A Great Water Distillation Machine, October 6, 2009
Where we live the water is bad looking and bad tasting, and our home has old galvanized piping and copper with joints that are lead soldered. We've been buying bottled drinking water for the past couple of decades.
The cost of bottled water keeps going up in price. Pulling out the calculator, we estimated that our family's bottled...read full review
Where we live the water is bad looking and bad tasting, and our home has old galvanized piping and copper with joints that are lead soldered. We've been buying bottled drinking water for the past couple of decades.
The cost of bottled water keeps going up in price. Pulling out the calculator, we estimated that our family's bottled drinking water consumption, at current bottled water prices, is costing around six hundred dollars a year!
The economics of the matter was quite clear; despite the initial cost and the electricity to run the appliance, a water distiller would save us money and effort over buying and hauling water from the store.
Enter the distiller.
We bought a water distiller and have been making a couple of gallons of distilled water a day since it arrived. The distiller works very well with little oversight or interaction needed, though it needs occasional descaling and rinsing, and you must be careful when working with the appliance when it is hot.
The method for using the distiller is dirt simple: Fill the tank with water to the line, place the cooling/steam recovery tower on top of the boiler tank, put the water collection bottle under the water drain, plug the appliance in, and walk away. Then, come back later to pour the freshly distilled water into your water storage container of choice.
Other reviewers have noted the problem with large amounts of scale residue left in the boiler tank after distillation, and we noticed the same thing especially with the crappy water we start with. We partially solved the problem of scale residue by buying a "pitcher style" water filter and using that as a quick "pre-filter" to remove much of the sediment, chemicals, and other impurities, and then pouring the filtered water in the distiller. We now filter the water before we add it to the distiller.
(Note that "pitcher style" water filters are only rated for removing a portion of the contaminants found in the average municipal water supply, and for us is no substitute for the purity of distilled water. Using a pitcher type water filter as a "pre-filter" for your distiller adds to the final cost per gallon of distilled water when you factor in the replacement cost of filters.)
We noticed that the "pre-filtered" distilled water tastes better, as the pitcher style water filter uses activated charcoal to filter water before it goes into the distiller. The "pre-filter" method has cut down on most of the baked on sediment and residue that coated the bottom and sides of the distiller, making boiler tank cleaning a much more infrequent necessity and saving us time and trouble.
(Even after filtering the water with a "pitcher style" water filter like those advertised on television, the quantity of residue left in the distiller tank is amazing.)
We also followed the advice of other reviewers and now use a heavy duty appliance timer to turn off the distiller after five hours of running, and that leaves about a half inch of water in the bottom of the tank so the sediment and residue remains dissolved and doesn't cook to the tank.
One caution: Wait a good half hour or more after turning the distiller off (pulling the plug) before removing the top "cooling tower". A distiller is nothing more than a boiler, and it gets very hot and contains lots of high temperature steam that can burn you quickly. Wait for the machine to cool before handling.
We have the distiller on a kitchen counter and we don't find the fan noise obnoxious or disturbing, but it does make a noticeable sound.
The best advantage of the water distiller is we no longer have to haul gallons and gallons of drinking water home every week from the store! We have arrived in the twenty-first century; finally, we have clean drinking water on tap. minimize
The Distiller is great, the container is sub par, October 6, 2009
I bought this unit about 6 months ago and it has been working great ever since. I won't repeate other reviews so here's a few bullet points:
Pro's
- Great tasting clean water (leaves behind gunk in the chamber; gunk you would have drank)
- Cheap to produce water
- Reliable (so far)
Con's
...read full review
I bought this unit about 6 months ago and it has been working great ever since. I won't repeate other reviews so here's a few bullet points:
Pro's
- Great tasting clean water (leaves behind gunk in the chamber; gunk you would have drank)
- Cheap to produce water
- Reliable (so far)
Con's
- The collection jug is crap. I don't know how an older person could even pick the jug up. The handle is a poor design and its difficult to pour water out without spillage.
- You have to be careful when you line up the unit with the collection jug because if it isn't aligned correctly, you will find the water leaks out. (Ask my wife who has yelled at me several times for not doing this correctly).
- It's big (you better have space for this)
- It's noisy
- Needs frequent cleaning (Im going to try shutting it off a little early as other reviewers suggested)
- Glass container is too expensive. (I want to replace the plastic one).
I would recommend this unit despite the cons because let's face it, we buy this to make clean water and it does just that. minimize
WATER DISTILLER, September 14, 2009
PRODUCT WORKS VERY WELL. INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR START-UP WAS A LITTLE VAGUE, BUT PERFORMANCE WAS AS ADVERTISED
Best water distiller ever, June 27, 2009
This is the best water distiller ever. It is constructed of steel inside and out. The lid fits tightly on the machine and ensures that no steam can escape out of the seal. The fan is very quiet compared to another model. This distiller takes close to 5 hours to distill a gallon of water from a cold start. I am happy with this model, I would...read full review
This is the best water distiller ever. It is constructed of steel inside and out. The lid fits tightly on the machine and ensures that no steam can escape out of the seal. The fan is very quiet compared to another model. This distiller takes close to 5 hours to distill a gallon of water from a cold start. I am happy with this model, I would recommend it to a friend who was looking to buy a distiller. I also recommend using an appliance timer with the unit to turn it off before it boils dry. This keeps the inside of the basin from becoming dark and burning on deposits found in the water. It will also be easier to keep clean without too much scrubbing. minimize
Water Distiller, June 15, 2009
I bought this unit based on the other reviews. I have owned 2 Kenmore water purifiers, and both suddenly quit after only several years of use. When I couldn't find it at Sears again, I started looking through the Amazon reviews and was impressed with this one. It's more $$ than the Sears, but I'm hoping it lasts as long as others have had theirs....read full review
I bought this unit based on the other reviews. I have owned 2 Kenmore water purifiers, and both suddenly quit after only several years of use. When I couldn't find it at Sears again, I started looking through the Amazon reviews and was impressed with this one. It's more $$ than the Sears, but I'm hoping it lasts as long as others have had theirs. It does an excellent job of distilling, and in about 4-5 hours, I have a gallon of great-tasting water. After every use, I use a plastic scrubber on the inside of the unit to clean out the hard-water residue. For heavier buildup, I pour a gallon of cheap white vinegar in the unit and let it sit overnight. In the morning I pour it back into the jug, and the stainless is perfectly clean. I prefer to use vinegar rather than the chemical powders. I think it's safer, and cheaper, too. I have no objection to the motor noise -- I run it in my laundry room (it's kind of like "white noise"). It's a little heavy once filled with water to carry from the kitchen sink to the laundry room, but it's not a problem. My Sears unit was a 3/4-gallon jug with a big handle that plugged into the electrical stand, so it was slightly easier to carry. I like that this unit distills a gallon of water at a time. I've been using it about a month, running it at least 4-5 times a week, and so far I'm very happy with it. minimize
