Distillation Purifiers

Steam your water to clean out the impurities

Distillation might technically be thought of as the oldest from of water purification. In fact, distillation is the earth’s own method of water purification: ocean water evaporates (through the process of distillation), and its impurities (salt, notably) are left behind so that it is drinkable. Distillation is the most reliable method of water purification, and it can also be the cheapest.

Distillation machines use the same principle and process as the earth: they heat water to boiling; the rising steam is trapped. This method kills most bacteria and removes a wide variety of contaminants including pesticides, nitrates, sediment and heavy metals. Some advise that distilling units are even more effective when they employ a carbon filter which will remove other VOCs, as well as benzene and the entire family of chloroforms.

It has been proven in the field that distillers are likely the most effective method of water purification. Reverse osmosis (another highly rated method of filtration) does not remove all contaminants; many microorganisms and toxins can survive this process. Perhaps the most pernicious contaminant today is cryptosporidium; distillation is more effective than all other filtration methods, in ridding your drinking water of cryptosporidium.

Distillation and Boiling
Distillers are not absolutely fail-safe, though. Whenever there is a water problem, one of the first things you might hear or read about is a “boil water advisory.”

“Boil water advisories” usually caution people to boil water for several minutes in order to effectively kill the bacteria. This is not the same as distillation and the difference explains why distillation may not be effective in removing cryptosporidium, bacteria and other viruses. In the process of distillation, water is transformed into steam then back into water rather quickly. Micro-organisms that can survive limited heat will remain. For this reason, you should not fully trust your distiller to kill all bacteria. They do remove 99.5% of all contaminants.

One other drawback to distillation is that it is one of the slowest methods of water purification.

Innovation and Value
As you search for a distillation system, stay on the lookout for recent innovations – especially in speed – coming to market in this product category. Shop around and consider a balance of innovation with tried and true reality.