DIY Distiller With a Rice Cooker

Distillation purifies unsafe water by boiling it and collecting the steam, which is free of contaminants. Water distillers have three basic parts: a boiler, a condenser and a collector. The boiler turns water into vapor, which travels into the condenser, cools to liquid and drains into the collector. A rice cooker is essentially a boiler; many models have a steam vent pipe to relieve pressure during heating, which makes it very easy to attach a homemade condenser and collector.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring tape or ruler
• Rice cooker with steam vent pipe
• Food-grade PVC tubing
• Scissors or utility blade
• 3 hose clamps
• Screwdriver
• Copper tubing
• Pipe cutter (optional)
• Aerosol can
• Large bowl
• Bottle or jug

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Instructions

• 1

  Measure the outside diameter of the steam vent pipe on the lid of your rice cooker.

• 2

  Cut a 3-foot length of food-grade PVC tubing with an inside diameter equal to the vent pipe’s outside diameter. Place a hose clamp loosely over one end of the tubing. Slide that end of the tubing over the vent pipe. Move the hose clamp over the vent pipe and tighten it with a screwdriver.

• 3

  Cut a 4-foot length of copper tubing with the same outside diameter as the vent pipe, or have a hardware store cut it for you. Form a condenser coil by wrapping the copper tubing loosely around an aerosol spray can or a similar hard cylinder. Leave about three straight inches on either side of the coil. Slide the tubing off the can.

• 4

  Fasten the free end of the PVC tubing to one end of the copper coil with a hose clamp. Cut an additional 2 feet of PVC tubing and clamp one end to the free end of the copper coil.

• 5

  Place the copper coil on its side in a large bowl. Fill the bowl with cool water, ice or dry ice. Put the free end of the PVC tubing into a clean bottle. Place the bottle at a lower height than the bowl, if possible.

• 6

  Fill two-thirds of the rice cooker with water and turn it on. When the water boils, steam will travel into the tubing, condense into purified liquid water and collect in the bottle.