Distilled Water Association

Water Education through Science and Engineering

Distilled Water

Distilled Water or Deionized Water?

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It is so hard to tell these days which water is good to drink and which is not good to drink. You will get people that will tell you natural spring water is what you should drink while others will tell you purified water is better. So, what is the definition of purified water? It is water that has been filtered and wiped clean of all its contaminants. When you go to the supermarket to buy purified water you will have to choose between distilled water and deionized water. Most people don’t even think about the differences between the two. They will look for some word on the label that spells out “purified” and will think nothing more about it. But, it is important that you realize the difference between distilled water and deionized water. You are probably more familiar with distilled water because it is the purest form of water that you can drink. The distillation process totally removes the impurities and the minerals from the water. On the other hand, the deionization process only removes the essential minerals from the water while leaving the contaminants in there.

You may be thinking, “Why would I only want to drink the contaminants and not the minerals?” Well the deionized water that you buy in the store can be used for more than just drinking. Even though drinking it may not hurt you, there really is no point in doing so because you are only putting the impurities into your body. Therefore, you’d be better off drinking distilled water or natural spring water. The deionized water comes in handy for machines and devices that need water to operate. For example, a steam iron and a humidifier work great with deionized water because there won’t be any mineral deposits left inside of it after use. That means the machines will work faster and you won’t have to clean up as much. Also, when you go to a car wash that sprays water onto your windshield, you may notice there won’t be any white spots left afterwards. That is because it uses deionized water and the lack of minerals in it won’t leave any residue on your windshield. So, as you can see each type of water can be used in its own special way. If you decide to drink deionized water, don’t worry because it won’t kill you. Like distilled water, you will still get your essential minerals from the foods you eat and the deionized water will still help process the food in your digestive system.

Distilled Water for Pets

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Anyone who owns a pet will want what is best for it. The health of your pet is almost as important as the health of your kids because it is like another member of the family. Distilled water for pets is usually something many people think of a pet’s nutritional needs as similar to a human being’s nutritional needs. When a pet owner prepares a meal for themselves, how often do they feed their pet some food from the dinner table? It is very common and now the same thing is starting to happen with distilled water.

Pet owners are buying lots of gallon jugs of distilled water from the supermarket (which is actually very expensive, it is way cheaper to make distilled water at home from a counter top water distillers) and then using them to fill their pet’s drink bowl up with water. Even though distilled water will have a very good effect on the health of a human, the health of a pet is a different matter. That is why they should never be given too much human food because their bodies aren’t design to handle it. The same cannot be said of distilled water and Mineralized Distilled Water. Distilled water a couple of times a weeks can be very beneficial to pets and Mineralized distilled water is the safest water you can give a pet on a daily basis.

The most common household pet is a dog. We commonly fill their dog dish up with water from the sink and don’t think anything else about it. But these days, we hear so much debate and controversy over which water is healthy to drink and which is not healthy. It makes us think the same concepts apply to pets as well. It is true that tap water from the sink is indeed not the best quality, as it contains many impurities and chemical contaminants so it is a good thing that pet owners have doubts about giving that faucet water to their pets.

So, now the pet owners that drink distilled water will also give it to their dogs while thinking they will be healthy too. The truth is dogs that consume distilled water over long periods of time may not be completely healthy because unlike humans, pets may be deficient of important minerals in their body that may not be completely available in their food. Pure distilled water will be beneficial to pets only if given two or three times a week. It will help them with digestion and may even help urinate better.

Reports have shown dogs that drink nothing but distilled water might get potassium deficiencies and eventually develop heart problems. You have to remember that distillation removes the minerals from the water, which are vital for the health of your dog. While we humans get ALL the minerals we need from foods, dogs and some other pets do get some amount from their water. These minerals keep a dogs muscles strong, since they walk around on four legs and have to use their muscles very often. You should also remember that a dog’s immune system is a lot stronger than a human immune system.

If your dog is drinking lots of tap water, however, you should worry about the impurities and chemical contaminants that might get into their system. For this reason, the best course of action for a pet is to drink distilled water with minerals added to it. Their immune system is strong by nature because they are supposed to be drinking natural spring water directly from the earth. Their bodies will absorb the essential minerals and bypass the contaminants which are bad. So, just give your dog Mineralized Distilled water by given them the same distilled water you drink but by adding minerals to it.

Distilled Water Aquariums

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Distilled water has a lot of great benefits to humans that consume it. Distillation creates purified water that has no contaminants or impurities in it. That means people won’t get sick from drinking it or letting it get into their system. Can the same be said for fish life? A lot of people like to set up aquariums and fish tanks in their homes for the purpose of putting exotic fish into them. This may seem like a great idea, but you have to really do your research in determining the type of water you should use. A layman may think that distilled water would be great for fish because it is pure and unpolluted. However, you must remember that fish live and breathe in the water. They need to be consuming water that correlates with their natural ecosystem. This means natural spring water or saltwater is what you should be filling up your fish tank with, depending on the type of fish you have. But, there is no fish that is supposed to inhabit distilled water because distillation is not natural to their environment. They need to inhabit water that is full of the essential minerals they need in order to survive.

