Megahome Water Distiller Product Review
Most people don’t think about steam distilling their own water. And until I started getting sick from the tap water here in Michigan, I didn’t think about it much either.
Too Much Calcium For Me…
Here’s the short story of what happened: we bought a house and moved to a new town. Three months later, I was in the hospital with kidney stones. If you’ve had them, then you know what I mean when I say “OW”.
My husband happened to be talking with the doctor while I was blissfully doped up on painkillers, and he said that the little town we live in has an incredibly high number of kidney stone cases due to the high calcium content in the water. If you’re predisposed to kidney stones (as I am) and you drink from the tap, you’re going to get them living here.
Great.
I drink a lot of water, so this was bad news. For months, we schlepped back and forth to Wal-Mart because it was the only place we could get steam distilled water, which is the purest water there is.
But it was so wasteful; all those plastic jugs, all the trips back and forth, and all the energy spent hauling boxes filled will 6 gallon jugs back and forth to the house. Not to mention the sheer torture of having to go to Wal-Mart. Not good.
And then there was the cost; buying all this water added around $30 per month to our food bill.
Then by accident, I stumbled onto at-home steam distillers. And it was a big time EUREKA! moment. I ordered the Megahome Steam Water Distiller, and was in love after the first gallon.
Why I Love the Megahome Steam Water Distiller
My Steam Distiller
Let me count the ways…
1. The Megahome Steam Distill is quiet. When it’s running, it just makes a whirring noise in the kitchen. Quite soothing, actually.
2. It’s cheap to make pure water. I calculated that every gallon I distill at home uses 2.9 kw of electricity. I pay 9 centers per kw, so every gallon costs 29 cents to make.
3. It’s healthy. Steam distilled water is the purest form of water there is. It’s so pure that it’s the water all other water is measured by. It has no taste at all, which is the sign that it’s good water.
4. It’s great for disasters. I never worry about the power going off or having to “boil water” during a flood. With my steam distiller, as long as I have electricity I can make water. And if you have a generator, then you don’t even need that.
5. It’s fast. It takes about 5 hours to distill one gallon of water.
6. A steam distiller can purify any type of water. If you pour water tainted with sewage in there, you’ll get perfectly pure water in the container. If you pour water filled with hazardous chemicals in there, you’ll get perfectly pure water in the container.
The leftover muck is left in the stainless steel flask, and must be cleaned out. If it’s just tap water, you certainly don’t have to do this every time. I clean out mine every time, but only because I’m anal. Because there’s so much calcium in my water the only thing that’s left over is the white calcium powder.
Last Word…
After using this steam distiller for the past six months, I honestly have nothing bad to say about it. It works like a charm, and the water I get is perfect. There’s no plastic or metallic taste at all; just pure water.
It also doesn’t take up that much countertop space. And, I was surprised at how empowered I felt once I had the ability to make my own healthy water. It’s actually really fun!
Once The Greenest Dollar’s Green Store launches in a few weeks, you’ll be able to buy a Megahome Nutriteam Steam Distiller right here on the site. Until then, you can check them out on Amazon here:
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Your point number 6 is far enough off base that I have to say it’s false. While steam distillation will remove 99.9% of what’s in the typical water supply, I absolutely would not go so far as to say that it will remove hazardous chemicals. Many chemicals that could be in a tainted water supply will simply evaporate and recondense with the water. Don’t get a false sense of security from your distiller. I’ve been distilling my own water for over 10 years from a municipal water supply to remove the chlorine, floride, etc. It’s very good for removing minerals, heavy metals, and many compounds, but it won’t remove everything. Would I distill sea water if I had to? Sure. Raw sewage? Only as a last resort. Chemical tainted water? No, not with other treatment and more knowledge. Activated carbon is probably better at removing some chemicals than distillation.
Gordon,
Thank you for taking the time to write in!
The reason why I included #6 is because in the instruction booklet that came with the water distiller, it says you can literally pour any type of water into the distiller and it will give you perfectly pure water. And, it said water tainted with chemicals was included in that.
Have I tried this? Well, thankfully I haven’t had to! But you bring up some excellent points, and now I’m wondering if perhaps they were being a little enthusiastic in their assessment…
Thank you for sharing your information with me and other readers. It’s good to know that perhaps the steam distillation isn’t as foolproof as they’re claiming it to be.
Hi all.
From my understanding, the countertop megahome distiller can remove chlorine.. However, I would suggest using 2 active carbon filters at the tip where the water drips.. This will capture even more chemical additives that have been re condensed with the water..
I also bought a Vitashower filter for the shower, this uses a vitamin C method for removing chlorine and its rated at 99% effectiveness to remove these chemicals.. So, I fill up the distiller with water from the shower filter, further reducing my chances of getting these chems in my finished distilled water..
Also, there is NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING better to clean LCD tv’s and other modern screens with than distilled water and a micro fiber cloth.. No gimmick cleaners.. You want a super clean streak free surface? Try it.. And it’s SUPER safe..
Everyone should have one of these, and we really should put the big bottled water company’s out of the business of reselling us tap water..
I use the same distilled water and microfiber cloth combination for dusting my motorcycle – no streaks or water spots. Good for rinsing your car, too. For that I use one of those 2 gallon pump-up sprayers. I’ve moved up to a Polar Bear distiller that’s plumbed into the water supply – very convenient.
Some of those units have plastic in them. I had one, actually I have had many variations. The best one I’ve found so far, has an all glass container. Some units have glass on the sides and bottom, but this is the only one I’ve found with glass on the top of the container also. And it’s 2 hours faster than my older one.
