Looking for solar hot water

[tada]

How about the thermosiphon systems with the water tank on the roof if you have strong enough roof??

I know Solahart been around for at least 40 years since that's when I first saw one. Interisland Solar has a competing brand from Australia like the Solahart. I think the Australians are good at thermosiphon since freeze-up problems are negligible factor for tropical climate.

[Jay Bondesen]

I'm not sure that filtered and UV treated catchment is really the same as distilled water. Catchment should really be close to County water without the floride or whatever they use to sterilize. Depends on the filters you use though. Some people use a 1 micron filter under the sink for drinking but usually the whole house filter is a 5 or 10 micron filter plus a carbon block filter. I really don't know what the mineral content is here in well water. I do think that reverse osmosis systems produce something close to distilled water.

Jay

[wjbillock]

The only one I trust is Drainpipe!

"Stop Whining! Vote with your money!"

[Seeb]

is there a place around to buy heaters anymore

[dayna]

From everything I can find, rain water IS distilled water. Rainwater is naturally "soft" and devoid of minerals. That's great for plants, but as far as mammals go we need minerals. So it's probably not a good idea to have rainwater be your only source of drinking water.

But I'm no doctor or scientist. So don't take my word for it.

Dayna

www.E-Z-Caps.com

[terracore]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jay Bondesen

I'm not sure that filtered and UV treated catchment is really the same as distilled water. Catchment should really be close to County water without the floride or whatever they use to sterilize. Depends on the filters you use though. Some people use a 1 micron filter under the sink for drinking but usually the whole house filter is a 5 or 10 micron filter plus a carbon block filter. I really don't know what the mineral content is here in well water. I do think that reverse osmosis systems produce something close to distilled water.

Jay

---

By definition, distilled water is made by boiling water and condensing the steam into a clean container. Although not boiled, rain is essentially water that has gone through the same process of changing from a liquid state into a gas state and then back into a liquid state. When water changes to a vapor almost all the minerals are left behind. My comparison to distilled water was intended to describe the demineralization of the water. Drinking only distilled water leaches minerals from your body that can have health implications. The same may apply to drinking only rainwater.

[oink]

Before anyone makes an important decision based on the belief that distilled water is bad for health, they should do their own research. That belief is disputed and what little research I've done causes me to seriously question that belief.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[terracore]

quote:

---

Originally posted by oink

Before anyone makes an important decision based on the belief that distilled water is bad for health, they should do their own research. That belief is disputed and what little research I've done causes me to seriously question that belief.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

---

I would be skeptical of any studies too since it would be too difficult to account for the missing minerals being supplemented by food or unprocessed salt (like sea salt). But I used to clean and restore ancient Roman coins and we used distilled water to leach the ground minerals out of them during the cleaning process. Regular water had no unusual effect but distilled water was like a mild acid when you change it daily. Watching distilled water leach out 2000 years worth of mineralization (whereas ground water had no effect) was all the proof I needed to make the personal choice to limit my consumption.

[oink]

I'm no expert on the issue or for that matter even a well informed amateur, and I reserve the right to be wrong. However, a quick google search using the query "does drinking distilled water leach minerals from the body" resulted in several results disputing your belief. Below is a rather large excerpt from one of those results. I'm not claiming it's a legit source of info, I don't know, but it seems to represent the dissenting view and possibly explain your coin experience. The text I so blatantly copied is taken from:
http://www.medical-library.net/content/view/228/41/ :

quote:

---

There is circulating a point of view about distilled water, undoubtedly promulgated by producers and sellers of mineral water. This point of view is that water should be mineralized in order to have health benefits and that distilled water somehow leaches out minerals from the body.

To understand the truth about this matter one must know a little about mineral chemistry in living systems. In order for a mineral to be of any use to the body it must be presented in a form in which it can be used. That form involves an association with an organic (carbon based) molecule. Carbon based molecules are to be found in living systems, and are not found in the ground which is where mineral water comes from. Water from the ground comes with minerals alright, but these minerals are in salt form. When salt is presented to the body (with rare exceptions such as sodium chloride) it must be either stored or excreted. A good example is CaCO3 (calcium carbonate). Carbonate is not a sufficiently complex organic molecule and therefore cannot properly contribute its calcium to living systems. The calcium comes out instead in ionic form (with a positive charge) and precipitates by forming other salts. Common locations for precipitation of calcium are the lens of the eye (cataracts), the kidneys (kidney stones) and the walls of arteries (arteriosclerosis). Unbound minerals must be excreted, which is extra work for the kidneys) or stored. This makes dust of the argument that healthy water is mineralized, and dust is of course the source of minerals in mineral water.

Incidentally, CaCO3 comes from lime stone and comprises the bulk of most calcium supplements, including that in “calcium enriched orange juice.” If you want cataracts, kidney stones, and arteriosclerosis, be sure to eat and drink “calcium enriched” foods.

Now as to the argument that distilled water leaches out minerals. This is true, and this is exactly what we want it to do. The minerals it leaches out are of the unusable, ionic form and we want these to leave the body rather than be deposited and cause disease. Distilled water does not leach out significant amounts of biologically available minerals because these are quickly taken up by the body on an as needed basis. If they are present in excess then they are filtered through the kidneys and this is exactly what needs to happen with all things which are in excess in the circulation. Distilled water cleanses the body through promoting healthy kidney function.

Finally, if mineral water is not a good source of biologically available minerals, then what is? Think about it. Minerals are present in the ground and must be biologically bound in order to be used by the body. Where would that come from? Plants, or course! Your mineral source should be plants not water. The purpose of water is to cleanse the body. To do the best job of that, it must be free of everything else. Only distilled water fits that bill.

---

Here are a couple more:
http://www.cwqa.com/faq.php?section=cwqa&subsec=faq&question=3A
http://www.cyber-nook.com/water/DistilledWaterWHO.htm
Plus I think the original one supporting the belief:
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_heal...alized.pdf

But as I said, everyone should do their own research.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[terracore]

I guess I have the best of both worlds. I drink about 1/2 catchment water and 1/2 county water. So whatever the final verdict is, I'm covered.