DIY Water Distiller (Higher Output Version) - Full Build and Demonstration
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- Full construction walk-through and experiment to demonstrate the higher efficiency of this style of homemade water distiller. I can distill about 40 ounces per hour with this condenser design. Total cost was about $60.00 for materials.
Distilling water is a highly effective method for purifying the most dirty and contaminated water. It will also desalinate salt water and turn it into perfectly clean and safe drinking water.
This is the fitting I used in the lid of the pressure cooker:
Bulkhead Hose Barb 5/16"×3/8"
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/ greatlakescountry
This gives people another option. And that's a good thing. The more options, the better.
Good design. I would suggest a bulkhead fitting between the worm (moonshine term) coil. This seals the bucket of cooling water. You could then use a basin of cool water to be circulated by a fountain pump. This should add process time for your ice packs placed in a basin rather than the coil bucket. The same way a lot of moonshiners tried to place their stills near a water source.
Good idea brother
You don’t need a pressure cooker in a pinch. As he said, he’s not worried about the seal because the pressure won’t be that high. Drill a hole in the lid for any big pot you have, attach a hose connection, and just putting a brick on the lid will suffice.
A very intelligent man to learn from. Highly recommended to watch!
Great video and DIY! One word of warning - distilled water leaches copper. It would be a safer idea to use 316L Stainless Steel Food-Grade tubing for your condenser. It will raise the price, but it is a safer solution.
thanks! Conversely, how much potential Chromium/Nickel/etc. might leach into the distilled water?
@@stevoblevo probably much less, because the alloy as a whole rusts/oxidises less than copper (if high grade S.S is used). Side note, avoid aluminium pots and tubing too.
gold plated problem solved
We need copper anyways most people are defiecent right? Id rather have extra copper than 50 random people prescription drugs including birth control woman pee out not to mention flouride chlorine the list goes on and on. Dont stand directly over the distillation and breath the fumes in thet have phalates from what I've read
Anyone know how much? Im trying to distill well water for cannabis plants, very high iron content but potable for people. Dont wanna trade one metal toxicity for another
Great setup, that condenser was simple and beautiful at the same time!
If I was still teaching school, I would teach my students how to do this. I was going to do a unit on survival and combine science with the other basix skills etc.
The problem with the water draining from the bottom, is it's going to drain the coldest water. The hottest water will be at the top, so it reduces efficiency quite a bit. I had a pump feeding through mine, one fitting at the top and another at the bottom. I first ran the cold water into the top and used the bottom as the discharge, so it would siphon the water out as I'm pumping it in to keep circulation going. I've since switched it, cold fed into the bottom, and just let gravity drain the top discharge. Works much better. As the VERY top is all that really gets hot. And I mean just an eighth or quarter inch. The rest of the water stays ice cold. You can stick your hand in, and the very top will be scalding, but the rest is cold. I just run tap water now, instead of having a pump and a big 25 gallon reservoir.
Well, did it work okay 'errr?
Brilliant 👌🏾 ❤
This is a terrific idea. I use distilled water in my CPAP device and sometimes you have a difficult time finding it. Sadly I can NOT use any other type of water in it. This is another great video from you that I am going to share. Great information, Thank You very much. Peace To All!
Thanks Scott. Yes! It's one of the things that made me want to build one. I can't even find the stuff at my grocery store anymore.
@@akosreke8963 Which chemicals?
Copper pipes and tubes are perhaps the most common material for hot water lines over the last several decades. Copper is used for all sorts of beer and wine-making purposes. Why would this small-scale application pose a risk, while all the water lines in my house are perfectly fine?
@@akosreke8963 Thanks Akos. I'm inclined to do some more research on the subject, either way.
I have used tap water in my CPAP for 50 years and just let the chlorine evaporate for a day. Then once a week I soak my tank in vinegar and water and rinse it out. Easy and no equipment cost, vinegar is almost free.
