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Water Distillation at Home

The oldest form of absolute purification: boiling, steaming, and condensing.

How a Home Distiller Works

A water distiller mimics the Earth's natural water cycle. Water is poured into a boiling chamber and heated until it turns entirely to steam. The heavy metals, mud, viruses, and chemicals are left behind in the boiling chamber as sludge. The pure steam rises, enters a stainless-steel cooling coil, condenses back into a liquid state, and drips into a clean glass carafe.

Because the steam separates so perfectly from physical contaminants, condensed distilled water is fundamentally the purest form of H2O achievable, rivaling or even surpassing Reverse Osmosis in absolute purity.

The Dangers of Distillation (VOCs)

While distillation removes heavy metals flawlessly, it fails spectacularly with Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) like benzene, pesticides, and certain chloramines. Because these toxic chemicals have a lower boiling point than water, they turn into steam before the water does, traveling up the cooling coil and ending up heavily concentrated in the final drinking carafe.

To solve this, any high-quality residential benchtop distiller MUST feature a small activated carbon post-filter nozzle to trap the VOCs before they drip into the glass.

Is It Safe for Daily Drinking?

Like Reverse Osmosis water, distilled water is incredibly acidic (often sitting at a pH of 5.5 to 6.0) and completely devoid of calcium and magnesium. It tastes remarkably "flat". While drinking it short-term is perfectly safe (especially during a boiling advisory), long-term consumption of demineralized distilled water without a diet rich in mineral supplements is generally not advised by health professionals.

It is, however, the absolute best water to use for CPAP machines, humidifiers, and irons, as it will never leave scale buildup.