How to Distill Water at Home
While it’s easy to find distilled water in stores, if you find yourself in a situation where you need (or want to) make it at home, you can do it fairly easily. The good news is that you don’t need any fancy equipment to get the job done. The bad news is that it takes some time. Here’s what you need to know.
What is distilled water?
The distillation process removes impurities, chemicals, minerals and other substances from the water, making it exceptionally pure. And, as you may have learned in science class, this process involves heating water until it turns into steam, then trapping that steam and cooling it back into liquid form.
The lack of minerals like those commonly found in groundwater in many areas is why some small appliances , such as humidifiers and steam irons, recommend using distilled water instead of straight from the tap. So, for example, if tap water contains calcium, over time its use in the appliance can lead to the formation of limescale. If you use distilled water, then there will be no problems.
How to make distilled water with your own hands
Let’s start. To distill water at home, you will need:
- Large saucepan with a lid (ideally concave when upside down to make a small bowl)
- A smaller saucepan or other heat-resistant container (such as a metal or glass bowl) that fits into a large saucepan.
- Some oven mitts (or whatever you normally use to keep a hot pan from burning)
- Ice
- 8 cups of water
In addition, you will also need some time and patience. It’s best to know what’s included.
In any case, here’s what to do :
- Fill a large saucepan with eight cups of water and place it on the stove.
- Place the smaller pot or bowl inside the larger one, making sure no water can get inside. (It’s okay if the smaller pan floats.)
- Bring the water to a boil and then lower the heat to a boil.
- Turn a large saucepan upside down and fill with ice. (Note: don’t try to speed up the process by covering the lid while the water is still boiling in the pot – the lid will get too hot and the ice will melt immediately.)
- The water droplets that form on the underside of the lid and fall into the smaller pot/bowl are distilled water.
- Continue adding ice to the lid as needed, be sure to use oven mitts when you pick up the lid to pour out the melted ice (it will be hot).
It takes about an hour to prepare one cup of distilled water from eight cups of tap water.