distilled water??

[scopenut]

Is distilled water something that has to be purchased for anodising or can you just use regular water that has been heated?

Is there a method for turning tap water into distilled water?
Thanks for any info.

scopenut

[mcaswell]

You need to purchase it, or use our new reverse osmosis machine to turn tap water into distilled water.

See http://www.caswellplating.com/supplies/ro_unit.html

[chromo]

I'll look at that reverse osmossis myself. Would like one for the well water here if it's the same thing I was looking for before.

If you boil water to steam and condense it back to water in a different container, that's pretty much distilled.
Course if you have to use electric, propane, or natural gas to do it, you might as well buy it.

As for distilling water myself, I use alot of heat for various things.
Scrap wood is nearly free here from a local mill. I make my own charcoal from it. In doing so I produce tons of heat so I keep tanks of water standing nearby and piped to a clean tank outside the burn area. This is not a boiler, as it is non presure!

When I get the fire going for baking charcoal, the barrel of wood heats and the wood produces gas which is piped under the barrels and burns same as propane would. The burning gas bakes the wood in the barrels producing more gas. It's a self feuling fire! When the gas is out of the wood and the fire goes out, the barrel has the best charcoal you can get.

Of course I get tons of heat doing that, so the tanks of water nearby boil well and the steam travels through the pipes to the tank outside the area and condesnses back into water. That's how I distill my water in fairly large volumes. It removes the minerals and purifies the water from the well, although removing the minerals is all I am really concerned about. I use that water then for batteries and radiators in the cars and trucks and for other non-drinking uses. I could probaly make drinking water the same way, but I built the system using scrap parts and old water tanks.

I do live in the middle of the woods, not middle of a large city! However the same idea I use could be adapted for smaller scale use by those with creative minds.

chromo

[chromo]

I looked at the reverse osmosis kit.
Although it looks like a good filtering kit, I tough the actual reverse osmosis was built using a UV light that kills bactiria?

Perhaps I got the names confused, but that's the type of kit I am looking for if any one has info on those.

Chromo

[mcaswell]

RO works on a filtering principle. Brita water filters work on the same principle. We're not really concerned with removing bacteria for plating, it's the minerals in the water we need to remove.

There's a good explanation at http://www.howstuffworks.com/question29.htm

[dadkar2]

RO is a great idea and there are quite a few units on the market to choose from. However there is an issue with return on investment at the hobby level. It will cost $200 by the time you get it home and installed. At $.69/gallon (what it costs to buy distilled water at the local supermarket), that’s about 300 gallons you’ll have to produce maintenance-free before you break even on the RO investment. Then there’s replacement filters and membrane, and knowing when these need replacing. You can buy a test kit to determine this. You don’t want to find out the hard way. Also, depending on your particular water conditions, you might have to derate the RO output by as much as 2:1. On the other hand, there’s the convenience of producing your own water. I’ve chosen the simple route. I go out and buy 12 gallons every 2 weeks of distilled water in bottles, then recycle the containers. I use the room under the sink for storage.--Ken

[chromo]

Yep I had my terms mixed up. I was thinking osmosis was a filtering proccess and the UV light to kill bacteria both.

Well at least I admit it when I am wrong

So does anyone know off hand what the other setup I am looking for might be called? It uses a filtering proccess to remove minerals and UV light to kill bacteria. I wanted that setup for drinking water.

And thanks for the link, I found it helpful.


Chromo

[24Seven]

I am thinking about experimenting with building a solar water distillary using glass plates formed into an A Frame structure with half round open at the top pipe attatched to the length of each leg of each glass panel so as to catch the water running down the inside of the glass panels. This then would be slanted slightly into two elbo fittings at two opposing corners of one end wall (west or east wall as the glass faces south and north )of the upside down V glass walls. These elbos would be connected and turned to face each other and then plumbed to run towards each other joining into a tee at the middle of east or the west wall. Incorperated into the tee would be one pipe draining into a subteranean hole with the means to be able to retrieve a container of distilled water. The hole would only need to be dug a lil bigger then the size of the catch basin container The end walls would be made from black 6-8 mil thick cheap plastic tarps. a small drip line could be incorporated to keep the sealed black floor of the unit wet . The temperatures average in the 90 -110 deg F. range all summer here with no more then a few days if any of any overcast at all to speak of. It may be that it will only produce about 2 - 10 gallons per day per 64 Sq. foot of glass area and half that in wet floor area. May not be worth the investment of time and materials to find out. Reverse Osm. on the other hand is more of a plug it in and GO, and it is already predictable in the cost savings...may be the way to go after all is said and done as this type of solar distilling system would probably cost more and also have its matainance costs. Like a black plastic tarp floor built to hold up to a quarter inch of water would build up with minerals as the water here is very hard. I wonder if these minerals could be sold to a mineral pill peddler? I have heard that they pretty much grind up rocks into powder. The mineral residue produced by solar distilling would be about the same quality mineral most of them sell.

Anyone here interested in taking a mineral bath? Just add some everclear for a "mineral spirits" kind of experience.

[annodizer]

Just buy it at Safeway they come in big ass contaniers!!!

I got 2

[24Seven]

Tripped over My Stupidity again!!

TRUE!!! Why didn't I think of that?

[chromo]

Depending on the humidity in your area maybe you could just go with a plastic tarp strecthed out square about 4-6" off the ground weighted alittle in the center to form a funnel type shape. Moisture rising from the ground condenses on the plastic and runs to the center where it drips into a catch container. Also you might be able to catch the morning dew/mist on the top of the plastic and it will run to the center also, just punch a little hole for it to drip through to your container.

Probly not gonna get alot of water, but it works. Also a good survival trick when stranded without fresh water, like in the desert.