A good source for distiller water.

Calvin Robinson

Moderator Christian Forum
I collect water from my AC condensate line and keep it on hand for when I need some distilled water.
 

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I don't think you are getting distilled water. Distilled water is taken from boiling water, condensing this water by evaporation. You are just getting water from contact condensation with another surface that is a different temperature. And you are not removing the other elements that appear in condensed water. This is just the same thing when condensation appears on your windows in the winter time when it is warm inside and cold outside. Good thought, though.
 
While it's not water that comes from a still, isn't it still the same thing - water that is formed from water vapor?
 
The water vapor that is in the ambient air is water with no salts or minerals,it gets into the atmosphere from many sources but mainly is evoprated by the radiant heat of the sun from standing bodies of water,it condenses on my air conditioner evaporator coil when the coil temperature is below the dew point of the ambient air and I collect it from the condensate drain.
Although it wasn't boiled out of a pot of water at 212 degrees and condensed in a closed circut by moving ambient air across a condenser it is the same as distilled water.
 
I would think that the process of condensing might add metal particulates (contact with copper or sheet metal) and not being steam distilled would not remove any biological critters. But if you're not drinking it it's probably more pure than tap.
 
Check your basic science. All water in the air, etc has contaminants.

Tom,
I check my basic science daily,thank you,the HOLY BIBLE.
I put this thread here in Shop Talk to share a source of readily available distilled water,I didn't and don't claim that it is purified water,just that it is free of any salts or minerals. You can argue the point all you want but the fact is,this IS distilled water. :biggrin:
 
Water whether in the air as rain or a stream contains many dissolved solids such as salts - This is not equivalent to distillation.
 
Well, simple evaporation does remove a lot of solids. the condensate Calvin is speaking of is probably more pure than tap but may not be ideal for drinking. I would be more concerned with particles it is picking up from contact. And if he's already been using it without ill effects.....
 
I had anodizing shop doing mostly R&D for a chemical manufacture for a last couple years. Rather than using distilled water, we used reverse osmosis system as well as deionized water. Deonizing systems are a little pricey, but there are companies that will lease the equipment. I had very good results with with the RO system for removing the dissolved solids. Basically, I was running the RO system while running the line and stored the processed water in a 800 gallon tank. I could fill the tank in about a day and a half. The RO system was around $200, I bought the tank off of craigslist for $100, and had a harbor freight pump. I added a inline meter to monitor dissolved solids, mostly to know when the filters had to be replaced.

Eric
 
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I collect that water from my a/c drain too for plants.I did a/c work along time ago and there is bad stuff that grows in them drain pans and lines.back in 1977 or 78 that's where legionaires disease was found to be coming from.I'm sure it's OK to use it around the house but heck distilled water is only a buck or so a gallon.nowadays if you have that water on your hands and rub your eyes or something there's no telling what you might get.
 
A caution to anyone handling A/C condensate: Please be careful, because condensate is linked to Legionella bacteria, which causes Legionnaire's disease. I'll leave that stuff alone, and instead buy my distilled water from a local store. A few gallons on hand is cheap insurance.
 
I was actually going to a/c school in Philly at a trade school when this was going down.people were dying that were in the building where the legionaires were having a convention or something.they quarantined the building and closed off the sidewalk,I remember having to cross the street right there.later they found out what caused it. spooky stuff,course I ended up working with slimy a/c drains the next 11 years and never had any problems.as far as anodizing I'm sure it's safe and all,I'd just be kind of worried about getting it in by eyes,mouth or cuts somehow.I can almost guarantee there's living microbs in that stuff.
 
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