How to Distill Water

There are many methods for you to make your own distilled water. After removing the minerals and chemicals you will have distilled water. Distilled water is used for many purposes such as drinking, watering plants, putting in a humidifier, raising fish and so on. In this wikiHow, you will learn how to make distilled water.

Table of Contents

Distilling tap water in a glass bowl

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Fill the 18-liter stainless steel pot halfway with tap water.

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Place the glass bowl in the pot of water. Make sure the bowl floats on the water and doesn’t touch the bottom of the pot.

If the bowl does not float, you should remove the bowl and place the baking tray in the pot. Then place the bowl back on the baking tray in the pot.

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Observe the amount of water collected in the bowl. The water should be hot but not boiling. Turn off the stove when the water in the bowl starts to boil.

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Create a condensation effect with a hot/cold compartment. You can turn the pot lid upside down and fill it with ice cubes. Hot steam touching the cold lid will create a condensing effect.

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Boil water in a pot. As the water continues to boil, steam will rise and condense on the lid of the pot. The condensate will fall into the bowl. Continue the distillation process until the amount of water in the bowl is just as much as you want.

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Watch for water to collect in the bowl. This bowl of water will be hot but not boiling. If the bowl of water starts to boil, turn down the heat so that only the water in the pot comes to a boil.

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Turn off the stove and open the lid of the pot.

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Remove the bowl of distilled water from the pot of boiling water. Be careful when removing the bowl of water to avoid burns. You can wait for the water to cool before pouring it out of the bowl.

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Wait for the distilled water to cool down before storing it.

Distilling tap water with a glass bottle

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Prepare 2 glass bottles to make distilled water. This process works best when at least one of the bottles has a curved neck to prevent the distilled water from flowing back into the other bottle.

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Pour tap water into a glass bottle. The water level should be at least 13 cm from the mouth of the bottle.

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Connect the mouths of 2 glass bottles together and then use adhesive tape to fix.

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Prepare a 19-liter stainless steel pot with boiling water for water distillation. The water level should be enough to cover the tap water bottle.

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Tilt both glass bottles at an angle of 30 degrees, leaning the top empty bottle (does not contain tap water) into the mouth of the pot. The 30 degree angle makes it easy to collect the evaporated distillate.

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Place an ice pack or cold pack on top of the bottle (not in the pot). This water helps to create a hot/cold barrier, causing the water that evaporates from the bottle in the pot to condense into a cooler bottle.

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Continue the distillation process until the amount of water in the bowl is just as much as you want.

Turn rain water into drinking water

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Place large, clean buckets outdoors to catch rainwater.

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Place the barrel outdoors for about 2 days to allow the minerals to dissipate.

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Store distilled water in a clean container.

Advice

Occasionally you should open the lid of the pot upside down to ensure that the condensate falls into the bowl.
If you think the tap water is not pure enough, you can pour distilled water into the aquarium. Mix distilled water with salt water before pouring into the aquarium.

Warning

You need to add the right chemicals to your aquatic life-supporting distilled water before you add the distilled water to your tank or aquarium. Without these minerals, distilled water would not be able to support life.
Only the water in the bowl or bottle after condensation is distilled water. The remaining water contains only residual impurities.
Make sure the bowl and glass bottle can withstand boiling water.
Drinking distilled water for a long time will cause the body to lack minerals and reduce health. Therefore, when drinking distilled water, you should add a few drops of minerals. Distilling water will help remove thousands of pollutants such as drugs and heavy metals but also deprive the body of essential minerals.

Things you need

Stainless steel pot with a capacity of 18 liters
Machine water
Glass bowl
Round baking tray
Lid
Ice
2 glass bottles
Tape
Ice pack or ice pack
Large container
Rain water
Jar

Steps