This Easy DIY Water Purifying Recipe is a Great Timesaver

Tap water is easy to access, but sometimes you need distilled water if you plan to do complex DIY things, such as a homemade kitchen and bathroom cleaner. You should also use distilled water for humidifiers and other appliances as they have sterile properties. If you are participating in nasal irrigation, distilled water is the preferred type of water to use as well. In fact, earlier this year, a report released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed an increased risk of Acanthamoeba infection in people who use tap water to clean their nasal passages.

Distilled water is free and easy to make with all the common household items you already have. We’ll show you how to do this with just two pots, ice, tap water and a stove.

Why do you make distilled water at home?

For apnea sufferers who use CPAP machines or any other type of humidifier, purified water is essential. It’s also useful if you don’t want extra minerals in your water. (For example, distilled water won’t damage car engine parts or create lime-scale buildup in aquariums and it’s easier on your home if you use it to do this natural cleaning.)

If you live in an area with “hard” water, or water with a lot of chemicals, you can even use distilled water to protect your hair when you wash it. However, since distilled water does not contain minerals such as calcium and magnesium, it is tasteless and not the best for drinking.

You can buy distilled water at your local grocery store or on Amazonbut making it at home will save you money and keep a few plastic jars out of the recycling process. Learning how to make this sterile water at home will also save you when the store runs out.

Below, I’ll walk you through five steps to make your own distilled water. I will also explain the differences between all the types of water you come across in the store. For more tips, here’s how much you can make save by switching from bottled water to a Brita filtereven thought it is cheaper to buy groceries online compared to a grocery store and how Save money by making the food in your fridge last longer.

What is the difference between tap, filtered, purified and distilled water?

Tap water it is the easiest. Turn on your kitchen faucet. Water comes out of the tap. Voila! Tap water. The quality of tap water varies by location, and may contain traces of minerals specific to your region, as well as residual chemicals used in municipal water treatment. Hopefully your tap water is safe to drink, but that’s not true for about 45 million Americans. Filtered water is one solution.

Filtered water it starts as plain tap water. You may already have filtered water in your home through a whole-house filter, a faucet filter or a water filter (you can even get a filtered water bottle). Most filtered water goes through some carbon and micron filters, which help remove chemicals like chlorine (often added to municipal tap water as a disinfectant) and pesticides, and metals like copper or lead. Filters can also remove bad odors and tastes.
Clean water it usually starts as tap water as well. It will go through many purification processes, including those used to filter water. Clean water goes further than filtration, with a process that removes chemical contaminants, bacteria, mold and algae. You will usually find bottled water at your local grocery store.

Distilled water it is a special type of fresh water, but it is very easy and cheap to produce at home. As clean water, it meets the category’s requirement of 10ppm (parts per million) of total dissolved solids, pollutants, or less. The distilling process is simple: Heat tap water until it turns into steam. When the steam returns to the water, it leaves behind any mineral residue. The condensed liquid is distilled water.

Is it safe to drink distilled water?

Distilled water is perfectly safe to use, but the downside of distilling is that it removes all the useful minerals like calcium and magnesium that occur naturally in tap water. For that reason, it is not recommended that you use distilled water as your daily drinking water. You may also find that it doesn’t taste like tap or filtered water.

Can I store distilled water?

If stored properly, distilled water can have a long shelf life, as long as it is not exposed to direct sunlight or warm temperatures.

Choose a container for storing distilled water carefully. The lack of clean, nutritious water can cause it to release chemicals from the container it is stored in. If you plan to use water quickly, most containers will do just fine, but for long-term storage it’s best to use glass or high-quality stainless steel. .

How to make distilled water

Not getting too scientific here, but this makes me happy. We will use water in all three of its known states — solid, liquid and gas.

The gist is this: You heat water (liquid), turn it into water vapor (gas), and collect the condensation with the help of ice (solid). It’s like middle school science class all over again. You will probably find everything you need in your kitchen. A large pot with a lid, a small pot, water, ice and oven mitts for handling hot cookware.

It takes time for all this science to happen, so be prepared. In my example below, I started with 8 cups of water in a large pot. After 1 hour, I had produced about 1 1/4 cups of distilled water. To recreate a gallon jug you can find in the store you will need about 13 hours of soaking time.

If you follow these steps, you should be close to 100% yield, but whatever amount of distilled water you want to end up with, be sure to add more water so you don’t end up burning an empty pot(s). of the process, which can damage the cookware.

1. First, place a large pot on the stovetop burner and add 8 cups of water. Then, put the small pot inside the big pot. At this point, the small pot should float on top of the water. The key to circulating water vapor inside a large pot is airflow. Make sure there is plenty of space in the smaller pot, around the sides of it and between it and the top of the larger pot.

2. Next, turn on the burner to somewhere between medium-high heat. I tried to keep the heat level low — somewhere between 180 and 200 degrees Fahrenheit — and not boiling. Running a high temperature won’t get you a high yield, but it will heat up the cold side of the lid quickly, and make normal handling of the equipment difficult to deal with.

3. After putting the burner on, place the lid upside down on the large pot. The lids are usually higher in the center than at the edges. Flipping the lid will allow the distilled water to run down the center of the lid and into the small pot. Once all this is done, head to your icemaker (or tray) and load the top of the inverted lid with ice. The difference in temperature on the two sides of the lid will speed up the condensation process.

4. At this point, you can always wait. I ended up refilling the ice supply twice within an hour, once at 30 minutes and once after 45 minutes. This is what you need for oven mitts — that lid is going to get hot! Be careful when you dispose of that now very hot melted snow.

5. Any water that dripped into the small pot is now drained. Also, I was able to make about 1 1/4 cups of distilled water with 8 cups of tap water in about an hour.

Just remember, making your own distilled water is easy (and delicious!), but the lack of nutrients makes it a poor choice for everyday drinking water. But if you’re stuck at home and relying on the equipment you need, or maybe you just want to keep your fish healthy, you might want to try making it yourself.

To find out more, check out how to do it clean mold and bacteria out of your washing machine and the best way to open a clogged sink or a a closed toilet.