What
about the minerals
I might lose by drinking distilled water?
CLICK
HERE
What is the cost of operation
of a home water distiller?
First, determine the cost of electricity in cents per kilowatt hour(KWH)
from your home electric bill. Divide your total electrical bill costs
by the total number of KWH used for the billing period. Typical KWH
costs range from 8 to 15 cents. To determine the cost per KWH in your
state, CLICK
HERE, and then return to this page to conclude your calculation.
Second, determine the wattage of your home water distiller in KILOWATTS.
For example, if your distiller operating wattage is 700 watts, your
distiller is rated at 0.7 kilowatts.
Finally, multiply this kilowatt rating by the number of hours it takes
to produce one gallon of distilled water and then by the cost per kilowatt
hour.
For example: the 700 watt distiller example above will typically run
4 hours to produce one gallon. If your electrical cost is 10 cents per
kilowatt hour, then the cost per gallon is 0.7Kilowatts x 4 hours/gallon
x 10 cents/kilowatt hour = 28 cents. Your number may vary depending
on electrical cost or the type of distiller you are using.
What maintenance is required
with a home water distiller?
Filter Changes: all home water distillers
require periodic carbon filter changes. The carbon filter is responsible
for removing gasseous and liquid chemicals from the water being distilled.
Check with your distributor for replacment intervals for these carbon
filters.
Boiler Cleaning: water distillers remove
all types of inorganic salts such as calcium, magnesium, etc. This inorganic
residue is deposited in the boiling chamber of the distiller. As this
residue becomes more concentrated, it will precipitate out of solution
and deposit on the surface of the boiler as well as the heating element.
Periodically draining the boiling chamber to remove any loose particles
as well as any remaining liquid residue will reduce the amount of cleaning
required.
Every few weeks the boiler may need to cleaned with either distilled
white vinegar or with a powdered descalant such as sulfamic and citric
acid. Let the distiller boiling chamber sit overnight with the cleaning
solution. Place it out of the living area as the reaction of the lime
scale and the acidic cleaning solution may produce vapors which may
not be healthy to breathe.
Do not use abrasive materials for cleaning.
Avoid using sharp objects to dislodge scale from the boiler.
Steam Sterilization: All air-cooled distillation
systems allow for the periodic steam sterilization of the cooling and
storage system. Drain the distilled water storage tank completely and
leave the dispenser valve on the storage tank "open". Then,
start the distiller as normal and turn the cooling fan "off".
Allow the distiller to operate for 20-30 minutes in this manner. Steam
will be produced as normal but the steam will continue through the condensing
system and into the storage tank, sterilizing it in its entirety.
After 20-30 minutes, turn the cooling fan to the "on" position;
close the storage tank dispenser valve and you are ready for several
more months of pure distilled water production.
Does distilled water "leach"
minerals from the body?
This is possibly the most incorrect and misleading statement that you
will hear about distilled water. There are various types of water which
can cause serious harm to the body when ingested. One which often gets
confused with distilled water is "deionized" water. Deionized
water is commonly used in the electronics industry for computer board
cleaning and its use is carefully protected in these facilities by signs
which read:
"Danger
- Deionized Water - DO NOT DRINK - For Industrial Use Only".
There
is NO peer-reviewed scientific documentation that proves that distilled
water "leaches" any type of mineral or tissue material from
the body or its cells. The United States Navy uses distilled water on
every ship and submarine. If such information was correct and indeed
causing health problems, the Navy would certainlyl have discontinued
their long term custom of using distilled water.
How does the quality of distilled
water compare with Reverse Osmosis or Filtration? CLICK
HERE
I've heard that distilled water is healthier
to drink because it has a "natural molecular structure" and
is more easily absorbed into the body's
cells. Is this true and what does it mean? CLICK
HERE FOR ANSWER.
Some
people say that distillers do not remove toxic
chemicals which are found in some waters in either liquid or
gaseous forms. Is
this true or not?
Since the mid 1970's, home water distillers have incorporated volatile
organic chemical(VOC) "vents" or have used various types of
carbon filters to remove these VOC's. The VOC vents were placed just
prior to the condensation coils and were designed to release low temperature
organic chemicals into the air, thus eliminating them from the final
distilled water product.
As time
went on, carbon filters were found to be more effective than these volatile
gas vents in removing a wider range of VOC's. Today, all distillation
systems incorporation some type of carbon "prefilter" or "postfilter"
to deal with VOC's.
