Makes sense
@SWSVIC It removes some of the left over odor and taste that you can get from distilled water, along with removing the remaining VOC gases.
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Would the RO system handle this?
I put the little charcoal tea bag filter that came with it in the spout (as directed). From the amount I use mine it needs to be changed every 2 months or so.
How do you know when it needs to be changed?
RO systems sometimes have 2 carbon filters (pre/post).
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The filter is in the distiller itself. @shadowcipher89. It just helps pull out any left over smell and impurities.
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I notice the drips slow down a bit in general and by the smell of the water. It really depends on how much water you put through it and how much itās catching.
Confirmed, my system does have pre/post charcoal. Good to know.
In our case (with the distillers) itās a post filter.
My question was āif putting RO through distiller, would one need to pre-carbon filter?ā think I misunderstood what the purpose was. So the distiller will have a carbon filter that water runs through after the distilling process has taken place?
Thatās right, itās just a post filter to clean up the cooled steam.
If youāre already using RO water thereās not much reason to distill it unless the RO system isnāt functioning correctly (and even then itād be a strange way to deal with that issue).
First off, I am closer to strange than normal 
. Second, I have read that RO water is in need of ābufferingā in order to prevent it from leaching nutrients from your plant. Thus I switched over to distilled as it does not require said buffering (it is the better option) and ordered a countertop water distiller. Was mainly inquiring because I thought the carbon filtering took place prior to distilling and thus I was wondering if the RO would suffice as pre-filtration. (I now know this to be completely irrelevant )
My goal is absolute perfection in terms of my gear/grow set-up, that has become the main focus here. The 
buds will just be an awesome side benefit .
I am curious to know if it makes much difference in your case. I still need to add cal/mag into my distilled water afterward. If itās been distilled (well) then the grobo will sense that (by the TDS/EC being at or near 0) and will still buffer with cal/mag (bottle #5). So there really shouldnāt be much difference observed between the two, theoretically.
There may be differences in starting pH but Iām pretty sure thatās more dependent on the source of the water than if it was distilled or RO; both achieve a similar result but in different ways. Iām sure the configuration, health, and quality of equipment used also plays a role.
What Iāve gathered (about buffering) can be summed as:
The way that itās handled in hydroponics is by adding cal/mag (primarily) and then the other nutrients/silica/etc compliment that. Making sure enough is present is the trick, and being certain on what is (and isnāt) present is most preferable.
When using RO water with 2-step or 3-step nutrients and without adding any cal/mag is where buffering issues seem to arise, at least from what Iāve noticed in posts/etc. I donāt use RO myself, due to the faucet adapter issue, but have looked into it a bit.
Some people will just add some tap water (up to 20%) back in or find other creative ways to buffer.
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This is why it says champion under your name. 
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First thing - thank you for the tip to use hot water! I had been using cold water to try to minimize the buildup of deposits in the boiler, but it still gets pretty caked regardless. Iāve been using hot water for the past couple days and it runs so much faster!!
About cleaning with vinegar instead of descaling solution ā do you run the machine with the vinegar to push it through the top or just let it sit with the unit off to loosen up the stuff in the boiler?
Edit: scratch that last question, bad idea as itāll eat away at the metal from the acids becoming corrosive at higher temps.
Good to hear! Hot tap water really speeds it up
The vinegar, I just fill about inch in bottom
Of unit, and let it sit for couple hours - Comes out brand new looking. Donāt turn the machine on
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If you have any citric acid you can use that as a descaler. Most of the stuff you see on the market for descaling water distillers contain citric acid.
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My distiller came in today, looking forward to not buying jugs at the store anymore haha. Going to run RO water through it, believe this should produce chloramine free distilled water. Just did initial cleaning protocol will run my first batch tomorrow and post review here.
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So Iāve been using this countertop distiller from H2OLabs for the past 10 days (1 water change and 3 top-offs) and I have to say I am pretty pleased with it. Iām running RO water through it, not sure if this helps with anything but I have the countertop RO as well so I figured why the hell not (any water experts care to weigh in on this, Iād appreciate it). It requires an infrared material prefilter and a carbon post filter that last 6 months and 1 month respectively, the replacements are inexpensive and they ship quickly. It takes about 4 hours to make a gallon. Itās simple to operate, has a more than decent cooling fan, very easy to disassemble/clean/reassemble. Water reads 0 on PPM and TDS. All in all, if youāre looking for a countertop distiller, I recommend this one.
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