Vacuum Assist

Speaking of this I had an idea. You know those hand pumps people use to pump air out of wine bottles and those freeezer bags? Could I hook one of these up to a container of water and pump out all the air, making a vacuum and then cause the water to evaporate at room temp? What I'm thinking is, once I pumped out the air, water vapor would fill the space left by the exiting air. Then as I continued to pump I would pump the water vapor out, and into the condenser. Eventually if I keep pumping, all the water will have been distilled. Questions:

1. Will this work?
2. Will I still have to worry about viruses and bacteria? Will they evaporate with the water or be left behind?

Offered by Ryan.

1. Yes, theoretically it should work.
2. No, they will be left behind (unless the bottle is shaken and water gets into the pump)

What you should be concerned with is:

1. The amount of labor involved/gal. I recommend you try it out and report your results.
2. Recommend supplying heat to the water being evaporated. The water left in the container being evaporated will get cold and be harder and harder to pump-evaporate. One could put a larger container of water around the original container to supply the heat needed to keep bringing it up to room temperature.
3. The contaminants of the pump (oil, rubber, etc.) can get into the distilled water.
4. The life time or durability of these pumps is in question. These things were designed to be operated for short time periods and not much at all over their life time. I expect they would ware out quickly. Just a thought though, one would need to check this out.

Offered by Mike.

Those hand pumps are pretty basic. The seal is nothing more than a piece of rubber or leather cut just a little bigger than the tube they are in. Easily replaced with a piece of tanned deer hide and lubed with vegetable oil.

Offered by Clipper.