This is why I love TH-cam.....we are all geniuses in our own way and sharing it for others. Now I am off to crush reclaimed clay bricks to add as a layer in my soil to retain water in Northern Mexico....if it works I will share.
Stick that pressure cooker inside a solar oven and it should work without fuel on sunny days. Good job with this vid. 👏
Good video. Well presented and to the point.
Even though you did this in a kitchen, you were able to show how it's done. Obviously things are different in a camping/survival situation lol But that's where other knowledge and enginuity come in!
For sure! I may have to make a follow-up video where I set it up in the woods.
Great idea! I haven’t read through all the comments yet; but I was wondering if you left on the mason jar top and drilled a hole to accommodate the silicone tubing if that would help trap all the lost steam coming from mason jar and add to volume of produced distilled water?
It's possible, but I think if the hole/hose fitting was snug enough to not let the steam escape, it would become pressurized very quickly, and probably explode hot water all over the place!
If you seal both ends you will start to create pressure which could cause a problem in the Mason jar or the cooker...... likely not the cooker, but the Mason jar could explode if you're pushing too much steam/preasure through it. As long as the water around the condenser is not boiling it will cool the steam to produce pure water
Excellent video
can you substitue silicon tube with copper or any other metal (outside alumiium). Can plastic from silicon get into water?
Thank you for taking time to show us this, important video
Copper tubing would work instead of the silicone tubing, though it would likely need to be a bit wider than the tubing I made the condenser out of. Some people use flexible copper tubing (like goose-neck style tubing). I've not figured out how to attach that to my pressure cooker, but I'm sure it could be done. As for the silicone tubing I'm using here, it's high-temp, food-grade silicone and I have no worries of anything leaching into my water.
You pretty much covered all points but I believe distilled water lacks minerals and requires some salt to replace minerals or the Atoms in the distilled pull the minerals out your body so I would think a few kilo of pure Rock Salt is needed also if this is going to be the regular modus operandi for drinking
I am learning that it needs to be a multi level approach. Physical filter then chemical then this
look at the design of the john ellis water machine and follow that design. you could build one easy enough
You should throw some wine in that and distill some brandy
Would filling up the bucket with dirt help the cooling process? u can always add water to that too if the dirt alone doesnt do the job. Id imagine coolness in the condenser would last longer with dirt and water (as the water would be soaked by the dirt
That's an interesting idea. I'm not sure if it would help cool the coils, or act like an insulator and prevent the coil from radiating/dissipating the heat. Might be worth an experiment.
@@GreatLakesPrepping Try sand, you know how on the hottest days at the beach the sand is still rather cold if you dig like 8 inches down? Thinking more into it I theorize that sand would be very effective at keeping cool. Especially if some water (doubt it even has to be cold) gets added to the sand from time to time.
I wonder if fractional distillation would give a higher yield. Granted way more complex. Nice setup!
I bought a still to do this .what I found was... It takes way too much energy to create distilled water I had to keep pouring cold water onto copper pipe and the water became boiling hot within a minute .I wondered about the idea of placing the copper pipe In a small freezer perhaps to condense the water ? I just found the work Vs result was way way too much .
Awesome info, just subscribed.
Thanks!
An immediate thought: Distilled water for battery use that contains no minerals/metals or chemicals, you run the distilled water through a copper pipe.... which actually adds copper to the water again? or am I wrong...
Did you get a TDS reading?
Nice job But you didn't drink it? j/k
Plug the hole in the bucket and retain the water.
Do you have a parts list especially the component that goes into the pressure cooker and the gasket. Thanks!!!
I own a mechanic shop in Texas and was wanting to make my own distilled water instead of paying 1 dollar a gallon, after seeing this ill just pay a dollar a gallon lol
Depending on how much you need, yea, it could take awhile before the DIY distiller pays for itself. I just remember when everybody was panic-buying every jug of water in the store last year, even the distilled was nowhere to be found. I definitely like having a way to make it myself.
You can make moonshine
Aaaaargh! How did the water taste?
