Pressure Cooker Water Distiller

[noobiechickenlady]

Ok, so sometimes I have a really interesting idea and it turns into nothing. Sometimes, it turns out that it really is a good idea. That makes me happy

So, distilling water.
Distilled water is pure, right? You can remove 90 some-odd percent of any and all contaminants.
You can take mud & distill the water out of it and its pure. Same with pee or even soda. Though, yes, those are more difficult and well, who wants to unless you have to?
DH wanted to go out & purchase a distiller.
Then he talked to my dad & found out how easy they are to build (Old moonshiners are handy dandy dangit!)

Then, I got a better idea. Metal tubing and a pressure cooker! I look online and of course, there is nothing new under the sun. Here's how it works, links at the bottom.
The vent (where the jiggler goes) on the pressure cooker puts out steam. Attach a coil of tubing to the vent, with the other end in a container. Add heat and voila! Steam distilled water! You could use it on the stove or even on a wood fire, if ya needed to
Between this and a slow sand filter, I think we're in business for water
So, I have a choice for the tubing, copper, braided stainless steel, neoprene or potable hot water plastic (PEX)
I'm leaning toward the copper, because I will be purchasing some for the water heater anyways. Stainless steel would be the best, but it is relatively expensive. Neoprene would be the next best thing, I think.

http://www.aaoobfoods.com/distillationsterilizationinfo.htm They sell the attachment for the top of your pressure cooker. According to them, copper leaches into water while it doesn't into alcohol. But... Copper is one of the most popular types of tubing for water. Thoughts?

http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=759369 This one also says that copper leaches.

 

[Neko-chan]

...

 

[TanksHill]

Copper leaching into water??? Uhhh that might be one more reason not to drink my tap water. Geesh.

Modern Pioneer might be a good person to ask about that.

 

[patandchickens]

Using copper for cool or even hot-water-heater (120-140 F) water is a bit different than using it for 200+ degree F water, you would expect a lot more leaching in the latter case. So there may in fact be a valid case to be made for using something else, unless the copper thing does not concern you.

Also, before you get too committed to this, I would suggest calculating (accurately) the expected energy requirements to distill the amount of water you want to distill. It is not a low-energy-input process to put it very mildly.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Hmmmm, stainless is sounding better & better.
Valid point on the energy uses, especially if you were using this as a regular source of water. However, I'm not going to be doing this on a seriously regular basis. More of an "Oh crud!" situation
We already have a slow sand water filter that puts out clean water. On the off chance that it gets contaminated or dries out, this would be a backup. Or if we run up against something that the slow sand doesn't remove. So far, its gotten even petroleum products out.

My thoughts are:
Rocket stove outside, powered by small limbs.
Pressure cooker on the rocket stove.

If MP doesn't drop in, I'll send him a pm, good thought, thanks Tanks!

 

[Icu4dzs]

The issue with the copper is clearly the temperature and of course steam is>212F. Almost all water in the house is transmitted by copper but the soft tubing is often very small and transmits cold water to your icemaker.

I completely agree with the concept of the pressure cooker as a magnificent piece of survival equipment. There are at least 4 reasons this is true.

1. As mentioned before, water can be completely purified by distillation with it. While I'd agree that food grade stainless steel is preferable by far when one has the time and resources, in a survival situation, copper will suffice. That is assuming you are not going to be having to "survive" vs. live for a long period of time. As noted in one of the links, neoprene will work well as will PEX. PEX is easy to work with and I am now a great fan of it for plumbing, even hot water. The concept here that is most important is that you need to have a condensation chamber to cool the steam. Once that is the case you can transmit the water to any container you please. The copper can be placed in a 5 gallon bucket of anything (even muddy water) and used for condensation coolant because the tubing is not permeable to the mud. Then of course there is the most inert material of all...glass. If you can heat glass you can make a distillation condenser and then pipe it with copper to any location you choose. (Information compliments of the 2d year organic chemistry course I had to take)

2. The pressure cooker will cook large amounts of food and make it completely biologically safe from living bacteria. It will NOT destroy heat stabile toxins but then hopefully you aren't taking that kind of chance. You can cook rice, beans (carefully) and a variety of other foods (even meat) very quickly using less energy than in some other form of cooking and be assured of its safety.

3. As we all know, you can preserve foods that you prepare with a pressure cooker. Keeping a couple of canning jars around and processing them in the pressure cooker will yield two to three days rations for several folks. You cook once every three days and stay on the move for the other days. (Assuming you need to be highly mobile for ANY reason).

4. A pressure cooker will when needed sterilize anything you can fit into it. This includes bandages, surgical instruments, or anything that needs to be sterilized to destroy pathogenic bacteria for ANY reason. Once I had to sterilize a pair of shoes because I had gotten a fungal infection in the showers at the Marines Barracks. It worked fine. Took a big pressure cooker which fortunately I do have.

