Distilled Water

[S.Holmes]

For us, the winner is distillation (with a charcoal filter) for purity, cost, and reliability.

Zero Water is great and even though it is very pure...zero dissolved solids...it doesn't kill bacteria or other pathogens. (They say they're working on it.) Also, a Zero Water filter lasts about 12 days at my house. Our water tests at 260 ppm of total dissolved solids. (Love those little testers they provide.) At $15 per filter you can purchase a distiller in about 3 months! So until the filters last longer and also kill microbes I won't be using this one for every day water needs. We do however use it when we travel for convenience.

Brita took my dissolved solids number down about a hundred points...not acceptable. It also won't filter pathogens.

RO makes pure water, but as most know, it wastes a LOT ...a minimum of 4 gallons is required to make 1 gallon of pure water. That's costly unless you're on a private well, but the units are also pricey. When we used RO we had to call for a technician to replace the filters, so you pay for the service calls too. Pathogen overgrowth in the filters may be a problem between service calls.

I've had a Berkey for nearly a decade. I blindly trusted that it was working. If you can't test your water regularly you don't really know whether it's working or not (and I don't want to periodically run colored water through to test it.) So, using the little ZW tester, the Berkey brought my dissolved solids number down a whopping 10 PPM! I was shocked. Also. A couple of the filters came apart at the base (defective) and they won't replace them. My stored (unused) filters won't work at all and had to be tossed. The one thing THEY SAY the Berkey will do that the others (except distillation) will not, is remove pathogens, but I havent tested to see if this is true. Also, never ever let a Berkey filter dry out or it will literally never work again. It becomes completely plugged. At $80 plus per filter, Berkey gets a thumbs down from me. Perhaps someone has used a Berkey to filter creek or pond water with good results. I have not tried that and hope I never need to.

Distillation makes the purest water but you will want to use a carbon filter too to remove VOCS (volatile organic compounds). You can google a list of these. Distillers usually come equipped with a small reservoir in the output nozzle for charcoal packets. I ordered a bag of activated charcoal and reusable tea bags to save $. Be sure to buy the larger chunk and not the finely ground charcoal.

I hope this was helpful! If anyone had different results or experiences I would be interested in hearing about them.

 

[:M :B.]

I have been doing what Atom Bergstrom says that he does.

Step 1: Cheap reverse osmosis $160ish (not to be trusted because of bacteria growth and whatever else. like what S.Holmes said) removing the majority of bad things before distilling seems awesome to me.
Amazon product
View: https://www.amazon.com/iSpring-5-Stage-Prestige-Drinking-Certified/dp/B003XELTTG/ref=sr_1_8?crid=2S2GJK8ADX4GU&keywords=reverse+osmosis&qid=1665629174&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI1LjQ4IiwicXNhIjoiNC45OSIsInFzcCI6IjQuMjMifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=reverse+osmosis%2Caps%2C246&sr=8-8&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.08f69ac3-fd3d-4b88-bca2-8997e41410bb


step 2: Megahome distiller $280ish
it's pretty quiet compared to a couple other ones I have used in the past.
The distiller pot doesn't get mineral deposits this way and you're guaranteed crispy clean water free from government poisons.

Now that I am 2 years into zero sips of plain water I do not see myself ever going back to drinking plain water.

 

[HealthisWealth]

@yerrag

what is your water filtration type?

im using at first stage ceramic filter, 2nd granulated carbon, 3rd carbon block. Is this enough or what I need to improve?

and among the commercial bottled water. What wiil you buy?

 

[S.Holmes]

I use a distiller with a carbon filter on the outflow to catch the VOCS that are carried up in the steam. The water consistently tests at zero ppm dissolved particulates and is cheaper and easier to maintain than the Zero Water filter, which is my next choice but very expensive and doesnt remove bacteria, or Reverse Osmosis which can grow bacteria if not meticulously maintained and uses a tremendous amount of water.

Hope that helps.

 

[S.Holmes]

I use a distiller with a carbon filter on the outflow to catch the VOCS that are carried up in the steam. The water consistently tests at zero ppm dissolved particulates and is cheaper and easier to maintain than the Zero Water filter, which is my next choice but very expensive and doesnt remove bacteria, or Reverse Osmosis which can grow bacteria if not meticulously maintained and uses a tremendous amount of water.

Hope that helps.

Oh to answer your other question. I usually buy bottled steam distilled water when travelling.

 

[yerrag]

@yerrag

what is your water filtration type?

im using at first stage ceramic filter, 2nd granulated carbon, 3rd carbon block. Is this enough or what I need to improve?

and among the commercial bottled water. What wiil you buy?

I use a 3 stage filter. The first two are mechanical, the first a 5 micron woven fiber filter, which removes most of the dirt and fine solids, leaving rhe finest solids to be filtered by the 2nd stage diatomaceous earth filter.

The third stage has the carbon filter, the silver ion that's antibacterial, and a heavy metal filter all together in one canister.

I can buy the filter at Ace Hardware or at Handyman's or at TruValue. The brand is MegaFresh.

It costs around P200, P1000, P4000 to replace each of the cylindical cartridges when they're spent, respectively. In Philippone peso.

The 1st cartridge gets plugged up and thats when you replace it. The 2nd becomes thin and breaks on repeated scrubbing, scrubbing is done when it gets plugged up. The third one you replace when you feel like it, as it doesn't plug up but there's no telling if its bactericidal and heavy metal-removing ability is spent already. Mfr recommends yearly replacement though.

