" Steam Distillation Vs R/o " Facts Or Fiction I Found Out !

[newfishliny]

Steam Distillation vs Reverse Osmosis
"THIS MIGHT BE OF SOME INTEREST AND FOR SURE SOME COMMENTS ! " WHAT DO YOU GUY'S THINK ? I HAVE NO CLUE BUT IT'S INTERESTING !
Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a filtration process whereby water is forced, under heavy pressure, through a synthetic, semi permeable membrane, while contaminants are held back. This is a filtration system. However, like all filtration processes, RO's effectiveness is dependent on a number of variables.
When the membrane is new, RO is 70-90 % effective in removing only certain contaminants. Because RO is essentially filtration, its effectiveness depends largely on the quality of the filters, and the frequency of filter cleaning or replacement. In addition, RO systems can be adversely affected by changing water pressure and extreme temperature, which can cause deterioration of the membrane.
The greatest disadvantage to RO is that this process is unable to remove bacteria from source water. Over time, clogging of the membrane pores occurs; iron, salts and bacteria accumulate on the membrane surface. This not only affects the performance of the RO system, but it can cause serious bacterial contamination of your water. RO systems also vary in their ability to remove chlorides, nitrates and viruses.
In comparison, steam distillation consistently and reliably removes a much broader spectrum of contaminants - over 99% of all bacteria, viruses, chemicals, metals and poisons are removed. Distillation is not affected by temperature, pressure, bacteria, varying quality of source water of other such environmental condition as RO is.
RO is only filtration, Distillation means purification.
NEWFISH
INFORMATION FROM POLARBEAR.COM

 

[broomer5]

While it's true that boiling water to steam vapor then condensing the vapor back to water is an effective way to eliminate impurities ~ the point to watch out for is the condensing phase.
What does the distiller use as a condenser ?
Is it a metal ~ condensers are often metal coils or plates.
From the point the steam condenses back to water phase ~ how does the distiller "handle" the pure water ?
What tank container is it held in ?
What piping does it run through ?
Are the pipes steam cleaned to remove bacteria and other contaminents "after" the distillation process ?
I don't know ~ but I would question that part of the process.
If you have an RO/DI unit at home, and are on city water ~ most municipal water plants use chlorine to kill bacteria. The bacteria will effectively kill bacteria within the RO unit, although I'm guessing some will eventually pass through the membrane.
Then the DI unit can effectivly remove most of the residual chlorine.
Buying distilled water is a good choice for many, and if it's processed and handled correctly through the entire distillation and packaging process ~ I would say it's still a good choice.
But we don't always know for sure the entire process.
We take the word of the distiller/retailer that the water is pure.
If we choose to run an RO/DI unit at home ~ we take the word of the manufacturer as well ~ but we do have some additional control of the maintenance of the equipment.
Such as replacing membranes and filter cartridges on "our" own maintenance schedule.
Testing is really the only way to positive ~ or near positive.
This is my opinion.