Today, individuals who claim that distillation systems do not remove
VOC's are either completely ignorant of basic water treatment technology
or are being outright dishonest about systems which they may not be
promoting or selling. In either case, you are getting information which
is incorrect.
Please explain why some water
distillers use carbon "pre-filters" while some use carbon
"post-filters". Is one method better than the other?
All "batch" or "manual" distillers use some type
of "post-filter", a filter placed AFTER the distillation process.
Since these types of distillers cannot be hooked up to a pressurized
incoming water source, an input carbon filter is impractical.
Fully-automatic water distillers which can be attached to a pressurized
home water supply usually come with some type of carbon "prefilter",
filtering organic and volatile chemicals out of the incoming water prior
to the distillation process.
Still other distillers use both a carbon prefilter and post filter.
From a technical, water purity standpoint, the most efficient location
for a carbon filter is BEFORE the distillation process for several reasons:
(1) in all types of water purification systems, successive sets of
equipment are designed to improve on the preceeding quality of water
processed by the system. Carbon is less effective, overall, than distillation
as it relates to water purity and therefore preceeds the distillation
process which is the purest process in the carbon/distillation sequence.
(2) carbon is known to be prone to dissipation in the form of carbon
"fines" when water is run through the unit. If a carbon
post filter is employed, inevitably small amounts of carbon migrates
into the distilled water, carrying with it concentrations of organic
chemicals removed earlier by the carbon materials. To a certain extent
this defeats the purpose of the carbon process.
Wherever
possible, we recommend that customers consider using some type of
sink-top carbon filter to prefilter the water which is placed in batch
or portable distillers. Short of this, carefully rinsing out the carbon
post filter before use, thus eliminating most of the loose carbon
fines will go far to eliminate the "migration" process described
above.
(3) finally, carbon is known to be an active breeding ground for bacteria.
If a carbon filter remains moist and exposed to the air, it is well
known that that media becomes an active breeding ground for airborne
bacteria. These bacteria are usually non-pathogenic(non-disease causing)
in nature.
However,
if an individual has a compromised immune system or is susceptible
to bacteria of various types for other reasons, we suggest that any
batch distillation process be preceeded by a carbon filter and the
post filter removed.
Additional
care should also be taken to periodically sterilize or sanitize the
distilled water container, normally with a few ounces of hydrogen
peroxide, 3% solution.
Some
references indicate that distilled water becomes acidic because it
absorbs carbon dioxide from the air. Is this true?
Any type
of water, sitting in an open container will absorb airborne gasses.
Try putting an open container of water in your refrigerator for a
day and you will taste all of the odors from the other fruits, vegetables
and meats stored in the frig.
Distilled
water should be stored in closed containers, just like any other drinking
water. In distillation systems using sealed storage tanks there is
little or no contact with moving air which might contain carbon dioxide
or other airborne organic material. If anything, water left standing
in these distiller storage tanks will tend to move to a more neutral
pH.
Why is
it that some people who drink lots of water still seem to be dehydrated?
Only
water in smaller "clusters", free from bondage with inorganic
minerals, will pass through the cellular membrane into the cell for
nutrition and cellular cleansing. Water which contains lots of minerals,
including "mineral water" and some "spring waters"
contain inoganic minerals which bind up dozens if not hundreds of
water molecules, creating a large cluster of water which is difficult
if not impossible to penetrate the cellular membrane.
Go HERE
for additional information on the types of minerals which may cause
the "binding" effect versus minerals which create small
water clusters.
This
water and mineral content remains outside of the cell in the "electrolytes"
which can use that type of mineral mix to create a conductive medium
by which individual cells can transmit electrical signals between
the cells.
Meanwhile,
if no pure water is provided to the body, little or no water gets
into the cells for nutrient transfer, combustion of carbs for energy
and toxin flushing from the cells. The result is large amounts of
water retention in the electrolytic portion of the body fluids.
You can
see this effect on people's hands which look "puffy", indicating
chronic water retention which doctors sometime treat with diuretics
or other medication.
All those
problems can be alleviated by drinking pure water which increases
the proportion of water inside of the cell versus outside, which is
a healthy situation and reduces water retention, extra body weight
and potentially more serious health problems.
Meanwhile,
without this pure water and smaller water clusters to penetrate the
cellular membrane, the cells don't get any water, the body becomes
dehydrated and health conditions may worsen as a result of this lack
of cellular water.
