Water Distiller, Countertop, White Enamel, Glass Collection Review
Ratting : 
Water Distiller, Countertop, White Enamel, Glass Collection Feature
Customer Reviews
Reviews By Dale Francisco : Date July 16, 2005
I've been using this distiller for almost a year, and it makes the best water I've ever tasted. The only reason I don't give it five stars is that I think there might be a way to make it more convenient; I think an older or frail person would have a tough time removing the upper cover (fan unit) after distilling (it's fairly heavy, and it makes a tight seal with the body of the distiller).
When I first started using this distiller, I thought there was a slightly acrid taste to the water, even with the carbon filter. Eventually I figured out what was wrong.
Reviews By Ronald King : Date June 26, 2004
It's now seven years after I bought this distiller and left the first review. It's still in use and works great. It has turned out to be one of the better purchases I've made. I don't have much to add to the earlier reviews, but it is still problem-free, and useful as ever.
The three-years-later review:
This is an update and some notes after three years of using this distiller:
1. It works as well as the first time I used it. This is a solid piece of work.
2. It's easier to keep clean if you rinse it well every two or three gallons, and give it a few seconds worth of a scrub. The deposits that build up on it come right off if you just pour a water/vinegar mix into it and let it sit a while. Scrubbing a little helps. This thing is not hard to keep clean, but it helps to be regular with the maintenance. Besides, the deposits don't seem to affect the water anyway. I've never let them build up really thick though. Also, if you catch it before it's boiled all the way down, there are no deposits at all.
3. You can make your own LCD-screen and CD/DVD cleaner with this: Mix rubbing alcohol (I use the 91%) with triple-distilled water, half and half. Pour it on to an LCD and/or CD-safe cleaning cloth, like one of those little microfiber lens cloths, and it works very well. It works as well as the commercial stuff, and is infinitely cheaper. Using the distilled water rather than tap water means it won't leave the white streaks on the screen as it dries.
4. I haven't used the little charcoal filter packs in years now. Not sure what that info is good for, but everything works just fine without it.
5. The collection bottle is a bit challenging to keep clean because of its shape, and we use a bottle brush to clean it. I can't think of any alternative design that would be easier to clean, so no points off for it.
Reviews By Ken M : Date May 8, 2008
I have only had this unit for about a week (edit : now three weeks). After fifteen gallons of water, I thought I would share what I have learned so far.
My water is very hard (mostly calcium) and has chloramines added. I keep several aquariums (55, 30, & 20 gallons), so I am sensitive to the water quality of any device.
I purchased this device because my years old (recently serviced) reverse osmosis rental unit was putting out about 5 ppm of nitrates. My tap water has about 15 ppm of nitrates. The water that this distiller produces measures 0 ppm nitrates (with my test strips) so I am very happy, my problem is solved.
I did notice a slight metallic taste to the first two gallons that I made with tap water. I then tried an experiment, and used water from my 'PUR 3 stage faucet filter' to fill this thing and the 'funny' taste was gone. I researched this a little and mostly discovered that the distiller is not able to remove all of the VOCs (gases in this case). Pre and post filtering with activated carbon was recommended. I would have to agree. This morning I tasted some water from the distiller along side some of the reverse osmosis unit water, and, guess what? The RO water tastes a little 'funny', the distilled water tasted great.
For the aquarium water, I add back in some essential minerals, the fish require these to live. I experimented with the distilled water and added back in a few commonly available minerals (baking soda, potassium chloride, magnesium sulfate, and citric acid) in small amounts (varying, about < 200 mg /liter of each) and was able to get the best tasting water that I have ever encountered.
If you are the adventurous type, like me, I buy high quality activated carbon by the pound (aquarium supply) and put two teaspoons of that into some coffee filter material, and use that as a replacement for the 'filter packets' that sale for about $1 a piece. My price, this way, is about $.10 per filter. That, and I trust aquarium suppliers, some people have many thousands of dollars invested into their fish, so the QC on the aquarium supplies needs to be high (or everyone will hear about it). There just is not much of the same QC on drinking water filter material.
I do recommend using a timer to shut the distiller off after about 5 1/2 hours. In my case, I have about four ounces of something in the tank that looks like a mild children's paste mix. The unit switches off (as I understand it) with a thermal switch. Running it out to a full cycle will not hurt anything, but all of the minerals will end up as baked on 'crispy critters' on the inside of the tank.
Hey, enjoy this distiller. I love the thing.
Ken Miller
Update May 27, 2008:
I have been using this device a lot (twice+ daily) in the past few weeks, producing over 75 gallons of distilled water.
