How to Save Money by Making Distilled Water Yourself
Do you need a batch of distilled water in a pinch? Thanks to its sterile qualities, distilled water is optimal for use in humidifiers and other appliances. It’s ideal if you’re planning to make your own kitchen and bathroom cleaner. And it’s recommended for use in nasal rinsing; earlier this year, a CDC report highlighted the increased risk of Acanthamoeba infection in patients who used tap water.
Distilled water is free and easy to make with all-natural common household items that you likely already have. We’ll show you how to make it happen with just two pots, ice, tap water and a stove.
Why make distilled water at home?
For people suffering from sleep apnea who use CPAP machines or any other sort of humidifier, distilled water is essential. It’s also useful if you don’t want additional minerals in your water. (For example, distilled water won’t corrode automobile engine parts or create lime-scale buildup in aquariums and it’s easier on your home if you use it to make this all-natural cleaner.)
Making distilled water is like a fun science project.
How to make your own distilled water
Not to get too scientific here, but this is exciting for me. We’ll be using 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), then collect the condensation with the aid of ice (solid). It’s like middle school science class all over again. You’ll likely find everything you need in your kitchen. A large pot with a lid, a small pot, water, ice and oven mitts for handling the hot cookware.
It does take some time for all this science to happen, so be prepared. In my example below, I started with 8 cups of water in the large pot. After 1 hour, I had produced about 1 1/4 cup of distilled water. To recreate a gallon jug that you’d find in the supermarket you’d need about 13 hours of distilling time.
If you follow these steps, you should get near 100% yield, but whatever amount of distilled water you want to end up with, make sure to add additional water so you don’t end up heating an empty pot(s) at the end of the process, which can damage cookware.
Use caution throughout the process.
4. At this point, you can sit back and wait. I ended up replenishing the ice supply twice within an hour, once at 30 minutes and once after 45 minutes. This is what you need the oven mitts for — that lid will be hot! Use caution when dumping that now-hot melted ice.