Distilled Water Association

Water Education through Science and Engineering

Distilled Water

Distilled Water: Glass Bottle Method

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The glass bottle method of distillation is similar to the glass bowl method, but it has a few more advantages. For one thing, when the process is over you will already have the distilled water in a bottle and won’t have to worry about transferring it from a large bowl to a bottle. Also, the glass bottle method uses some different tools as well. Besides the stove, cooking pot and tap water, you will need duct tape, two glass bottles, and an ice pack. One of the glass bottles should have a curved neck on top, while the other can have an ordinary straight neck. You need to fill the straight necked bottle up with ordinary tap water. Leave about five inches of space from the water to the top of the bottle. Next, you need to connect the two bottles together by their necks using duct tape. Make it so the openings of the necks are interconnected in a way to where no water or air can get in or out.

Now you will want to take a cooking pot and fill it up with five gallons of water. After that, place it on the stove and turn on the burner. Let the water sit until it is boiling in the pot and then place the bottle with water inside the boiling water. The other connected bottle will be hanging off the side of the pot, which is okay. You will want to try to tilt the bottle of water at a 30 degree angle because this will help it evaporate better. You should have your hand on the other bottle to adjust the angle. Don’t let go of that bottle because the duct tape is likely going to break. Finally, take an ice pack and hold it to the empty bottle that you have already been holding. This will create a hot and cold effect that will allow the hot water to evaporate and condense into the cooler empty bottle. Continue this until you have enough distilled water inside the bottle you are holding.

The glass bottle method is not traditionally used, but some people find it more convenient using bottles rather than a glass bowl with the lid of a pot. Either method will work find because they both evaporate and condense the water, which is the basic idea behind distillation. But again, either method requires trigger work, with a lot of inconveniences. You’d be better off getting an automatic counter-top water distiller, which besides distillation, it also has a charcoal filter to help clear close to 100% of remaining pollutants.

The Rainwater Distillation Myth

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Back in the old days, distillation would be done in one of two ways. People would either boil water over a fire or they would simply catch rainwater and then drink that. The rainwater method was a method that required the least amount of work because it involved simply capturing and containing the falling rain. The reason rainwater is similar to distilled water is because it evaporates and condenses just like in other distillation methods. The only difference is that nature does all the work on its own. By today’s standards, this might sound like a bad thing to do because of all the acid rain and contaminants in the air. But before mankind was involved in heavy industry, the air was clean and the water that fell down from the sky was pure. People would simply take large clean containers and leave them outside for catching rainwater. Once a container filled up with water, it would be left outside for an additional two days in order for the minerals to completely dissipate. Then the water would be stored in jugs or whatever containers they had available during the time period.

Rainwater can still be a good source for distillated water, but you will need to do some extra filtering in order to make sure the dirt particles and debris is completely out of the water. The minerals will already be gone from the natural raining process, so all that is left is for you to run the water through a filter after it is contained. You can choose any filtration method you want for this. You could buy a filtered mug or a filtration machine to filter water that you pour into it. Of course, the better option would be the machine, a water distiller, because it will do a more thorough job of cleaning the contaminants out of the water. Then, you will have a new source of distilled water that you won’t even need tap water or bottled water to produce. This will save you lots of money because you won’t ever have to buy water again, depending on the amount of rainwater you end up storing. If you live in a rainy area of the world like Seattle, Washington, then you can expect to store lots of water in no time. Best of all, you will be environmentally responsible by using rainwater as your distillation source. If more people around the world could learn from this method then perhaps no one would suffer from thirst ever again.

Distillation: Myths Exposed

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When we shop for water at the supermarket we generally look for purified water that comes in a bottle. What exactly is purified water? To a layman person, it means that the water has been filtered and cleaned of all impurities. However, purified water still contains its vitamins and minerals that the body needs to survive. On the other hand, the distillation process completely wipes out everything from the water, including the minerals. This means the water does not contain anything in it at all. So, does this mean drinking distilled water is bad for you? A popular myth about distilled water is that it extracts the vitamins and minerals from your own body when you consume it. This is totally ridiculous and untrue. Distilled water cannot extract minerals from your body’s cells; however, it won’t give the cells minerals either. But, this does not mean the water is bad for you because it can still help your digestive system process foods. Besides, drinking water with too many minerals in it has been known to cause cardiovascular health problems in people. Many of the purified waters sold in stores have “flavoring enhancing” minerals added to the water that already had minerals in it to begin with. This means the water is oversaturated with minerals, which will likely cause you health problems. Distilled water is a soft type of water that will not negatively affect your health in any way.