Pressure cookers come in a variety of sizes and generally in two options for material; aluminum and stainless steel. My recommendation would be for stainless steel. It is much less vulnerable to damage, particularly where the seal locks are located.

By the way, I looked at the prices of the pressure cookers on one of the links above and found their prices to be "astronomical".
You can get a good Mirro pressure cooker(24 quart) for a lot less than what these folks charge. Be discerning when using the Internet to shop. You'll save yourself a lot of money that way.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

I my pressure cooker. Sterilizing shoes? Wild!

I knew I had forgotten something, thanks for mentioning the condensation/cooling chamber. The second link I posted does have one.

 

[valmom]

Hm, I guess this is another reason - um, excuse?- to buy a pressure cooker.

 

[Icu4dzs]

I my pressure cooker. Sterilizing shoes? Wild!

I knew I had forgotten something, thanks for mentioning the condensation/cooling chamber. The second link I posted does have one.

Yeah, go figure. The shoes were none the worse for the wear and actually did kill the fungus in them. Got a lot of "Eeewwwwww" comments though but then who cares. They were in a paper bag to keep the dirt in the cooker at a minimum and sitting on a platform (not immersed in water).

I read the second link and they use a plastic bucket for a condensing chamber. It works pretty good. I am not sure about neoprene tubing but I always called that tubing "TYGON" which is the clear stuff you see in lots of places. The advantage of the clear TYGON tubing is that it is quite a bit lighter in weight than copper tubing and easier to cram into a container because kinking it when being stored is NOT destructive to the material as it is with copper tubing. It is also much more inert than copper tubing. Obviously, glass is the optimal material for this operation but may not be practical in certain situations.

The distillation process is however, NOT fool proof! It will get rid of 'ALMOST ALL" of the contaminants in water such as dissolved minerals/salts, etc. EXCEPT organic solvents which will vaporize just like the water and be carried over into your distillate. Not wanting to get into the process of fractional distillation here so a cracking tower condenser is not going to enter this discussion. BUT if you suspect that there are organic solvents in the water you are going to distill, you may want to determine what they might be. If they can be dissolved in alcohol, they can be removed more easily, but do check first. Sone organic solvents are difficult to remove from anything.

Fortunately, this is NOT a severe hazard in most rural places unless you live near a facility that dumps hazardous chemicals into the water source or they reach the aquifer. (then all bets are off for certain water sources in that area). Water from the sky is "distilled" by definition and need only be "collected" to utilize. Additionally, there are some wacko's out there who will claim that distilled water will leach nutrients from your body or some such nonsense. DO NOT BELIEVE THEM. That is marketing hype to get you to BUY their product...such as it is. Most of the "water treatment miracles" that are on the market (Internet, magazine back pages, etc.) are no better than your pressure cooker and many are simply "snake oil" garbage claims. Trust your own instincts when it comes to the most important substance in life...WATER. If they won't tell you what their processer does until you have bought it, DON"T BUY IT! If it is "too complex to explain" to the lay public, it is probably nonsense.

I used to do research in biochemistry in college in the 70's. We would double distill and de-ionize our water. (made the best coffee you ever drank). The PURER the water (i.e. chemically speaking) the better it is for your body PERIOD. Two parts hydrogen, one part Oxygen. That is all. After that it is less desirable.

"For my money" though, distillation from a pressure cooker is still the best option for overall protection from disease, particularly in a "SHTF" scenario or if for any reason you have to "be on the move". Pots/pans etc. are nice but this ONE ITEM can mean the difference between "Life, disease and death".

YMMV
Trim sends

 

[awhitman1]

I found this on Wikipedia: "
Copper is an essential trace element (i.e., micronutrient) that is required for plant, animal, and human health. It is also required for the normal functioning of aerobic (oxygen-requiring) microorganisms.

Copper is incorporated into a variety of proteins and metalloenzymes which perform essential metabolic functions; the micronutrient is necessary for the proper growth, development, and maintenance of bone, connective tissue, brain, heart, and many other body organs. Copper is involved in the formation of red blood cells, the absorption and utilization of iron, the metabolism of cholesterol and glucose, and the synthesis and release of life-sustaining proteins and enzymes. These enzymes in turn produce cellular energy and regulate nerve transmission, blood clotting, and oxygen transport.

Copper stimulates the immune system to fight infections, to repair injured tissues, and to promote healing. Copper also helps to neutralize "free-radicals", which can cause severe damage to cells.

Copper's essentiality was first discovered in 1928, when it was demonstrated that rats fed a copper-deficient milk diet were unable to produce sufficient red blood cells.[1] The anemia was corrected by the addition of copper-containing ash from vegetable or animal sources.

As an essential trace element, daily dietary requirements for copper have been recommended by a number of governmental health agencies around the world."