This thread is almost 2 years old. For the record, I have now switched to one of those Omosis machines (I think that is what they call them.) They sell them at B&Q among other places. I got one of the best ones. Water tastes great and I never have to call anyone when the bottle is empty. I think it cost about NT$5,xxx. The bottled water is great way to go as well. Perhaps better if you are renting your home.
Hey,
Roughly on the same topic, I have a question about drinking only boiled water for long periods of time. I am not asking about Taiwanese water quality. This question would apply equally to water in the U.S. or elsewhere.
It seems to me that I remember something that I read eons ago about distilled water (or boiled water??) being bad to drink for extended periods. I did a quick Google search on distilled water and found this write-up (with a short list of references - 4optimallife.com/Distilled-Water … ealth.html ) I’m sure that better references could be found, but it will get my point across. Long story short: Distilled water is not good to drink for longer than about 3 weeks at a time.
HOWEVER…
The big question, for all of those of you out there who were awake in Science class… what is the difference between distilled and boiled water? Not just the “process” difference, but what differences are there in the resulting water?
Applicability to this thread: If distilled water and boiled water are substantially different, then long term use of boiled water should pose no problems. If they are the same, basically, then maybe osmosis is a better choice healthwise.
Any ideas?
Seeker4
[quote=“seeker4”]Hey,
Roughly on the same topic, I have a question about drinking only boiled water for long periods of time. I am not asking about Taiwanese water quality. This question would apply equally to water in the U.S. or elsewhere.
It seems to me that I remember something that I read eons ago about distilled water (or boiled water??) being bad to drink for extended periods. I did a quick Google search on distilled water and found this write-up (with a short list of references - 4optimallife.com/Distilled-Water … ealth.html ) I’m sure that better references could be found, but it will get my point across. Long story short: Distilled water is not good to drink for longer than about 3 weeks at a time.[/quote]
Looking at the web page, it’s fairly obvious that the author is a loon.
[quote=“seeker4”]The big question, for all of those of you out there who were awake in Science class… what is the difference between distilled and boiled water? Not just the “process” difference, but what differences are there in the resulting water?
Applicability to this thread: If distilled water and boiled water are substantially different, then long term use of boiled water should pose no problems. If they are the same, basically, then maybe osmosis is a better choice healthwise.[/quote]
Boiled water has had the molecules heated. Their bonds expand and so they are physically larger. In extreme cases, you might end up with a water molecule as big as a hippopotamus. Drinking boiled water could result in the molecules getting stuck in your throat, stomach, intestine, or other tubelike structures in your body, and so should be avoided at all cost.
Distilled water may or may not have had the molecules heated. You should always check at the store to make sure that they use a no-heat distillation process such as vacuum distillation or partial-vacuum distillation.
WHAP. Bad Squid. WHAP.
Distilled water has fewer impurities in it. Boiled water is just water that’s been heated to the point that most bugs in it have been killed, then cooled again; more volatile compounds would have been driven off as the water was heated, so their concentrations will be reduced in the final product. However, since some water molecules will also have boiled away, other compounds will become more concentrated in the final product.
Drink whichever you’d rather. If your area has a lot of bad stuff in the water, you should probably get a filter or buy bottled water. If it doesn’t have a lot of chemical crud in it, then boiling it will kill the bugs and make it safe to drink.
Distilled is probably unnecessarily expensive compared to plain old bottled drinking water, but it’s not going to kill you unless you drown in it.
Hey Squid,
I was actually asking a serious question. The guy in the article might not be wrapped too tight (a possibility that I acknowledged), but the issue with distilled water might still remain. Many physical substances tend to seek a balance or equilibrium, so in the case of water with no minerals (distilled), it would tend to absorb surrounding minerals. Makes sense to me.
Upon further reflection, boiled water cannot have the same “issue” as distilled water in terms of minerals. Just puzzling it out, but, if in the distillation process, the vapor is trapped and condensed back into water, thus leaving the minerals and other impurities behind (the whole point of distillation), then the minerals stay in the source container (boiling water pot). So, in the case of simple boiled water, the minerals stay in the water. The concentration might be slightly higher, due to water loss from steam, but not a big deal I’d think.
Cheers,
Seeker4
But I guess there still is the hippo problem 
Here is my completely unresearched response: as far as I know distilled water is essentially ‘made’ H2O. Therefore it is very pure, but doesn’t have any of the minerals found in normal water. This might sound good, but it’s the minerals that give water its ‘taste’, such as it is. Pure distilled water apparently tastes awful. However, too many minerals (hard water) is not good either. Boiling water just kills bacteria and doesn’t do anything as far as I know to the existing mineral properties of the water, except perhaps concentrate them a bit.
