Experience with Water Distillation Units?

[Jeff Dyck]

Hi,

Since moving earlier this year, I have found that the municipal water coming into my house is terrible. Does anyone have any experience with small water distillation units that would would appropriate for a home darkroom? I am looking for a recommendation on a relatively inexpensive (<$400) unit. I don't need a lot of capacity - just enough to produce the water to make up chemicals.

Regards,

[Dan Fromm]

Have you considered a deionizer or a reverse osmosis unit?

[Eric Brody]

I use distilled water only for mixing my xtol, not for my entire darkroom water supply. I use a Sears unit that produces about 2-3 liters at a time, it takes a few hours. It looks like a slightly large drip coffee maker and cost in the neighborhood of $100. It works quite well for me. I used to buy water at my local supermarket at $0.89/gallon. At some point, the Sears unit will pay for itself. It does use fair amounts of electricity, of course.

I just checked the Sears site; it's the Kenmore Water Purifier, Sears item #03234480000, Mfr. model #34480, on sale for $99, regularly $140 and no I do not work for Sears, in fact, I don't work, I'm lucky enough to be retired... and not from Sears.

Hope this helps.

Eric

[Jeff Dyck]

Dan -

I have not looked at revere osmosis units, but am open to the idea if others have had good success with them. I was operating under the impression that these units do not completely remove disolved minerals from the water and do not produce the same quality of water obtained through distillation (is this not correct?). To be quite honest, I am not too thrilled about the notion of having to stock and regularly change filter cartridges either...

Regards,

[John_4185]

During the Summer I use the water from our dehumidifier. You just have to keep the coils and collector clean, which one should do anyway.

[Aaron van de Sande]

I don't know how good they are but the price is right-
http://www.wholesalewaterdistillers.com/distiller-water/american-water-distillers/love-water-distiller.html

[Eric Woodbury]

I understand the Sears unit is very popular as you can distill other products, too.

[paulr]

That's one way to pay for the electricity.

[Salty]

If you own your own place there's always water softeners at between $400-$500 and really easy to install. I use potassium chloride for backflushing instead of rock salt and I'm not bothered by water spots, and my film development times are shorter than a friend's time who uses tap water. The electricity usage is minimal and expense for the potassium chloride is about $7 month.

[robc]

Jeff,
below is a pdf about deionisation:

deionisation pdf

the website for their products is www.coleparmer.com