As for bottled water, I get mineral water like Summit. I avoid distilled water as I grew up at a time when distilled water was only used for refilling car battery liquid. And while it helped my dad with arthritis in his knuckles, I think its use should be therapeutic only and not for lifestyle.

My dad kept using distilled water though for drinking, and he had brittle spinal bones that cracked by themselves in his old age. My mom, otoh, refuses to drink distilled water and she was better off bone-wise in her old age. It's anecdotal, but I reject a distilled water lifestyle even though Barre Lando and Amandha Vollmer favor their use.

 

[HealthisWealth]

@yerrag

about summit, i have a hunch that is the best locally made bottled water because it taste different than all other commercailly bottle water. If i remember it correctly it taste sweet?

I recently bought a reintroduced brand hidden spring. The total dissolve solids is 390.. Summit is 110. I will compare which taste more natural.

Are this two came from the mountains of mount makiling? So its untreated water different from the waters of NCR?

 

[yerrag]

@yerrag

about summit, i have a hunch that is the best locally made bottled water because it taste different than all other commercailly bottle water. If i remember it correctly it taste sweet?

I recently bought a reintroduced brand hidden spring. The total dissolve solids is 390.. Summit is 110. I will compare which taste more natural.

Are this two came from the mountains of mount makiling? So its untreated water different from the waters of NCR?

Our mains water used to be all from the dams such as Angst and La Mesa. But AI believe Manila Water began to source some water from the polluted waters of Laguna de Bay a few years back, due to our prolific population all wanting to live in our metro thus exhausting our water supply from clean sources.

Definitely, it makes bottled water that are truly from clean natural sources superior.
I don't know where Summit or Hidden Springs come from though.

I don't really know to detect the sweetness in Summit water. I like to drink cold water if only to make the taste more pleasant. I used to spend.my summer vacations in Cebu as a child, and the water there was hard and unpalatable. The higher solids content may or not make the water better tasting, as it depends on the source and makeup of the solids.

 

[HealthisWealth]

las pinas, paranaque , muntinlupa, all the way to cavite their source of water is from the filty waters of laguna de bay.

I remember i send it to you i forgot if its this year or last year there is community in cavite that its water is fluoridated.

im looking for an affordable lot near NCR where there is free source of mounain water.

 

[yerrag]

las pinas, paranaque , muntinlupa, all the way to cavite their source of water is from the filty waters of laguna de bay.

I remember i send it to you i forgot if its this year or last year there is community in cavite that its water is fluoridated.

im looking for an affordable lot near NCR where there is free source of mounain water.

All the more reason to avoid living in those places. It confirms my gut feel.

 

[S.Holmes]

I use a 3 stage filter. The first two are mechanical, the first a 5 micron woven fiber filter, which removes most of the dirt and fine solids, leaving rhe finest solids to be filtered by the 2nd stage diatomaceous earth filter.

The third stage has the carbon filter, the silver ion that's antibacterial, and a heavy metal filter all together in one canister.

I can buy the filter at Ace Hardware or at Handyman's or at TruValue. The brand is MegaFresh.

It costs around P200, P1000, P4000 to replace each of the cylindical cartridges when they're spent, respectively. In Philippone peso.

The 1st cartridge gets plugged up and thats when you replace it. The 2nd becomes thin and breaks on repeated scrubbing, scrubbing is done when it gets plugged up. The third one you replace when you feel like it, as it doesn't plug up but there's no telling if its bactericidal and heavy metal-removing ability is spent already. Mfr recommends yearly replacement though.

As for bottled water, I get mineral water like Summit. I avoid distilled water as I grew up at a time when distilled water was only used for refilling car battery liquid. And while it helped my dad with arthritis in his knuckles, I think its use should be therapeutic only and not for lifestyle.

My dad kept using distilled water though for drinking, and he had brittle spinal bones that cracked by themselves in his old age. My mom, otoh, refuses to drink distilled water and she was better off bone-wise in her old age. It's anecdotal, but I reject a distilled water lifestyle even though Barre Lando and Amandha Vollmer favor their use.

Was your father a tea drinker?

 

[yerrag]

@S.Holmes No. I'm pretty sure about that as I never developed an appreciation for tea when I was growing up. I would have id he were as I pick up from him like osmosis.

 

[S.Holmes]

ICYMI. What Doctors say about Drinking Distilled Water - World Of Water Winnipeg | Bottled Water Company & More

 

[tasfarelel]

Does anybody have an idea how long a Zero Water filter will be safe to use for removing organic contaminants from distilled water? I make distilled water myself and store it in the Glass Container from Zero Water, so the filter doesn't get ever tap water, but sometimes I did not replace it in months, would be good to have a guesstimate of its capacity to bind the organic substances.

@S.Holmes ?

 

[S.Holmes]

Does anybody have an idea how long a Zero Water filter will be safe to use for removing organic contaminants from distilled water? I make distilled water myself and store it in the Glass Container from Zero Water, so the filter doesn't get ever tap water, but sometimes I did not replace it in months, would be good to have a guesstimate of its capacity to bind the organic substances.

@S.Holmes ?

I've never done this so really don't know. I use my distillers daily and change out their charcoal filters once a month.

 

[tasfarelel]

Ok, thank you - this helps already.