Thank you Alan:

I remember hearing about reverse osmosis filters used on submarines in the 1960's. I always thought they were expensive so never thought of them when it came time to ensure a good water supply for the darkroom. The still was like $159 plus 40 bucks for cvopper tubing to make a more efficient condenser. We installed a water softener and whole house filter last year and that helped, I just wanted a distiller to distill the filtered and softened water to get the most consistent results possible. Thanks for the tip on not boiling all the water away, I will make sure it doesn't.

Quote Originally Posted by Alan Townsend View Post
Barry, I know you already have the distiller, so that has to work okay, be careful to not boil away all the water to make it easier to keep clean.
I installed a new water softener and then an RO filter in our home we bought two years ago using city well water, fairly high calcium content. As other have said, the reverse osmosis filter will give water quality almost as good as distilled but at much lower cost. For most, a water softener is also needed to condition the water for the RO filter as well as to soften water for laundry and bathing. The RO filter membrane will have a much shorter lifetime with calcium in the water. The water softener exchanges calcium ions for sodium chloride, which is easily handled by the RO filter.

I purchased the RO filter specifically for my photography hobby and also for drinking water. If in doubt on water quality, have it tested. Certain photographic processes will require fewer of certain contaminants, like calcium. This is particularly true for blue prints, vandykes, kalitypes, and other iron based printing processes.

Alan Townsend