I’ve been buying jugs of distilled water and adding potassium bicarbonate. It’s been working fine but I just realized that distilled water isn’t cheap here in the UK. I’m paying about 8 quid for a 5 liter jug whereas friends of mine in the US pay about 3 bucks or less per gallon. I go through about 25 liters about every 3 months.

Do folks distill their own water? I’ve looked at counter top distillers that seem pretty simple but I wonder if they’re more trouble than they’re worth.

I know there’s a myriad of systems and processes but I’m happy using distilled water and treating it if only it was a bit cheaper.

    I know some distill, but I’d say with increased energy cost and buying the distiller, it’s prob cheaper to just keep buying

    Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

    thusband - I do.

    It takes about 6 hours to produce approx. 4 litres of water. My distiller - which I bought second hand from Dave a few years ago - operates at approx. 500W. So 3kWh to produce approx. 4 litres. About £1.50. Those approx. 4L last me approx. 2 weeks. Yes, the Elizabeth is a very frugal machine! 👍😊

        I run my distiller until it produces a about 3.5l. I pour off the 500ml and store it for other use. 4 litres is pushing it for mine and will almost boil dry to produce it. By not letting it boil dry I can avoid descaling the distiller for months. It takes bout 3 hours and 40 mins to produce 3.5 litres for me and mine uses a little more energy but cost works out about the same per litre.

          Lots of sellers on eBay selling steam distilled water for £25 delivered for 25 litres. I usually use this seller. Comes in 5 litre bottles so is manageable.

            Rob1 By not letting it boil dry I can avoid descaling the distiller for months

            Top tip there @Rob1 ! I’ll start doing that too!

              Gagaryn

              Thanks! The 5 liter size certainly isn’t less expensive but the 25 liter size is. Maybe I could stick it in the garage and refill from it.

                  thusband I don’t know… It’s a distiler…

                  Looks like this one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/384292604578?var=652490400496&hash=item59799fcaa2:g:c48AAOSwT8FjJy1l

                  If I had a machine which “drank” more water than the Lizzy, or my consumption was higher, I would not be distilling water.

                  I think then I’d be using a Zero Water jug. Think the filter costs like £15 or so, for 40 litres of water (or maybe even more) input being hard water.

                  Just a lot more convenient, and might end up working cheaper on the long run. Again, depending on your usage.

                      Gagaryn - The annoying thing about this is the plastic waste, sadly.

                      @thusband - The only thing you need to bear in mind with distilling is that you have to be ahead of the game. For instance, I always make sure I have 4 litres of water in store, rather than finding the hard way I don’t have water for my next round of coffee, as, with my distiller at least, the process takes 6 hours.

                        MWJB

                        Hmmm, that might make the best sense. Thanks a lot.

                          Just bear in mind that 250ml a day equates to 7.5L a month roughly - which means your filter will be in the jug for a good 4 or 5 months depending on the input water hardness.

                          I’m sure this has been discussed before, but I don’t remember if the filters, like the Brita, have a shelf life or degrade over time.

                          More info: https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/d/568-zero-water-jugs/24