[quote=“seeker4”]Hey Squid,
I was actually asking a serious question. The guy in the article might not be wrapped too tight (a possibility that I acknowledged), but the issue with distilled water might still remain. Many physical substances tend to seek a balance or equilibrium, so in the case of water with no minerals (distilled), it would tend to absorb surrounding minerals. Makes sense to me.[/quote]
The distilled water gets absorbed into your body, thereby depurifying it considerably. Your body then excretes whatever excess water it doesn’t want to keep around, adding any other water-soluble substances (creatine, urea, etc.) that it wants to get rid of. This is technically known as “taking a leak”.
Don’t mind me, I’ve just been reading too much Dave Barry lately.
Right, but there are other chemicals that boil off sooner, and their concentrations are reduced.
Not particularly. It doesn’t taste like much of anything. Very watery.
Seeker4; I’ve also heard that drinking distilled water means you miss out on vital minerals. I’m not sure about some of the other claims in that article though. It seems a bit dramatic.
I don’t think that much of the water available here is distilled though. I believe the water machines are generally filters, sometimes with UV treatment as well. Surely most bottled waters are mineral waters, rather than being distilled?
[quote=“seeker4”]The big question, for all of those of you out there who were awake in Science class… what is the difference between distilled and boiled water? Not just the “process” difference, but what differences are there in the resulting water?[/quote]Distilled water has less mineral content or none.
I have a tangential question, about Scotch whisky. A few years ago I went for the tour round the Glenfiddich factory in north-east Scotland. There we saw the distilling process. My question is; Why doesn’t distilling result in in a flavourless pure alcohol? How does the malt flavour survive through the distilling process? I know that all of the colour and some of the flavour comes from the casks that whisky is matured in, but some flavour must come from the malt otherwise there’d be no point in using it.
This is a job for… Research Girl! 
The answer is because it is essentially the water that is separated out, not the alcohol. The non-water portion (which contains impurities, flavour elements and alcohol) is collected as vapour, returned to liquid form and then undergoes further processing. Everything but water is distilled out. Pretty diagrams and explanations here
I think the making of distilled water follows a similar process, but with water the substance ‘caught’ rather than the alcohol mix.
MaPo 
- you know what I meant. Give me a Vittel or some Perrier any time
This is a job for… Research Girl!
The answer is because it is essentially the water that is separated out, not the alcohol. The non-water portion (which contains impurities, flavour elements and alcohol) is collected as vapour, returned to liquid form and then undergoes further processing. Everything but water is distilled out. Pretty diagrams and explanations here[/quote]
Very interesting Daasgrrl, thanks. I’ve been wondering about that ever since I went round that distillery.
I drink 3 largish 5000cc bottles of mineral water (approx.63 dollars) a week.
Would it be cheaper to boil a similar amount of tap water to drink at home ? I don’t think the gas would cost as much as buying the water.
Once boiled tapwater has cooled down/been refrigerated/ is it still ok to drink two days later?
Should be, as long as the container was clean. If you reuse plastic bottles, be aware that the plastic does start to break down after a few uses, according to the newsies in the U.S., especially if you’re putting the water in while it’s still on the hot side.
well, fuck. i drank distilled water for like a quarter of my life. i suppose i probably only averaged a few glasses a day but still… my entire family did, actually. all through gradeschool, i think. and possibly some of highschool. i don’t remember when we stopped. i think at some point we got a filter installed somewhere.
that having been said, i haven’t noticed any metal/mineral deficiencies. nor have i been diagnosed with deficiencies of any kind. my dad died in 1998, but that was cancer. and he was 49 or 50 yrs old. and he probably drank less than i did. and i think we only used the distilled water for drinking and nothing else.
i remember that unless it was cold, the distilled water had a very unusual taste that i loathed. i wouldn’t drink it unless it had gotten pretty cold in the fridge.
Anybody heard of alkaline water? Just saw a newspaper article yesterday about the Panasonic water alkalizer. Everybody is filtering/purifying water these days, but only the Japanese have been looking into ways to change the pH level of water. Apparently, acidic water is bad for your health. This new machine uses negative ions to make the water more base, removing the positive, oxydized particles in the process. The resulting smaller water molecules are supposed to be easier to absorb by the body, thereby increasing metabolism and getting rid of free radicals. Sounds interesting. Can anyone shed more light on this?
Well, the Culligan Man in the US has been adjusting the ph level for decades. My 20 year system I sold with my house before coming over brought the ph level a lot closer to neutral from the acid heights that are a trademark of New England.
As to health, acidic water is death on pipes and fixtures much quicker than on humans. Acid rain is a real problem for fish and aquatic plant life.
Bottom line: adjusting the ph level is an old treatment. Claiming wonderful health benifits is the latest money making ploy.
OOC
just sprung for a real water filter today. can’t hurt, kids, blah blah blah.
I was thinking about just recycling my sweat only I am not sure how I would go about collecting it. Suggestions?
Don’t drink the tap water my mom always says. :bouncy:
Let me impart my experiences when I was 18.
Drank the tap water straight. Within 3 days lost 10 lbs.
Don’t do it unless you are on a crash diet and like brown underwear.