This week I picked up a new toy that I’ve had on my Wish List for a few years now. It was a belated Fathers Day present - A Water Distillation unit for the home. The water quality that comes out of the tap here in Australia is not too bad, but like many parts of the world it has some "extras" that our government in it’s infinite wisdom has decided to add to it. Since I’ve lost any trust in government these last few years, having them decide what goes into my drinking water is another thing I’m not super keen on...
The last few years we’ve been renting and 2 of the more rural properties we occupied ran solely off big underground rainwater tanks. At those properties my concern was a bit different because in agricultural areas (like they were in) there can be pesticides and fertilizers that can leech into an underground water tank. Plus there is always the risk of a rodent or other bug drowning itself in there so we were boiling our water before consumption in those places as a small precaution – especially after a few family members (myself included) got stomach aches for a few days after we first moved into that last place. Since then I’ve become a bit over-cautious when it comes to the quality of our drinking water.
At our new house we have rainwater tanks too, but the water collected is not intended for drinking. However with this new water distillation unit drinking the collected water is now going to be an option too. Anything that I can do to reduce reliance on external supply is a good thing as it builds up our household resilience so there is a couple of reasons while I think this has been a smart acquisition.
It’s a pretty small unit and didn’t cost a bomb either. I picked it up from Amazon HERE for only $115 AUD which makes it a very affordable kitchen appliance. You can distil other things with it (ahem, alcohol) but for now I’m just using it for water. The 105 on the left side of the display is the configurable temperature setting (in degrees celsius) and it takes 3.5 Hours to distil about 4 Litres. I plan to run it during the day when my solar panels are peaking out.
The water does taste a little bit different though. I was expecting distilled water to be fairly tasteless and I haven’t yet figured out if it’s picking up something from the carbon filter provided. I’m not really sure what the purpose of the carbon filter even IS, so if anyone has experience with this sort of unit I’d appreciate any advice. Should I just get rid of the carbon filter? If you have distilled your own water for drinking I'd love to hear how you've found it.
