A follow up on my repair after 40 years of use. The inlet valve which uses a brass Schrader valve, this is what most people will know as a tire valve. There are cheap nickel plated ones and the better quality brass valves. the Schrader valves operates on in let water pressure to keep the valve closed and uses a slight high pressure from the distiller to open the spring loaded valve to allow for a flushing and refilling of the boiling chamber, a nominal 2 cups of water is used. I keep a spare brass Schrader Valve Core and the external brass coupling. I clean the outer coupling in CLR over night. I replace the brass Schrader Valve Core with a new one as these parts are inexpensive and are intended to be replaced when worn. This is one of the critical components especially in an area where the water has high calcium content. Again this is where Big Iron Drilling recommends the distiller reused with "Soft Water" or use a water softener. It does make a huge difference in the amount of maintenance (De-Scaling) required. In the most extreme cases descaling is required once a week, with a water softener this can mean a nominal 6 months between routine maintenance. During Routine maintena
nce it is also recommended to replace the two rubber grommets sealing the outer and inner funnel like shell in place. NOTE there is a Thin Metal band with small turned edges required to lift out the Funnel Mechanism. removing the Funnel Mechanism without the "secret tool" can be problematic. Once all the little tricks are learned about the routine maintenance is concerned. The routine maintenance is vastly more simple compared to the more Conventional Air Cooled Distiller. because I am allow the CLR (Full Strength) to soak all the parts over night to ensure I reach every last bit of deposit. the CLR is rated for disposal down the sink. I usually reuse the CLR until I notice any residual calcium deposit sitting in the storage jug after a period of time. IF you want to know more you can contact Big Iron Drilling Directly, even during the COVID-19 lock down they do answer the phone, even with their COVID-19 reduced office hours.

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Hi all, I just came across this conversation and thought I might add my 2 cents as a happy and healthy user of Springtime #12 Distilled water since late 1988 (~33 years) and, as well, a clear-eyed realist with regard to Big Iron Drilling's customer "service."

The self-cleaning functionality of this very innovative design only ceases, along with attendant water production, when the water discharge line's standpipe (which maintains boiling chamber water level by providing an exit path for the deliberately excess inlet water) clogs with mineral deposits. These mineral deposits are a reflection of the hardness (or TDS, Total Dissolved Solids) of the inlet water, so if you feed the machine hard water this exit path standpipe will "grow" itself an internal restriction, principally at its mouth i.e. at water level of the boiling chamber.

The installation and maintenance of a water softener is thus a necessity to avoid the need for too-frequent cleaning sessions, but one more component is needed to avoid intake of hard water during the time period defined for the water softener to regenerate. The softener takes itself offline, so to speak, with a bypass circuit that delivers hard water if need be during its downtime, so if your distiller is still running then (more likely with 10 gallon reservoir and substantial usage of distilled water), it will build up the dread mineral deposits and shorten your service interval accordingly. I used to, for years, snake a bicycle cable outer up the standpipe periodically to clear the mouth of these deposits somewhat (in order to avoid full disassembly) but more recently have simply installed a timer in the heating element power supply to manually disable the distiller from trying to work during the softener regeneration time period. I've been happy with the "industrial strength" unit "Intermatic TMHDT101 T101 24 Hour Dial Timer" which, in concert with appropriately softened supply water, makes service very infrequent.

Over the years I've had to replace the heating element every 5 or so years, and have learned to keep a few other service parts on hand to avoid delays or interruption of supply: sealing grommets, principally. Dielectric grease on the wiring terminals is a very worthwhile service extender, as is drilling cooling holes in the bottom skirt that surrounds the wiring: these terminals are subject to oxidation more at high temperatures. Fwimbw, if you fry a wire and it coats everything in the wiring department with sublimated insulator plastic, Bon Ami is the magic cleaner; it works when even the strongest solvents fail.

The distiller's operating temperature and discharge flow rate are closely correlated; I've come to use 9.5mm as inlet valve pushrod nose length (after a good number of optimization trials) for machines I set up.

And if you use a demand pump for your (preferably Instant Hot & Cold) sink dispenser (the ultimate luxury) in addition to the fridge, you'll want a "Watts LF-150A Water Hammer Arrestor" to tame the pulsing: a bicycle tire pump or air compressor will be needed to jack up its preloaded 30 psi to handle the pump's 45 psi operating pressure.

Lastly, a 3/4" copper cooling array is desirable for lowering discharge water temp for plastic drains, a home project if ever there was one.