thinksense

Every once in a while, I am reminded that all of us make mistakes (even the great and wonderous ME, although these are not any of mine) .

A while back I was reading Dr. Merkola’s “health” news letter and noticed an article about drinking water. Since I have been known to drink water (yeah, really, in spite of what you might have thought while reading these rants, Hick! Hick!) Since the only water I drink is both filtered, distilled and further filtered, I checked out this article and found several statements there that surprised me, coming from a guy who usually seems to think things through..

The first was that he felt that distilled water was not good for you since it concentrated chemicals bad for your health, that evaporated at the same or lower temperature than water(volatiles). I’ve heard others make this statement before, and wondered where their brains were when they made that statement. If a gallon of water with x amount of chemical is distilled, and the chemical evaporated and reconstituted along with the water, wouldn’t you have a gallon of distilled water with x amount of chemical? Same amount of water, and same amount of chemical, right? Where’s the concentration? That’s what my second (post-distillation) filtering is for btw, to remove any volatile chemicals.

The second was an old wives tale that distilled water would draw minerals out of your body. The minerals your body needs, it hoards. There has never been any scientific evidence (except maybe some dreamt up by the purveyors of sports drinks) that such a thing happens.

Third was the statement that filtered water was acidic. Check it out...Filtered water has a pH of 6 to 7.

That’s like the nonsense that a sauna or steam bath will draw poisons out. No, it might make you sweat, but the amount of poisons can not exceed what your body produces and sweats out naturally (20% of your bodily wastes). You just dehydrate to a degree with the sauna. Not a healthy thing to do.

Mr Bombastic

I used to have a well. That was some really good water.

EN Submarine Qualified Loc: Wisconsin East coast

"The first was that he felt that distilled water was not good for you since it concentrated chemicals bad for your health, that evaporated at the same or lower temperature than water(volatiles). I’ve heard others make this statement before, and wondered where their brains were when they made that statement. If a gallon of water with x amount of chemical is distilled, and the chemical evaporated and reconstituted along with the water, wouldn’t you have a gallon of distilled water with x amount of chemical? Same amount of water, and same amount of chemical, right? Where’s the concentration? That’s what my second (post-distillation) filtering is for btw, to remove any volatile chemicals."

I think a few weeks standing distiller watch on either a submarine or ship would do you a world of good. The distillers on a submarine had a primary purpose of making battery grade water from sea water. The finished product had to be less than 5 micromhos of any impurities. You might know, pure water does not conduct electricity so that is why a lead acid battery has sulfuric acid in it so it will conduct electricity. I am at a loss as to what volatiles you might get to carry over in your distilled water. Water evaporates when it absorbs sufficient btu s. This latent heat of vaporization is for the water. Any comtaminants would have their own btu requirement and would not necessarily carry over in the distillate.
pH of distilled water is 7.0. Perfect equilibrium between acidity and alkalinity.
If you worry so much about the water you drink, I suggest you invest in a mixed bed demineralizer system. You will get nothing but H2O. Reverse osmosis might work for you too.

Oh BTW filters only remove solids so if these nasty volatiles come over with the steam, a filter isn't going to remove them.

I do agree someone is wrong when worrying about concentrating the baddies in the distillate. The cconcentration is in what is left when you evaporate the water off which you are calling distilled water. Properly done, distilled water has no contaminants, by definition, it is H2O.

Mr Bombastic

Distilled water is 100 percent pure. Or close to it. The water evaporates, leaving behind most of the impurities and chemicals. Also, a good water filter will remove 99.99 percent of all contaminants. It's best to use a five stage filter. If that's not pure enough for you, then you can do without.

thinksense

Right on point.!.

Volatiles, such as drug residue, evaporate at the same or even lower temp as water does and are carried into the distilled water container. Filters made from certain organic substances, for example coconut charcoal will filter these out.

Yes, pure H2O has a neutral pH, however because there are still some contaminants that get through in these small household distillers, the pH is often as low as 6.5. (I just tested mine today).

BTW what is a "micromho"? I am not familiar with that word. Still learning at 83. Boy am I dumb! My wife will testify to that. (;-)000

thinksense

You were lucky.
At the mounrtain ranchWe have a well (over 200 feet deep) and while we still aren't getting contaminants from the surrounding grape fields, you could paint the house orange with all the darn iron in the water. Have to distill that water, too.

At the lake house we get drug residue from the crap being dumped into the lake and then "processed to purity" by the local water company.

If the electricity evr goes we'll have to drink wine. (Hey, that might not be so bad.)

EN Submarine Qualified Loc: Wisconsin East coast

An ohm is a unit of resistance to the passage of electricity. A resistor is measured in ohms. The unit of conductivity of water is a 'backward' ohm or mho. A micromho is 10 to the minus 6 mhos. Cute, not?
BTW, congrats on reaching 83. Right behind you.
After making my post last night, I googled volatiles and learned big time. Did note most of the critters are on the gas end of the lineup of elements, Nitrogen, Fluorine, etc. But able to ride along in distillation with the water molecule apparently.
.

Mr Bombastic

Basic electronics was a long time ago, for me. About the only thing I remember is Ohm's law.

EDIT: Actually, I can't remember it. Something about an I, an E and an R.

thinksense

Join The Club.

And for EN submarine qualified....Thank you for the information . I never knew that.

Darn, that means I DON'T really know everything.....Huh? and that means my wife was right...HMMMM.

Mr Bombastic

It is a fundamental law of the universe that women are always right. Even if they are wrong. Failure to observe this law can result in...Problems.

EN Submarine Qualified Loc: Wisconsin East coast

As in E=IR?

Ohm expressed his discovery in the form of a simple equation, describing how voltage, current, and resistance interrelate: In this algebraic expression, voltage (E) is equal to current (I) multiplied by resistance (R).
Ohm's Law - How Voltage, Current, and Resistance Relate | Ohm's ...

Mr Bombastic

Actually, I believe it's IE/R. But what do I know?

kmsmncm

E=IR can be exposed several ways, using simple algebra: E/I=R and E/R=I are equivalent to E=IR. It just depends on what is known to find out the unknown factor.

Mr Bombastic

I remember what a pain in the ass it was troubleshooting a circuit board. Nowadays, they are cheap enough to simply replace them.

kmsmncm

Oh, yes; beyond multimeter troubleshooting (the Simpson 260 standard), you needed to master the oscilloscope. It helped if you had a good tech manual with pictures. In the modern Navy, or basically after the 1990's, component level troubleshooting is almost nonexistent; no need to understand inductance, step-up/step down transformers, NPN vs PNP transistors, etc. Built-in diagnostics and card swapping with MAMs (maintenance assistance modules) is de rigeur to the modern technician. I took the old Basic Electricity and Electronics self-paced course at Naval Training Center Great Lakes in 1983, and trained as a Submarine Sonar Technician in San Diego in 1984. I then took two operator/maintenance courses that still had some old equipment that required component-level troubleshooting; the modern Naval technician has an easier job than I did. Nowadays, if it goes beyond the PM/FL (performance monitoring/fault localization) card swapping phase, they call in technicians trained like I was--usually retired Navy civilians--who get paid far more than the Sailors. Ain't progress grand? Your taxpayer money at work.