Make Distilled Water at Home

The best way to make distilled water is to purchase a home distillation kit. These kits typically include a stainless steel pot, a smaller pot that floats in it, tubing for connecting the two containers and a large glass bowl to collect the distilled water. However, it is possible to make distilled water at home with just the pot and a bowl. This method is less expensive and works just as well as a professionally made device. The key is to ensure the glass bowl floats in the larger pot. Otherwise, the distilled water will be collected in the bottom of the pot where it can drip back into the impure water and reverse the process.

Distillation is the process of boiling fresh water until it turns into a gas, or vapor. Then the vapor is condensed into liquid water in a separate container. The process removes all minerals, salt and other contaminants from the water. This results in pure water that is free from bacteria, viruses and other harmful substances.

This is a very simple chemical process that has been around for centuries, with primitive forms of distillation even going as far back as Aristotle. It is also one of the most effective ways to purify water. However, a drawback to the process is that it also removes beneficial natural minerals such as calcium and magnesium. This is why distilled water often has a flat, unpleasant taste and doesn’t contain the nutrients found in most tap water.

How to Make Distilled Water at Home

The simplest how to make distilled water is to boil tap water in a pot on your stove until it begins to boil. Once the water is boiling, place a smaller pot in the center of the larger pot so that it floats. Then, fill the smaller pot with ice until it reaches the top of the lid of the larger pot. The ice will help cool the steam as it vaporizes and prevents the distilled water from collecting in the bottom of the pot.

Once the distilled water has formed in the small pot, turn off the burner and remove the small pot. Then carefully pour the distilled water from the lid of the large pot into a glass bowl. Allow the distilled water to cool down before removing it from the bowl. Once the distilled water is completely cold, it can be stored in bottles for use.

In addition to boiling tap water, other ways of making distilled water at home include using a car cooling system to distill water and collecting rainwater or snow. This can be particularly useful if the surrounding environment is polluted. It can also be helpful for a number of medical and household uses such as watering plants, filling aquariums (certain contaminants like chlorine and nitrate are toxic to fish), cooking and cleaning. It can also be used for laboratory testing, weighing purposes and as a replacement for drinking water in some types of equipment such as cooling systems, health and medical devices (like CPAP machines) and canning foods.