Tasted like nothing! Distilled water doesn't really have any minerals or anything else in it that might give it flavor. Tastes like 2 parts hydrogen and one part oxygen.
Doesn't the copper tubing rust by time?
Nope, copper doesn't rust.
@@GreatLakesPrepping Thanks for the video and answer. I'm sorry, in fact I wanted to ask if ot corrodes by time and copper gets inside distilled water.
What's "picked over"?
In this context it means they are sold out. People have already gone through them and bought anything worth buying.
Does it remove fluoride?
Yes. It removes almost anything/everything. This includes minerals and beneficial things, which is why it's not ideal to use as a long-term water treatment method for drinking water. But if you need to remove fluoride from some water, distillation will do it.
Sault ste marie
Use an adapter to go from that silicone hose into a 3/4" or larger hose and that will increase efficiency.
Your estimate costs is waaaayy low for 2023....
The only problem is that copper tubing which is worth more than $60
Now you can make moonshine
get it hot enough.. then get it cold enough
Ice water salt
Except for the fact that it uses more water than you get out of it, it's a way to distill water..
That's what happens when you boil water. You lose some to steam. It's kind of like saying "I guess you could cook your meat before eating it, but it's going to get smaller than it was when raw".
This isn't a process to make water, it is a process to clean filthy water. Of course there will be less when finished.
what if you don't have electricity, ice, etc.?
It works without electricity, as well as without ice. It's just much less efficient without something cold in the bucket. If there was plentiful cool water, that would work.
@@GreatLakesPrepping Thanks for your reply. Great video.
What about sealing the hole in the condensor bucket? I love your job.
the water in the bucket gets warm after a short while and no longer is able to condense the steam properly. With the hole it drains by its self instead of him having to dump it some how. The best thing to do would be to seal it, then add another hole with a fitting that can be open/closed. When the water gets warm, you open the valve to let the water out, then close it to fill it back up again.
@@cloudsteele1989 Then the old water can be cooled and reused.
I've been kicking around my mom's old pressure cooker in my garage for the last 25yrs thinking some day I'm going to have a use for this damn thing and low and behold up pops your vid! Thanks now I've got something to do tomorrow 👍👍👍
Fantastic! It really is a perfect use for an old pressure cooker.
If you let your boiling container run dry through the process, you can use distilled vinegar (which is a mild acid) to soak in the container to loosen and easily remove the sludge that builds up. If you use a stainless steel container, vinegar is the way to go, and by the way, if you use stainless steel cookware that gets caked up with the food you cooked in it, vinegar will help make that clean up easier too, just let it soak in vinegar for awhile then the guck should be easy to remove.
Hey Jerry, thanks for the advice! I have bought a few stainless steel cookwares, and plan to get more in the future! My family always used aluminium cookware, and I'm slowly weaning out all the aluminium cookware in the house.
Barkeeper's Friend is less than $2 a can and works even better.
You can also steam vinegar through the copper, which I've heard is corrosive(?)
I’ve built several of these for a completely different purpose. In HVAC when recovering refrigerant it makes the recovery cylinder very hot with pressures exceeding 500 PSIG. This takes forever on a hot day and will make the machine shut off constantly. So I rolled about 30’ of copper into a cooling bucket and connected it between the machine and recovery tank. Ice is a good start but it melts super quick, running water is a must. Absolutely the more coiled copper I use the better it works. I never thought about doing that to distill water but I’ll be doing it now. I’ve already got a 20’ inner coil and a 25’ outer coil. I will be surprised if any steam makes it out but we’ll see. Dope video, thanks.
have you ever tried dry ice? i used it for solvent recovery in a different industry, and it slurps it out quick.
As one who has distilled my drinking water for 20+ years, you have no idea what is coming from your tap and pictures do not convey the smell to what is left behind.
Even bottled water is filled with poison.
yaboyGOODVIBES Factually incorrect but ok
@@matthewjohnson9746 Fluoride is essentially poison doesn't kill you instantly but overtime shortens your life span and is linked to Alzheimer's, also plastic releases estrogenic chemicals. Fluoride filtering water and storing it in not plastic containers is the only way to drink water free from toxins.