As for filters, this one also has a much larger post carbon filter on it, for removing the bad chemicals you talk about. I found it at http://www.webeatprices.com/
I’ve had it for 2 years, and it’s worked like a charm.
I love the idea of steam distilled water. However, after 2 years of use, I finally checked the triangle on the bottom of the collection bottle and it is a 7.. the worst for BPA, especially with all that heat. My doctor says avoid the plastics with a grade 7 AND DON’T PUT ANY OF THEM in the microwave. I have read studies that show high levels of BPA in women with breast cancer. SO, I am THROWING AWAY my collection jug and am in search of a glass container.
@Mary, Wow, thank you SO MUCH for bringing that to my attention. I never thought to check my jugs for the plastic level. That’s really scary, and now I want to chuck my jugs too! I’m going to search Amazon for glass jugs as well; if you happen to find one please let me know! I’ll do the same. 🙂
my jugs are plastic with saline in them; much better than earlier fills. Say, you don’t suppose they now make glass lined jugs do you? Maybe a D-cup this time?
@SusieQ- You can buy glass jugs on Amazon.
I have a Reverse-Osmosis system under my kitchen sink but am shopping for a good distiller, as I’ve discovered that the RO doesn’t remove Fluoride. Regardless of the toxicity code on the bottom of any plastic container, I believe it’s always better to avoid it and go with glass. Now I know what to do with all those gallon glass jugs that I have leftover from Organic Apple Juice purchased at the health food store. It seemed a shame to get rid of them.
I just bought a couple of hard plastic 3 gallon water containers at a water store. They claim they are perfectly safe for drinking water. Mary, Heather, anyone, where can I locate information saying that the #7 on the bottom, inside the triangle, is bad for BPH?
A few questions:
Heather and then Melissa at the end
1)How often do you change the filter on your distiller?
2) I see that the first comment was in 2009…how is your distiller holding up in 2011?
3) I have read in MANY reviews that if you wait for the automatic shut off it will burn up the unit, crack the unit…have you had any problems with the automatic shut off?
4) Have you had to use Nutriteam’s customer service for your Megahome distiller?
Thanks for your time in replying.
MELISSA, How is your Love distiller holding up? How often do you change the filters?
Char,
1. We don’t even use the little charcoal filters anymore. I really didn’t get the sense that they were doing much of anything, since the distilled water is perfectly pure. It just didn’t make sense to run that pure water through charcoal, so we quit buying them. Our water is still just as pure!
2. We are still using our distiller every day; we usually make two gallons of water per day (we drink a lot of water!) and in spite of this constant use we have had no problems as of yet.
3. We’ve always let the automatic shut-off turn off our machine. As I mentioned, we run ours for 6-12 hours per day, and we’ve had no problems.
4. Because we haven’t had any problems, we haven’t had to use Nutriteam’s customer service. But I’d buy this distiller again, hands down. It’s held up very well.
It is REALLY important to use the charcoal filters provided with the Megahome! They remove Volatile Organic Compounds which are some of the most toxic and pernicious elements in tap water.
Don’t judge by smelling as they cannot be smelt; and please don’t make false economies!
The Megahome distillers can be used for a long time. I think http://www.ecopurewatershop.com has one of the best prices available. When you buy distillers from them, they will also include 12 extra carbon filters so you do not have to purchase any on your own for a years time.
We recently bought one of these after moving to the Okanagan Valley in BC where the air is very dry. As our central heating system did not have a humidifier, we decided to go for the Germguardian Ultrasonic, as it was the quietest and has no filters to replace. The main problem, however, was the accumulation of dust from the minerals in the water. There was white dust everywhere. So we decided to get a distiller.
Megahome distiller is great. Relatively quiet. Produces heat and warms up the utility room in the winter. It leaves a lot of limescale residue at the bottom of the distiller that has to be cleaned after each use. An oxalate cleaner is provided, that needs to be boiled in the container to remove limescale.
I have found vinegar very helpful instead. I soak the bottom of the container with a 1/4 cup of vinegar for an hour. To clean the sides I soak some kitchen towel with vinegar and leave it on the sides. I do this once a week and use a scrubbing brush after each use.
Hope you find this useful. I would certainly recommend this prodct.
We also have a megahome distiller. It came with a very handy glass collection jug. Its reasonably quiet. Our water reeks of chlorine, and I realize the treatment is needed to kill harmful bacteria, but it kills most living organisms , and what are we? This distiller is our second one. Never thought of using the shower to fill the distiller (we have a de-chlorinator on it) I also have a spray bottle with distilled water in it for everything, plants, glass cleaner, hair, what ever needs misting or such.
This was on Wpedia: “Additional evidence comes from animal experiments and clinical observations in several countries. Animals given zinc or magnesium dosed in their drinking water had a significantly higher concentration of these elements in the serum than animals given the same elements in much higher amounts with food and provided with low-mineral water to drink”
Hi Gordon . . . Could you recommend a home water distiller that does deal effectively with low boiling point pollutants such as toluene and benzene . . . Many tks . . .
I have the new Megahome with glass bottle, which is lucky, as I didn’t know about the 7 plastics. Suggest using 1/2 vinegar and water to clean gunk when necessary. I pour distilled water through a countertop water pitcher with carbon filter, just for taste. Glad to know carbon filters are good with chems.
I wasn’t able to find info about successfully distilling the indusrial chemical leaked in West-Virginia, just not to try it because that chem is not water-soluble, stays separate as a liquid, might explode in a container, and as a gas is poisonous to lungs.
Could someone tell me where the Megahome water distiller
Is made ? Is it the US or Taiwan? Not sure if I’m looking at a phony copy.
Also what is this brown awful smelling stuff left at the bottom after the first distillation ?
Your feedback is much appreciated !