You might be thinking, “Where do I get the minerals and vitamins for my body if not from the water I drink?” The simple answer to this is from natural foods, like fruits and vegetables. You should be eating these anyway if you want to maintain a healthy lifestyle. If you eat fruits and vegetables on a regular basis then you won’t need to get your vitamins and minerals from water. The only time you will need mineral water is if you are eating junk foods, like donuts and potato chips, on a regular basis. One of the main reasons why obese people have such severe health problems has to do with them not drinking any water or eating any natural foods. With that kind of lifestyle, the body is getting zero vitamins and minerals. Now you could compensate for the junk food by drinking the mineral water, but you have to take into account the negative health effects of the fats and sugars in those foods as well. Therefore, the best choice you can make is to drink distilled water and eat fruits and vegetables. This is the right combination that will help you live a long and healthy life.

Distilled Water: Glass Bowl Method

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There are many methods of creating distilled water. One of the most basic (and inconvenient) methods of creating distilled water at home is by boiling water underneath a glass bowl. This might sound complicated, but it is actually quite simple if you follow a few basic steps. The first thing you need to do is get your supplies. This will involve a stainless steel pot that is big enough to hold around ten gallons of water. Also, make sure the pot comes with a lid because this will be a vital part of the distillation process. Besides the pot, you will also need a glass bowl that can fit inside the pot. Try not to use a glass bowl that is too small, but big enough to fit inside the pot without touching the sides. Finally, have a bag of ice on hand because it will help with the condensation effect near the end.

After you have gotten the supplies, you are ready to start distilling the water. First, take your cooking pot and fill it up with five gallons of water. You can use the water from your faucet since it is going to be distilled anyways. The five gallons of water should fill the cooking pot at least half way. If it comes up more than half way then you can empty some of the water out until half the pot is filled. If the five gallons doesn’t fill the pot half way then simply add more water. Next, place the pot of water on your stove and turn the burner on. Place your glass bowl on top of the water and let it float. If the bowl touches the bottom of the pot then you don’t have enough water. In this case, you would fill up the pot some more until the bowl floats without touching the bottom. Either that or you can use a circular baking rack and place it on the bottom of the pot in order to hold the bowl up from the bottom.

Now you just sit back and watch the water begin to build up in the glass bowl. You don’t want the water to be boiling yet, but rather just stay hot. Once water appears in the glass bowl, take the pot’s lid and flip it upside down. Place the lid on top of the glass bowl and then fill up the lid with ice. By this time, the water will be boiling and the condensation will cause distilled water to drip into the glass bowl. After you have enough distilled water in the bowl, carefully take the bowl out of the hot pot and place it down on the counter to cool off. Then just fill up some empty bottles with the water or any other method of storage that you prefer.

As you can see, while the concept is simple, the process is very inconvenient. Make yourself a favor, stop wasting your time, and get an automatic water distiller instead.

Distilled Water is Pure

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These days it is so hard to find a food or beverage product that does not have some kind of added chemical or preservative to it. People who are cautious about their health and believe in consuming clean food and drinks will certainly stress out over this when they shop at their local supermarket. Healthy food might be hard to find, but the water choices are starting to get better. More supermarkets now are selling bottles of distilled water as an alternative choice to the purified and mineral water, although it is still cheaper for you to buy a water distiller to make pure water at home. Distilled water is a type of drinking water that is free of all chemical and impurities, which means you have virtually zero chance of getting sick from it.

Many people don’t know the difference between distilled water and the traditional purified water sold in stores. Some people don’t even understand the difference between faucet water and purified water. They just think water is water and that there is no difference. Well, if you are drinking water from your kitchen faucet then you are going to be getting all kinds of microorganisms and pipe residue in your water. As for purified bottled water, this water is a little bit cleaner because it goes through a filter and purification process. However, its purification process usually ends up killing only bacteria and pesticides, but not the minerals and organic impurities. In fact, some water companies have added minerals to their water because they claim it enhances the flavor, which is always an incentive for people to buy a food product. But, water with a lot of minerals in it has been known to cause negative cardiovascular health effects. In the end, distilled water is the only true purified water because it eliminates the minerals, pesticides, impurities and bacteria.

Distilled water is a purification process that has actually been around for almost 2000 years. But, we don’t live in the dark ages anymore where we have to burn our pots of water over a fire. We have the convenience of going just getting a water distiller and make distilled water right from the comfort of our home. We can even install distillation machines into our homes that will distill all of the running water, which will allow us to shower, bath and drink distilled water. The health benefits for the skin are just as important as the benefits for the body’s inner nutrition as well. Only truly purified water can give you all of this, which is why distilled water should be your number one choice for purification.