@@m0gg83 distilled water leaves all the fluoride behind. You get pure H20. It will taste a bit 'flat' because all the minerals are removed as well, however, they sell liquid minerals you can add to your water.
@@watchingvideos2235 yep
This is one of the best one I seen on making clean drinking water
I love the design, as it opens up a few thoughts for me. I am contemplating the possibility of using solar excess (once batteries are full) to run an element to heat water (maybe 500, or 800 w). My concerns are, how much can one distill this way. Ice bricks are not an option if I want, say, 1000 litres per day. Thanks for the video!
Awesome project. I live 1 mile from the ocean and I will build this ASAP...unlimited water supply in the Pacific!
And sea salt for seasoning
I use distilled water in the coffee maker and the tea kettle, no gunk to plug the machine.
Boiling isn't necessary and probably detracts from the process. Just enough heat to cause the water to evaporate and rise at a good rate. Although slower It will be much kinder to your chiller. GREAT BUILD
I personally want to distill water, just to see what sort of Contaminants are inside our Tap water.
Do it. You socks will be blown off by the amount of crud in each gallon. And when you think, "I drink half a gallon daily," you will become disgusted, alarmed then angry. But do not stay angry. Our ancestors drank from rivers, ponds and puddles. Those with weak immune systems died off. And yet, we are here.
A lot of white stuff
Great idea - thanks for sharing.
To improve it even more, fill the cooling bucket completely with cold water and keep it filled.
Your hose was still bubbling, so you lost some steam to insufficient cooling.
Remember: you don't get drinking water, you get destilled water from you device - our body runs on water with 0.3% salt (isotonic solution), anything less or more will dehydrate you. Saltwater from the oceans contains 3-4% salts, so roughly 10 times the amount needed and it's as harmful as destilled water is. To get drinkable water, add 0.3% salt to it. If you get stranded on an arid island, you can add 1 part of fresh seawater to 10parts of destilled water to make a drinkable solution. It doesn't taste great though, due to the content of sulfates in the ocean.
so you are saying we can't drink distilled water? Do you have any scientific evidence?
@@doctorkhan2255 -Ask any doctor - basic medicinal knowledge. I suggest, you look up "osmosis effect" too
@@mannihh5274 You can drink Distilled water. That is just silly. Yeah its not super good for you but its not harmful to the degree youre expressing at all.
@@equilibriahealth1727 ... I would agree with that, because you're not just drinking distilled water, you're also eating food, juices & condiments/seasonings (salt, pepper, soysauce, vinegar, etc) along with it, i.e. the bigger picture, if you didn't have any other kind of drinking water around.
You are all correct! When i am fasting, you will start twitching about day 3 if you don't have at least salt. I have a bottle of water with my minerals when fasting. When not fasting, your food takes care of the salt and other minerals.
I recommend P&G Purifier of Water Portable Water Packs if faced with the scummiest water. It's utterly amazing !
Salt makes water colder, .maybe salt water in your worm (copper coil bucket ) could be helpful?
Off to finish the vid..
Remember to get calcium and magnesium from other sources as distilling removes those.
I think if i were to attempt this design, I'd add a tap to the bottom of the bucket so I could choose when to drain rather than having it leak out. I think the warm water created by cooling the coil would be a good candidate for adding to the boiler. Idk if that's how thermals work, but i would imagine heating warm water takes less time and energy than heating cold water from a lake or something. If that's the case, it'd be worth collecting that water.
I'd also be the mad lad to try and automate this process since the steam could be used to power a pump or something. It would be a steam engine that farts out pure drinking water and fills huge reservoirs of drinking water.
hmmm maybe able get clean "water" from fermented fruit bucket
Hey, thanks for this vid. I was just checking to make sure I understand the condenser from memory (from cub scouts back in the 1980s) and I do. Thanks for this cut to the point presentation!
