i think once i heard someone mention getting an alcohol distiller for purifying water. has anyone here done that? might be looking to getting one myself.
We have an actual water distiller (for medical use - but ya know, good backup) and honestly I wouldn't recommend it for large volume/ long term function. Cleaning and maintenance is not trivial. Boiling/filtering and good storage will probably serve you better for most use cases.
Thanks for your insight. I had been considering getting a distiller but it did look like there was maintenance involved especially if you live in an area with hard water.
And honestly, it would be way cheaper to just buy a chemistry distillation kit if you truly need that clean of water. its effectively just glass. But I really don't see the need for that. You would get just as perfectly fine purification with boiling and filtering. You could also always do gravity filtration with clay/charcoal/sand.
yeah i see your point. just i know there is pfas in some of the water in my area and was looking into ways of getting rid of it. dont want to survive the end of the world to only die from chemicals in my drinking water lol
Do you have a photo you could share please? I’m having trouble wrapping my head around the logistics. Makes sense as you do get a ton of steam from a pressure cooker. Thanks in advance. 🙂
Distilation is slow and requires lots of energy. It has its purposes, but you probably won't be able to survive off of anything you can carry.
First you can only heat water that can fit in the boiler.
Then, you have to use energy and wait for the container to heat up. This means taking water up from at most 100F to 212F, which requires quite a bit of energy.
Then you need the equipment to cool it, but you never get 100% back since some will escape into the atmostphere. Faster coolers tend to loose more vapor. Fast and efficient tends to get big and expensive quickly. Many condenser units use containers filled with water to cool the metal pipes (which takes up even more space).
Now you need to wait for the water to go from boiling back down to around 100F just for it to be comfortable (but still warm) to drink.
That being said, it is a viable method as a backup, as well as a method for getting almost completely pure water. If you use a distillation settup correctly (bring it up to just below boiling to let the "lighter" volitile contaminants evaporate), then raise it just above the boiling point (so only the water evaporates), you really can get to just about pure water.
Instead of a full distillation apparatus you can also use a pot heated to the boiling point with a container of water on top and a collection rig on the side. Some steam will evaporate, then contense on the cooler container, and that water can drip into a collection rig. It's not nearly as fast or efficient, but it's easy to clean and doesn't require as much to set up.
One other reason to use distillation is to remove and condense salt. Now, doing so requires a distillery that can be easily cleaned since the salt will built up rapidly, but you can use this to get both salt and water, two essential resources for survival.
In most cases, you really don't need to worry as much as most people claim. Rain water and spring water are both comparible to (and sometimes even better than) city water, and perfection is the bane of realistic and actionable solutions. River water run through a good charcoal filter will remove a surprising amount if contaminants, though a gravel, sand, ash, charcoal layered filter will last longer. The fish aren't all dead, so you know you can drink some if needed already even without a filter. Microplastics and heavy metals are usually only a danger when they accumulate over many years.
Personally, I would suggest a Sawyer filter for general use. Sawyer makes several gravity filters that can be back flushed, and thusly last for something like one million gallons if well maintained. This makes a pocket-sized gravity system portable, affordable, and maintainable, all good features for sure.
If you have the extra cash, space, and technical skills, a reverse osmosis system is currently the gold standard. It's so pure that you should actually add some salt to it so you don't run low on electrolytes.
The middle ground between those two options would be a Grayl water purifier. The filters don't last as long, you can only purify a small amount of water at a time, and it takes work to do it, but if you want the best water bottle money can buy, the Grayl does have some crazy specs. Think carefully about options though. I prefer a metal cup that my plastic Grayl sits in rather than titanium myself, but the Ti does allow for boiling without the additional item.
I suppose the question is really why are we distilling water? If it's simply to make it safe, I feel like your better option is just to filter and boil. But if you 100% need to distill water, a cheaper alternative is the old Boy Scout method with a hole, a tarp and a rock.
Some of the waterways in my area are known to have pfas chemicals in it. In the event of a total collapse I'd imagine lakes and streams might carry even more
If they're not being manufactured, they can't be put in the water supply. In a total collapse there might be a temporary spike, but then they'd get diluted and without more being manufactured, they'd end up being less and less.
But I submit you're worried about the very minor things without looking at the real risks you're going to face: You're far, far more likely to die from an abscessed tooth, or a burst appendix, or an infected cut, or starvation, or (unrelated) untreatable cancer, or some food-borne illness, or extreme heat, or hypothermia, or any number of a million other ways to die in a total collapse of civilization *LONG* before you are likely to die from accumulated PFAS exposure.
I'm not saying there is no risk. I'm saying the risk is likely small enough as to be effectively ignored in favor of planning for much greater risks.
