Distiller Recomendations

System

I live in a very remote area and the costs are increasing to get in distilled water for my batteries and would like to hear if anyone has any recommendations for a
distiller. Use approximately 40-50 gallons a year.
Thank You

BB.

Re: Distiller Recomendations

If you want to build your own--search Google with "build solar water distiller"...

You can use other terms and probably find commercial distillers too.

One question though... You did not say what you wanted the distilled water for.

A home made distiller (like those found in Google), probably are not biologically "clean" (bacterias, mold, insect debris, etc.).

So--depending on your needs, you may need some other post-distilling treatment and/or filtering to get the water purity you need.

-Bill

PS... BLBLMPBHHH -- Yes you did say what you needed the water for. And you also posted you are from Alaska, so--for get the above solar suggestions (would work in summer probably, but not well in winter/freezing weather--but you have snow for that?).

BB.

Re: Distiller Recomendations

Here is a stove top contraption--good if you have a wood stove burning all of the time (don't know anything about it or vendor).

Also, don't know anything about this company or their product--but some electric distillers (look like coffee makers).

However, I presume that wood or fuel heating is less costly for you vs electric heat.

Otherwise, there is the old build your own still... And you can make moonshine on the side. :roll:

-Bill

System2

Re: Distiller Recomendations

Unfortunately we live in the land of no trees so no wood stoves but we do use a n oil burner to heat and the stove thing may work but would really like to hear it works from some one who doesn't sell it.
Same for the electric distillers which have a wide performance and price range. They also use a ton of power but looks like no way around it. Have an excess of solar in the summer so that will have to be make water time if I go that route. Can't believe I'm the first to want to do this and would like to talk to someone who has used any of them before I invest.
Thank you for the quick response.

BB.

Re: Distiller Recomendations

Unfortunately, distilling water takes energy. If you can use the "wasted" energy to heat your home in the winter, and use a "solar still" in the summer--might work.

It might be using a solar still in the summer and a couple 50 gallon plastic drums (buried to keep warm, in home????) for winter water.

Also, 50 gallons (~5 gallons per month) sounds like a lot of water--either you have a very large battery bank or they are possibly getting a bit on the overcharged side (battery charger OK? Check Voltage and electrolyte levels?).

There are also several types of "water miser" caps that recombine the hydrogen/oxygen back into water that drips back into the cell...

A few people here have used them successfully....

Lastly, the next time you change your batteries out, look into AGM (sealed) batteries... If they are not overcharged--they will last very well.

Brock

Re: Distiller Recomendations

We do have an electric distiller and it makes about a gallon at a time. It works really well, we used it more in winter when the extra heat was a benefit and not a problem. We had bad well water with a TDS over 2000 and even after R/O ing the water it still had a TDS of about 150. My wife wanted the R/O and then distilled water for our kids when they were babies.

Our unit is in storage (were moving) so I cant say which one it is, I got it off eBay, I believe it was a unit that was common at Sears. It did use about 1.5kw to make a gallon or 1kw if the water started hot.

We did burn wood and I came really close to trying the stove top ones, but never got around to it and then our kids got bigger

BB.

Re: Distiller Recomendations

Here is one thread here about Water Miser caps...

Another thread discussing the Water Cap options..

And, our host has a FAQ on Hydrocaps...

-Bill

mike95490

Re: Distiller Recomendations

I've heard somewhere that De-ionized or Reverse Osmosis water is not good for batteries, but I don't know why it wouldn't be. Those units work on just water pressure, and there is about 300% waste (1 gallon produced has 3 gallons go down the drain)

niel

Re: Distiller Recomendations

because those methods just reduce impurities for consumption and are not as pure as distilled water is.

mike95490

Re: Distiller Recomendations

because those methods just reduce impurities for consumption and are not as pure as distilled water is.

I have to disagree. We use city water here at work, run thru R/O systems, to get "clean water" for washing wafers, processes etc... We do continuous monitoring of it, and there is only H & O in it, nothing else. If we repair a pipe, we have to wash it for a couple of days till the surface crud finally stops leaching off of it. Maybe household units are not as good, and you will need steam distilled water anyway.

Ion Exchange units (water softeners) are NOT good, water is full of sodium chloride afterwards

System2

Re: Distiller Recomendations

I have an R/O system installed and am wondering if it is OK...

Brock

Re: Distiller Recomendations

Do you mean if it's working or if it's ok for your batteries? R/O isn't good enough for batteries; R/O’s typically remove between 90-95% of TDS. The water that goes in to batteries needs to be pure or a TDS of 0 or max 1, true distillation will do this. You can get TDS meters pretty cheap now. I have this one

http://cgi.ebay.com/HM-Digital-TDS-3-Meter-w-Case-Temp-ppm-Reverse-Osmosis_W0QQitemZ360045470226QQihZ023QQcategoryZ42291QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I didn't buy it from this place, but it is this same model.