Thanks Ryan, glad it helped
Wonder how much copper tubing you would need to not need water to cool it.... I'll have to experiment! Great vid!
Have you thought of using a frenel lense/parabolic mirror to use as a heating source?
Cheers!
You also need distilled water for vehicle batteries if your low on acid.
I took the plunge and decided to start distilling. I have to use a CPAP at night, and the humidifier portion requires distilled water, because; 1) no minerals leftover, and 2) less chance to grow bacteria in the machine.
The past month, I have not seen ANY distilled water in stores…
I have to use distilled water for the same reason. It sure is nice to be able to make it myself when it's not available.
This may have already been addressed here, but you dont want to put dissimilar metals in direct contact with each other. Retired mechanic looking to build a water distiller, and I always look to see what TH-camrs are doing.. this is a sweet arrangement other than the connection. Additionally, use a rubber pushthrough bulkhead seal for output of condenser and use bucket of water as to make full contact with tubing. The only upgrade to this would be tapwater running into the bucket continuously to dilute thermal storage of water in bucket. Hope this info is helpful to someone.
Hi just so I'm clear, instead of the metal piece that was used underneath, he should've used copper for both?
Btw thank you for your input...every little bit counts.
@@nikkilav824 ALL copper structure is fine, as long as you isolate the copper and support metal, you're fine. I have yet to build mine, but this guys arrangement is pretty sweet. In my state, Sams just raised the price of water cooler jugs for drinking to $1 a gallon. I believe I can distill water for about 27¢
per gallon.. And no more wrestling 5 gallon jugs up my stairs.
Also.. Your reference to underneath? I am talking about anywhere copper comes into direct contact with any non copper material. Silicon interface between condenser and boiler, and support for condenser in bucket. Hope this was what you were asking.
ssh don’t tell anyone but you also now have a still for alcohol 🥃😋
This a good demonstration of water distillation. There are a couple things to consider. First, some people have reactions to copper and even develop copper toxicity. Now once scale forms in a new coil this will be less and less of a copper transfer into the water. Second, If you are going to be distilling surface water from questionable water sources, one may be concerned with VOCs, volatile organic compounds. Most commercially available distillers are closed loop systems like what you built and remedy VOCs via activated carbon post filters. Some commercially available emergency or non-electric distillers are open loop, meaning VOCs boil off at a lower temperature and vent into the atmosphere. There is water lost in an open loop, but the water quality is better. The best water distillation possible is fractional distillation, but nobody has $3000+ for a complicated machine with very low output. :-)
Scale isn't going to form from water vapor in a still...kinda the point, to get rid of all the solids that form scale. And stainless is always an option.
@@salvadordollyparton666 Oh yes it will. A pressurized system will definitely transfer some unwanted product with it and copper it self will anneal due to temperature and harden from contact with oxygen, so the end result will coat the copper tubes pretty well. 😉
Love it
Couldn't you just wait to put the lid on until after the water reaches boiling point? Would this not get rid of VOCs?
Guess after distilling you could pour it thru a zero water pitcher filter?
Even if you used a fan to cool the coil it might work? That is how it works in the distiller.
The problem with distilled water is all the minerals are removed and man made chemicals with low vape point transfer over so depending on circumstances it still needs to be filtered
If you allow the water to boil for a short time before placing the lid on then it will off gas all of that. Also, purge the first of the distilled water.
That’s a nice set up I like it👍 I was thinking that an induction stove top hooked to an inverter, battery and solar panel...free power from the sun 😉
Thanks for the nice vidio explaination- that really is all that is needed- i bought a 80.00$ still water distiller off amizon- from seeing your vidio-i can see i will need to add a much bigger condencer / thanks again / my other little plastic water distiller for about 75 $ burned up in just about a year. Probbley more efficient on power-but your preasure cooker design clears my mind- distilled water out of my RO machine comes out pure clear- your water in that design probley still had some impuritys THOUGH. probley a bigger condencer and dial the heat down just a little would be nice and clear.GREAT DESIGN IDEA.