So, what is the solution? If you use ordinary tap water in your aquarium then it can still be harmful to the fish because you don’t know which chemicals or pollutants reside in the water. However, there is a way to have the best of both worlds. If you want to use distilled water in your fish tank and don’t mind spending the money getting it, then go for it. But, before you add fish to the tank you will need to buy some mineral and vitamin supplements specifically designed for fish in an aquarium. You can get these supplements at any pet store that sells fish tank supplies. Then what you will have to do is regularly mineralize the water with these supplements to keep the fish healthy. That way your water won’t have any impurities, but instead only healthy minerals for your fish to thrive on. The same method can be applied towards an aquarium that has saltwater. The only difference is that you will have to buy a lot more supplements to make up for the elements that natural seawater has in it. These elements include calcium, carbonate, strontium, iron, molybdenum, iodine and more. Taking care of fish in this manner requires a lot of work, but if you use distilled water as the base then your fish will stay healthy for a longer time.

Distilled Water Myths

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It is amazing how many myths and varied opinions have formed about the health benefits of distilled water. Not only do ordinary people disagree with each other on the internet about distilled water, but even nutritional experts have varied opinions on the matter as well. There is one side that says distilled water is bad for you and another that says it is good for you. However, the reasoning behind each side is where the controversy starts. For example, the people that are against water distillation will argue that the water actually drains the minerals from a person’s body when they drink it. The idea is that because the distilled water has no minerals, it will try to compensate naturally by using the minerals of your body to make up for it. They also say if you try to bathe in distilled water, it is like making a “death pool” because as soon as you lay in it your body will get drained off all its minerals. This is absolutely ridiculous and there is no scientific evidence to back that up.

Another myth about water distillation is that because there are no minerals in the water, then the water has no nutritional value whatsoever. Most experienced nutritionists will disagree with this myth because they see water itself as a nutrient for the body. You have to think about what water actually does in your body. The purpose of drinking water doesn’t have to do with minerals and nutrients. The main purpose that water has in the body is to regulate its temperature as well as help process food in the digestive system. Minerals are not needed in the water to do this. The body will get enough of its minerals from the food you eat anyways and then it will mix with the distilled water after you drink it. So in a way, the distilled water will become mineralized when it is in your digestive system. Finally, there is very silly myth about distilled water that says it can actually go bad if it is exposed to air for long periods of time because of carbon dioxide contamination. They also say it may even become acidic very easily because of the lack of minerals in the distilled water. This is also a false myth with no scientific evidence to back it up. So, relax and don’t be afraid to consume distilled water.

Distilled Water History

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When you think about the term “water distillation,” you probably think of it as some high tech form of water purification that was invented by modern man. In actuality, the concept of water distillation has been around for thousands of years. The only thing that has changed during this time has been the process that one must undertake in order to distill the water. Scientific evidence has shown that the first attempt of water distillation dates back to around 100 A.D. Apparently in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, alchemy was very popular and practiced by migrant Greeks who were working there. Evidence of distillation has also been found around this time period in China, which was the time period of the Han Dynasty.

Alchemy was an early form of chemistry. It wasn’t until the 1600s when alchemy finally evolved into chemistry. Before that, alchemy was considered to be magical and had religious undertones to it. When people finally started to understand more about science, that allowed chemistry to form. This was when retorts were starting to be used in the distillation process, which are spherical shaped pieces of glassware. The idea was that the water would be placed in the device and then heated. The curved neck of the device would condense the water vapor and then get collected underneath the device. Many of the earliest forms of distillation involved a process similar to this. The idea was to have one form of condensation and one form of vaporization.

By the 1800s, distillation was even more perfected with the invention of the reflux with preheated water. As chemists became more advanced at the distillation process towards the late 19th century, the distillation process started to divide into four different groups. These four groups were herbal distillation, food processing distillation, industrial distillation and laboratory scale distillation. The food processing distillation mostly had to do with distilling beverages, like water, rum and whiskey. The rum and whiskey needed to have its ethanol removed, which made distillation necessary. Herbal distillation has certainly benefited society by allowing chemists to extract oils from plants to create things like skin products and medicine. Industrial distillation is where chemical products, like natural gas and coal tar, are processed for distribution. This distillation is usually done in huge towers that are about 60 meters high. Then finally,  laboratory scale distillation is used when handling sensitive liquids that have very high boiling points. Liquids that are sensitive to temperature requires vacuum distillation to get rid of the solvents in the liquid without harming it.