Posted by Larry Hoover on October 10, 2003, at 7:44:11
In reply to water distillers, posted by Wolf Dreamer on October 10, 2003, at 5:12:12
> I suppose this counts as an alternate treatment of sorts, so this is the right place for it.
>
> A water distiller boils the water until it is steam, then the steam rises up and is collected and channeled elsewhere, where it cools and turns back into water. All the polluntants are left behind.Only ones that do not readily vapourize.
> There is also a vent so that the polluntants that turn to gas when heated will be vented away from the steam,
Not all of them will be vented.
> hopefully not causing any problems to those who breath them in.
No more so than if the water simply evaporated.
> That is one thing that bothers me a bit.
It's great that you consider others.
> Anyway, most water distillers unfortunately have several problems. First of all, most are way overpriced. It probably only cost a few dollars to make one, and they charge hundreds. I did find one for $90, but that led to another problem most of them seem to have. The boiling area is stainless steel.The boiler composition is of no concern. It's the composition of the condensor that matters.
> According to this webpage I found listing all the various cookware and its hazards:
> http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/iyh/products/cookware.html
> Stainless steel contains either nickel or chromium, both of which leak into the water and contaminate them.Only a concern in cooking, not in distillation.
> It says:
> Nickel is not poisonous in small quantities but it can cause an allergic reaction. Again, if you are allergic, avoid stainless steel cookware.Nickel allergy is well known. It most commonly is discovered because of reaction to e.g. stainless-steel watch bands.
> Small doses of chromium, like iron, are good for your health, but they can be harmful in higher amounts. The safe intake range is about 50 to 200 micrograms per day, what most Canadians take in. One meal prepared with stainless steel equipment gives you about 45 micrograms of chromium, not enough to cause concern.I'm sure it's factored into the daily intake estimates.
> Since I can not find a distiller whose boiling chamber is made of glass instead of stainless steel, and not unbelievably overpriced, I suppose I'm willing to settle for chromium. Unfortunately the name stainless steel could mean either poisonous nickel(and I do feel sick after cooking with some dishes at times and I'm thinking maybe that is why) or chromium, or even refer to other metals.Any dissolved metals will remain in the boiling chamber. Distillation is primarily a way of removing minerals from water.
> Has anyone gotten a cheap distiller, and if so does it say anywhere on the box or instructions what type of stainless steel it is?Not relevant. The reason that the boiler is stainless steel is make to it more durable. Glass breaks. Iron rusts. Blah. Blah.
> Does anyone know if distilling will certainly get rid of chlorine and fluoride, both of which are hazardous to our health.I don't mean to be too pedantic, but chlorine is a poisonous gas. Chloride is the ionic form, generally found in various salts. Yes, distillation will 100% remove fluoride and chloride. However, halogenated organic compounds (halogen is the class name for chlorine, fluorine, iodine, etc.), which form during chlorination of water, are generally volatile to some extent. An efficient water distiller does not vent steam to any great extent, as that is merely going to reduce your yield (percentage of water recovered), and increase the operating costs (it costs money to make steam that is wasted). So, volatiles will be recondensed along with the water, to some extent. It really depends what's in the water to begin with, and the efficiency of the condensing stage.
You may want to consider reverse osmosis, but that's more expensive to set up.
> http://www.rotten.com/library/conspiracy/fluoridation/If you go to the regular Babble board, and go back to a thread (one or two weeks ago) where I was dialoguing with mattdds (a dental student) about fluoride issues, you'll find better information (less inlammatory) about fluoride.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:267700
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20031003/msgs/267724.html