If you let the distiller shut off by itself they will burn out, I lost two of them, now I set mine on timers and have one about 6 years now that is still running great. I also put 1 teaspoon of Citric Acid in the water that I am going to boil, on the 2nd boil I do not add it, on the 3rd boil if the 1/2" water at the bottom is clean then I do another boil. I don't clean or empty the water between boils unless I need too.
what if you used a bigger bucket, didnt drill a hole in the bottom and routedthe tube up the side of the bucket and just kept the bucket full of water? possily circulated it with a low power mixer.
Makes great moonshine too
That clean water your saying my friend still looks cloudy. Oil can stick to the steam as well.
I built a distillation unit in 4th grade, but I don't have access to a scientific glassware company anymore. I need distilled water for my iguana's misting system. This might be just the thing.
If you are loosing steam even after cooling, you need to turn your heat down. The hotter it is, the more pressure that is being produced. After all, you only want to collect the condensation from the steam.
Okaaayyyeee... so it's hit the fan & here I am with my DIY distillery, (great simple, easy design by the way), & I'm gonna just grab some cold packs out of my electric freezer in a grid down situation aaand... I really do like the conveniently simple design that anyone can do & the principles taught that again, anyone can grab onto. I'd just have left out the cold packs.
A very well thought out plan. Have no doubt you will perfect it in time. Maybe the bucket acts more like an insulator which prevents the water from Cooling quickly. Would suggest more space between the coils perhaps and a fan blowing on the coils to help with the cooling process.???? Maybe a larger diameter tubing like 3/8 inch.
What are your thoughts?
Heat exchangers are all about surface area and turbulence. All of the steam/water NOT scraping along the sides of the copper pipe is just going for a ride. Longer, thinner copper tubing would increase surface (cooling) area. If he's not getting the cooling rates he wants, running two concentric coils of 1/4" would improve things. Also, water on the outside of the coils is always going to work better than air. Think of it this way: if you went outside during a 50 degree day, it might feel a little cool but once you started working you'd warm up. If you went for a swim in a 50 degree lake, you'd be dead in an hour.
If it is PURE copper, you are disinfecting your water at the same time. Copper, as is silver, is a great water purifier. Pure copper water jugs are very expensive, because they are so healthy! ⚱️
Also, if you made the drain hole the size of the plastic tubing, you could save water AND disconnect the tube from the bucket easily. 😁👍🏻
I hit all the bells and whistles. Are you from MN or WI? 🤙
Thanks TreeLynn, Michigan actually.
@@GreatLakesPrepping Right on. I'm on NE Wisconsin.
so ur Prepping right - then spend $200 and in 2 days ull be good enough to weld a work bench together
this waiting for epoxy stuff could have been solved with 10min of unpacking - welding and packing up a welder, and its a value add skill for your shtf. i got sick and tiered for figuring out how to bolt my projects together. its just metal hot glue :D
It would be effective if the energy of steam condensation was used to evaporate dirty water.
I know it late but:
-Do not reacc more than 85c reaching more can let some water run out before it become pure steam
- build the system in way where u can cover the collector under the ground about half meter depth and use hand pump or electric mini pump this way u do not need ice or water to condense
- u can useone small and one large pressure cookers connected together with 1way valve and just wait alittle it will condense slowly
Do not reach more than 85c for best quality
Materials were $60.00, BUT the cost of the gas/electricity would make this extreamly non-cost effective. In the field, a wood fire would cost less, but be even less effective due to the heat loss. A closed burner system would be excellent for this.
I just did this in a basic 5 gallon distiller I bought. It was very inefficient. This set up here was also ver inefficient. 35m of fuel and 35m of water ru ning out of that bucket for 20 ounces of distilled water is is simply inefficient. If you are next to a cold stream, great. Use the flowing cold water. Don't splash in your distilled water, though! Also, if you have use for hot water, this setup will create it. Shower water, dish water, etc. can be used from this process. If not near a stream or river, you can also recycle water. Remover the water when it gets warm, leave it out while other water is cooling, and reuse the water once it cools a bit. On my distiller, I think my water flow increased when I poured some water right at the beginning of the condenser process, but this was outside the condensore bin, so it dripped on top of the boiler lid. I think the steam there created back pressure at the 90 degree angle that limited steam flow into the horizontal condenser portion of the copper tubing. Overall, this is better than nothing, but not an elegant solution by any means. It was time consuming to create relatively little output.
