. You would need to change the gear ratio so that the slow speed in the blades turn into high revolutions in the shaft, itself attached to something that creates friction (and therefore heat) which will eventually heat up the water and create steam. Whatever is that you use to create friction is going to have to be replaced over time; it’s just like the break pads in your car, eventually the heat erodes them and need to be replaced. So, if it sounds inefficient, it probably is.

We like to romanticize living in the last frontier, away from civilization in peace and tranquility but, sometimes technology can make things so much easier when you connect with Nature. Connecting solar panels or a wind turbine to create electricity to power a regular counter top water distiller is probably the easiest of solutions for distilling water. Unless of course, you’re mother nature. In that case, then the sun is your right hand and the oceans and lakes are your left hand, and together you make the best synergy available.

How to Make Distilled Water Easy with the Power of the Sun

By

Some people have been very excited about making distilled water that they want to make it everywhere they go, whether that’s while they’re out camping or even at the beach. If you’re out camping, a regular electric counter top water distiller should do the trick if you just plug it in to your camper. If you’re in the middle of nowhere, using solar power might not be efficient. You’re better off using fire instead.

But if you’re in a more tropical location, maybe even near a beach, then you can create a lot of distilled water. Either way, you’ll need a pot, and a tarp (or even better, plastic wrapping). And by the way, for more traditional ways, please read How to Make Distilled Water Easy.

First, dig a wide hole (doesn’t have to be deep) and put the tarp over it. Then fill it with water. If you fill it with ocean water, you might get a pleasant surprise at the end… Salt! After the tarp is full of water in the hole, put a pot in the middle of the hole. Make sure the water in the hole doesn’t overflow into the pot. That is, the walls of the pot need to be higher than water you’re submerging the pot into. Then, you want to cover the whole thing with another tarp (plastic wrapping works better). Make sure all these tarps and pots are clean! Then you’ll have to put a small weight on top of the plastic wrap directly above the pot. A very small pebble should do the trick. You have to make sure that the only depression in the plastic wrap occurs above the water pot.

After a long sunny day, you should see two things. The water pot, which was once empty, should now be filled with distilled water. If your tarps, pot, and plastic wrap were clean, then you can bet that water is clean too. The other thing you’ll see in the bottom tarp is salt, if you put ocean water. You’ve got to be careful with the salt. If the ocean water you took had impurities, then it’s possible the salt will contain some of those impurities.

For example, if you took the ocean water right next to a Marina, or the beginning of a river, then you’ll probably have some contaminants that are with that salt. Better play it safe and not consume the salt.

Some people have suggested using solar panels to energize a normal counter top water distiller but the problem with that is that you need to generate about 1 kwh of energy and that’s a whole lot of solar panels

Finally, you could also have a winding set of pipes all filled with water placed vertically inside a black box with a glass on the side where the sun light hits it (you’re trying to create a greenhouse effect). The winding pipe eventual pokes out of the black box from the top and winds around the back side of the box, where the sun doesn’t hit it and into a pot. Eventually, you’ll see drop of distilled water slowly feeling the empty water pot.