I‘m making a home made water distiller from a pressure cooker. I was wondering what type of tube I should use as a condenser. I‘m concerned about plastic or rubber tubing releasing toxins as it is heated by the steam, same for soft copper. Which is the best and healthiest material for condensing? Thanks.
There are no reasons for health considerations since nobody should drink distilled water. If your pressure cooker reaches 2- 5 bars then only stainless steel will do the job. But this material is expensive and quite difficult to weld . So my proposal is to use a normal cooker (p1 bar, T100 °C) and you use soft copper for the condenser. Copper has a extremely high thermal conductivity and the steam condenses in a safe way. This isn't true for plastics which are sensitive to temperature and become soft and leaky. In this case condensed steam may burn your skin.