Hey the fluorosilicic acid in the water in municipality water supplies is listed as a neurotoxin and fluorosilicic acid is also the most corrosive acid that known yet. They put it in the water supplies to supposedly fight cavities, they put it in toothpaste ssri drugs and a myriad of other things...I suggest anyone who's interested in why you should distill your water, and not buy it from the store is because the store bought water jugs leech plastic chemicals into the water because the distilled water attracts toxins and takes them from everything which is why it's a great way to detox your body the distilled water pulls all the toxins from your body. Plus you get rid of the fluoride poison in your tap. Watch the documentary called Fluoride, poison on tap it cake out in 2015 and is an extremely important movie for everyone to see.
I use distilled water, which is not really drinkable, for plants, and a humidifier. For some reason, my tap water instantly kills plants, which is concerning..
You could seal the silicon house through the hole in the bucket, that would allow you to still remove the condenser coil and have the water remain.
I'm curious how this would work with room temp water, I'm thinking outdoors by a lake scenario
Having health problems? Memory problems? Have your water checked for ammonia. Pet stores test if you don't want to buy a kit.
Using a pressure cooker is a good idea. Since they are pricey, rather than purchasing a new pressure cooker, go to the flea market & get a used one for a bargain price.
If you make the copper condenser coil 3-5 times taller or several layers of coils, turn the heat down under the pan after it comes to a boil and don't put the coil inside anything so the air can pass through the coils it should work without needing anything to cool the coil down. The harder the pan is boiling the higher the steam pressure and flow and the longer the condenser coil needs to be. The copper coil will be hot all the way to the end but by the time the steam gets to the end of the coil it is cool enough to condense back into water. If you don't care about running power you can set a fan up so it blows up through the coil and turn the heat up on the pan.
The water drain is unpractical and a waste, to be honest. The water that gets hot in the bucket is the top layer and the bottom half stays as cold as it was when you pour it. It creates a thermocline so it still cools the steam. When you drain it from the bottom the cold water leaks first. Also the water itself doesn't get that hot. I love to put my hand in the cooling system and feel the thermocline, it's fun. my elbow it's around warm water and my fingers are in cold water. I leave if to boil for 3 hours and the water has never gotten so hot that I was not able to put my hand in it. So yeah, it you want to, you can scoup a couple of bowls of the water on top and replace it with cold water, but draining the bottom water is a waste.
When done making distilled water, ferment some fruit juice, and make moonshine from scratch!😁
A bag of crushed ice and some tap water filling the bucket would make it work really well.
the problem with a condenser like this is that you can only run it for so long before the water becomes hot and no longer carries the heat away from the pipes anymore, so you have to keep refilling it and adding ice.
distilled water is so important even for vehicle batteries if your low on acid.
It MIGHT remove everything. If there are any volatiles in the water they will transport with the water vapor. A carbon filter will remove these.
Thanks a lot. I will build this when it warms up. I need distilled water for my kratksky hydroponic system and for drinking too
If you go watch some videos on still setups you will see its very similar. If you set this up near a water source you can run cool water over your condensers to get a much higher yield. You can also make good use of those little pumps that you can mount in your drill if you set them up to be run by a small water wheel if you have flowing a flowing water source like a little creek. They are also somewhat noiseless.
what about the length of the silicone tubes? does the steam need to be in the tube that long?
Nah, you could use a shorter silicone tube. That's just the length that worked for my setup.
SO GLAD YOU ADDED SALT TO YOUR DEMONSTRATION ! I read that if you are trying to reduce sodium from processed foods it's difficult. ❤