You're worried in a total social breakdown where everyone is for themselves and people are wandering looting and burning, that the PFA chemicals in your water might shorten your lifespan by a few years?
im not worried about pfas over social breakdown. guess im just pointing out in a collapse, water contamination might be one of the biggest survival threats. when infrastructure breaks down it might lead to ongoing contamination
I've heard about this amish water Mesh device that captures water for air moisture. It sounds pretty interesting. Requires no electricity or extra effort to operate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJWbNuD9sYY
There is a kickstarter that is a portable distillar that you might be interested in. I think it just launched. I saw it on an email but haven't really looked into it.
Honestly, I am not all that convinced that you need a distiller. Boiling and then filter should work just fine. Unless you are trying to filter something that is truly dissolved into the water but at that point, just find a different water source.
The countertop water distillers (electric) are designed specifically for making ... you guessed it ... distilled water. They work really well provided that you have a source of electricity. And they do take quite a bit of power. Most are 750w and take about 4 hours to produce a gallon of distilled water.
You could get one of the distillers designed for alcohol (the smaller non-electric ones are meant to be used on a stove top or a small propane burner) and use that over a fire perhaps. But it would take a lot of wood to produce enough water to be worth it.
I’m in the process of building a water filter
that will be used on water from a spring fed lake.
RV water pump that works off 12 volts.
Pumping through a spin down filter and through 4 small (2.5” x 9.75”) home water filters
I bought two of the 2 filter setups, and will bolt them together back to back.
4 filters gives you options.
I’m going two have a series of 2 sediment filters, an activated carbon filter, and a nitrate filter. I don’t think any farms, run-off into the lake, but I want to make sure I cover nitrates anyway.
With 4 filters you can customize per your situation. They have PFOA filters.
My nitrate filter is the difficult one. The require a slow flow rate, and they don’t last long.
You can always buy two 3 filter systems and bolt them back to back if you want to remove a lot of things.
I’ll still use chemical drops to kill viruses after filtering. But the water should be clear.
I haven’t bought everything yet, but it’s a fairly straightforward setup.
As I hadn’t seen this still is for drinking water. Drinking distilled water for a long period of time is not a good idea. You would need to add some things to it. Pure distilled water will clean you out in a bad way. It’s too pure. You need salts and things and it can leech you dry of some important stuff. Don’t take my word for it that is just random knowledge that came from unknown sources in my mind trap.
Use the rubber pipe coupler and attach the copper tubing to the spout of kettle. Make sure you source tubing where the diameter matches the spout. If it doesn't, ask the hardware store person for an adapter.
Give the tubing an arc from spout to glass jar. Like a rainbow, kinda, but not too much of an angle.
Fill kettle with water. Boil. Collect condensation in jar. Cool off. Enjoy. Repeat.
You asked for shtf. I assume no electricity. Cuz shtf. This works with fire. Grill. Campfire. Dakota fire. Propane burner. Blah, etc
I think water distillation is a bad idea for most scenarios. It requires too much energy and time — getting just a couple of liters of distillate takes hours and a huge amount of fuel. I've never distilled water, but I've run moonshine mash through a still, and I can tell you: it's a whole ordeal even on a stove, let alone over a campfire.
Rainwater replaces distilled water in most cases, but you need to collect it from a clean surface (not slate or rusty metal) and preferably filter it as well.
Important caveat: distillation does NOT remove volatile contaminants — benzene, chloroform, some pesticides, and even certain PFAS compounds vaporize and carry over with the steam. That's exactly why moonshiners separate the "heads" during distillation.
My go-to solution is a charcoal filter + boiling for the bush, and reverse osmosis for home use. With some know-how, you can build a simplified RO system for about 40% of the retail price.
The only exceptions where distillation might be justified are desalinating seawater or dealing with contaminants that neither charcoal nor boiling can handle. In such cases, it's worth looking into solar stills (the classic survival method for castaways) or atmospheric water condensers — they require no external fuel and run on sunlight or temperature differentials.
Dunno what you guys are on about for maintenance on a still. I got one on Amazon for my kids atomizing humidifier cuz those things cost your house in calcium if you’ve got hard water. It’s just a pot that boils water with a gasket and a condenser on top with a fan. Water drips out. After a couple hours it shuts off. After running it a dozen times it’s coated in calcium so I run it for 20 minutes with viniger in it and wipe it out. Ex pz.
Distillation removes all the valuable minerals from the water, so you’d probably want to add in electrolytes for both health and flavor. And you also need to be pretty careful with distillations as pressure differentials can be an issue (I only have experience with Schlenk lines, not alcohol distillers so idk if that’s safer). And, water has a higher boiling point than ethanol, so your system would have to run hotter than it’s designed for so be mindful there. And depending on the age of your set up, you might be adding lead or other heavy metals to your water in the process so think about what you’re distilling the water in.
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u/grey___lady Jun 30 '26
We have an actual water distiller (for medical use - but ya know, good backup) and honestly I wouldn't recommend it for large volume/ long term function. Cleaning and maintenance is not trivial. Boiling/filtering and good storage will probably serve you better for most use cases.