Homemade Steam Distillation

Distillation removes impurities and organisms from drinking water. In many areas where ground water is contaminated with iron-sulfide or other odor producing chemicals, distillation is used to convert unpalatable liquid into pure drinking water. Commercial steam distillation and reverse osmosis units are an expensive investment. However, if you need a large amount of drinking water, they can be worth the money. If you need only a small amount of drinking water, you can make your own with some basic equipment.

Things You'll Need

• Pressure cooker
• Stove
• Food grade flexible plastic tubing, 20 feet (1/4-inch inner diameter)
• Five-gallon bucket
• Clean water container
• 15 pounds of ice

Instructions

1. Fill the pressure cooker to within three inches of the top. Secure the lid.

2. Place the pressure cooker on top of a stove burner.

3. Attach one end of the plastic tubing to the pressure valve on the cooker's lid. Firmly press the opening of the tube over the pressure valve until the end of the tube is slightly above the lid.

4. Place the bucket on top of the counter next to the stove.

5. Coil the free end of the plastic tubing inside the bucket. Leave enough of the end of the tube out of the bucket to rest inside your clean water container.

6. Fill the bucket with ice. Cover as much of the tubing as possible.

7. Turn the heat on under the pressure cooker.

8. When steam begins to escape from the end of the tube, reduce the heat on the stove sufficiently to maintain a low simmer in the cooker.

9. Turn the stove off when you have distilled three-quarters of the water you put into the pressure cooker.

10. Clean the apparatus as soon as it has cooled.

Tips & Warnings

• Use the lowest possible setting on the stove to maintain a slow simmer. This will keep the pressure inside the hose low enough to allow the steam to condense without blowing out the end of the hose.

• Pouring cold water on the ice will chill the condensing hose more effectively than ice alone.

• Do not allow the plastic hose to rest on the lid of the pressure cooker.

• Do not leave the distillation apparatus unattended while it is in operation.

• Do not boil all the water out of the pressure cooker.

References

• TheFarm.org: Water Distillation Principles