Exclusive ViaFosa Water Distiller. fastest machine, 950W, distills a full,tank in 3 hours!

Bought this distiller as an alternative to bottled water. (I haven't consumed tap water for over 10years!) I chose this Via Fosa distiller on the strength of the description and the very positive reviews for their identical distiller sold with a plastic collecting jug. This will be a fairly detailed review, so if you just want a quick conclusion skip to the last paragraph!First impression, out of the box, is that it is a quality machine. A nice design and finish, with a clever method of enclosing the collection jug inside the main boiler. That keeps the packaging to a minimum and keeps the glass safe in transit too. Delivery was by DHL that I have always found to be a very reliable company, so worth the £7.99 it costs and it arrived in less than 48 hours of placing the order. The glass jug needed a wash before use as it had traces of something from manufacturing smearing the glass, but I would always wash anything intended for food or drink consumption anyway.The steel bands and handle for the jug need to be assembled and attached, but that is a very simple job, with good bolts and nuts supplied - the photo shows how it should look when complete. The steel lid comes off with a screw type action and has a silicon rubber seal to the top edge of the glass jug. The box also contained a simple user guide, that appeared to have been written by the UK supplier and although short was all that was needed to safely use the distiller. A mains lead with a kettle type connector is supplied, about 1.2m. The black top of the machine has its own short lead attached, to supply power to the fan that cools the distiller - that needs to be connected and disconnected to the base each time it is opened as it is very short. Also in the box is a small bottle of cleaning granules (probably citric acid), labelled with some poorly translated and slightly amusing instructions, but details of how to use them are also mentioned in the printed user guide. A single finishing filter sachet was already installed in the drain spout - good for 3 months according to the user guide.I measured the water that I poured into the main container and it took around 3.7 litres to fill to the full line. As suggested in the guide I used warm/hot water from the tap to reduce the boiling time. It took around 20 minutes to see the first water begin to trickle into the jug. There is a clever little cap that sits on the top of the jug and fits snug up to the drain point, which helps guide the water cleanly into the jug. It took around 3 hours before it turned itself off which is automatic when the internal container boils dry. The jug was by then full, almost to the brim, with fairly warm water. The first run is recommended to be discarded, as it may contain contaminants from manufacturing, so I did that without the filter sachet in. In use the distiller and jug take up a standing area of about 25cm by 40cm. The distiller is about 38cm tall and needs a clear area above it to allow the warm air to flow away from it.Later after the second run, I tasted the water, warm and when it had cooled down too, and found that it had no noticeable taste at all. I also observed that the water appeared very clear, sparkling, even compared to a good brand, low mineral content, bottled water. The inside of the boiler was left with a very light powdery residue up to the full water level and a murky coating of residue at the bottom, although that might vary depending on local water quality and hardness. I didn't try the cleaning crystals as I always use white vinegar on my stainless steel steamer, so I used a cup of vinegar and a litre of hot water. After a while soaking and a little bit of cleaning with a microfibre cloth using the vinegar/water mixture on the sides the container, it was as good as new. There was just a slight discolouration from the heat at the bottom. For the next run I stopped it just before the boil dry point was reached, by using a timer and switching off at the mains, as the power button is only an ON switch, with automatic off only. Cleaning was much quicker and easier when not allowed to boil completely dry.The top of the jug also comes with a cover cap for when the water is stored in the jug - it isn't watertight, just to stop anything falling in and contaminating the water. The only mild caution I would mention is that the full jug weighs almost 4kg (9 lbs) so it might not suit anyone who isn't able to lift that sort of weight. Pouring the water out is fairly easy, although a little care is needed because of the weight of a full jug, but the handle is secure and the jug is easy to steady with another hand. The only unexpected thing about using the distiller was that it adds a fair amount of heat to the room, a bonus in winter, but might be a bit much in summer. The noise from the fan is about as loud as an average electric kettle, certainly not a major problem.So my conclusion is that this Via Fosa distiller appears to be good quality and very similar to other distillers that cost £20 or £30 more. It provides a good alternative supply of pure water if you want to avoid the worst of whatever is in your tap water. Compared to bottled water, even allowing for the cost of the electric to run it and the cost of purchase, over the course of a year or so it will probably be a cost effective alternative. The water produced is very clean and sparkling and this distiller is supplied with everything you need to begin using it on the day of delivery. The only additional future purchase necessary would be replacement finishing filter sachets, which are available for less than £5 for a pack that lasts a year or so - available here: Activated Charcoal Filters for DistillersUPDATE - WATER QUALITY TESTINGI also purchased a TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) Water Tester Meter TDS Digital Water Quality Tester Meter ppm Hydroponics (from WELA a UK based seller) It is a great value device and confirmed that the water quality produced by the distiller was very close to pure water with a reading of just 2ppm. The water going into the distiller, from the tap, tested at 450ppm!! Who knows what all those hundreds of dissolved particles are!?

I've Been using this for about 5 days now and this distiller is very nice. It comes well packaged and easy to assemble, with simple instructions included, it is of fine build quality also and looks built to last. After assembling and rinsing out the collection jug I filled the distiller with hot water using the collection jug, put the lid on and placing the collection underneath the spout turned it on at the wall. The unit came on without pushing the On button (there is no off) but it states this will happen as the unit has been factory tested. This is your first distill. I've seen it written elsewhere that the first distill should not be drank, but I drank it and no problems at all. However the reason for some saying this is that there is muck from the manufacturing process still within the machine, which there is, the lid which goes onto the collection jars pouring hole to prevent contaminants getting in was black with some sort of soot and needed cleaned and this would of been elsewhere within the machine, but I did a ppm test and the first distill was about 004ppm so a negligible amount. Subsequent Distills are at about 002ppm. From switch on to switch off it takes about 2hr 45mins to completely fill the collection jug, faster than other distillers I was looking at, but it is also a higher wattage. 750w as opposed to 580watts of some others. The flow is fast and consistent, although the spout the water comes out could be machined better as sometimes the water doesn't go straight down and hasn't always gone into the jar. The Collection jar does get very hot. The heat generated from the machine is a lot when it's in operation and takes a while to cool down, the distilled water in the collection jar can take a few hours to completely cool down. So if you can find a nice cold room you need warmed up like a laundry room then that would be a good place for it. The contaminants form a very unsightly and very smelly gunk deposited at the bottom of the distiller. It comes with food grade Citric Acid to remove this however and you only need a small amount, two teaspoons in a full amount of water is fine. I am very pleased with this distiller and I feel better already, other water just does not compare. I know this will increase my Electricity bill a fair bit but when it comes to my health I do not mind, I know this will be doing me a lot of good. I am no longer drinking tap water and the inorganic material in it and also the poisons such as Sodium Fluoride!

Replaced previous plastic version like thisn - this distiller is MUCH higher quality but the glass jug is not much good as the handle cannot be fitted due to poor quality parts.The distiller has been in use daily now for many months and is working well.

customer service good online via Amazon, machine worked fine and distilled water came at acceptable quality. The glass jug and its lid DANGEROUS, it can cut your finger, you cannot put it on or turn it off easily, with the rubber between the jug and its metal lid...well..you cannot put on the metal lid without damaging your hand...without the rubber you cannot fill water out of the jar, it goes everywhere around making a huge mess. Great machine for reasonable price (except the jug)... i don't understand why they couldn't produce a better glass jug for this money!! very disappointed that I had to waste £20 on return postage.