distilled water systems

oicu2 · #1 02/14/2007, 01:06 PM

I was just wondering if anyone has ever used a distilled water system. Here is a link to show you what I am speaking of. I'm trying to find an alternative to an RO/DI unit.

http://www.h2olabs.com/?OVRAW=steame...OVMTC=advanced

pvtschultz · #2 02/14/2007, 01:31 PM

That company is definately not a true and faithful one. "Great tasting" is not going to be it, the lack of minerals can cause fatalities, and soft water tastes like poo. Anyways, here's what you are going to need to know:

It takes 8.308 BTU to increase the temperature of one gallon of water, 1 degree F.

It takes another 129 BTU to convert that water into steam.

So, if you have 50 deg tap water, it will take: 8.308*62+129 = 644 BTU to boil one gallon of water. That is equal to 0.1888 kWh of electricity. In WI it would then cost about $0.023/gallon to make distilled water. This doesn't include the cost of the water (cheap in WI) or the maintainance of the "boiler" to remove scale and rust. You would on the other hand save about 4 gallons of water for every gallon of water distilled over RO/DI, so if electricity is cheap and water is expensive, it might work out.

But at the described 4 gallons per day, it is going to take you almost 3 weeks to fill your tank, but might not be too bad for top off. You'll also need to fill it every 6 hours to get your 4 gpd. Not looking very entertaining to me...

oicu2 · #3 02/14/2007, 07:07 PM

Yeah, I thought so. They do make bigger distilled systems but they are costly. Im just getting tired of changing my RO/DI filters. We live in a rural area where our water plant gets it's water from a well. TDS reading on raw water is at 465. I can get it down to 0 though the RODI but I have to change the filters every 4 months. My husband is installing a whole house filter as we speak. I hope it helps. BTW, thanks for your reply.

AZDesertRat · #4 02/14/2007, 07:25 PM

RO/DI is still the most cost effective way to treat tap water. There is no reason prefilters and carbons should not last you 6 months or more. My TDS is between 780 and 850 and filters easily go 6 months and I make lots of water not only for my tanks but also drinking, ice maker and pet watering. The use of quality filters makes a huge difference in how long they last and how well they work. I am just beginning a research project to see how long a 0.2 micron pleated prefilter will last along with a 0.5 micron carbon block before I see any chlorine breakthrough. I fully expect to surpass a year easily with both with no chlorine or even bacterial growth in the housings or filters. I will have a water meter on the incoming line to record actual flows and totalization.

oicu2 · #5 02/14/2007, 09:43 PM

AZ,

After about 4 months my flow decreases leaving me no choice but to replace my filters. Well water is really hard on them. My filters are 5 micron. With a TDS of over 700 how is it that your filters are lasting so long? Do you have a whole house filter in addition to your RO? I must be doing something wrong with my setup.

pvtschultz · #6 02/14/2007, 10:54 PM

I've been using the same filters for about 2 years now...

The flow has dropped off but I also moved into an area that has a lower water pressure. Mine are more than due though. The good thing is that our tap water comes from lake Michigan which has fairly low TDS to begin with.

I would be really interested in seeing how effective the 0.2 micron prefilter would be though, seems DIY reefers are some of the best inventors in the industry.

AZDesertRat · #7 02/14/2007, 11:41 PM

I would give the 0.2 micron filter a try. I know it has been tested in some really high sediment areas of the country sucessfuly and with the additional 10x surface area it holds up well. No pun intended there! I should have mine installed this weekend and start the testing.
One thing that happens when you sue higher micron rated prefilters is more of the sediments are passed on to the carbons which causes them to fail prematurely and they never live up to their VOC and chlorine capacity, they are busy being sediment filters.

oicu2 · #8 02/15/2007, 09:07 AM

Let me know how your tests go. My RO was still not working properly until I changed my carbon filters. Now it's working like a charm. With that said, your statement above makes alot of sense.

ASH · #9 02/15/2007, 10:16 AM

From IceCap:
When I joined IceCap we had a H2OLabs Model 1000 as seen on http://www.h2olabs.com/features.aspx (or a total look alike) that we ran for probably 10 years before it died. At the time, on-line searches said the manufacturer was out of business. We repaired it several times until we went to an RO unit.

In the winters it was great, made water and kept the room warm. In the summer, we tried to only run it at night. And yes, you had to clean out the gunk occasionally but adding a pre-filter cut down on most of that.

Andy

oicu2 · #10 02/15/2007, 11:47 AM

I'm glad to hear that ASh. I'm only interested in it for a 55 gallon that I am setting up in my brother's office. He doesn't have an RO unit and I wanted something simple to use with little maintenance.

ASH · #11 02/15/2007, 01:32 PM

I may be in the minority, but I loved it and never had any water quality issues with it.

Andy