CO-Z 4L Brushed Stainless Steel Countertop Distiller Machine, Home Distilled Water Maker with Glass Pot, Purifier to Make Clean Water

If you own an Aerogarden or several and live in an area with hard tapwater you quickly discover the importance of having at hand an ongoing supply of distilled water. Under present circumstances as well as from an economic standpoint, a home distiller is a good investment. There are many available and what I found is that, compared to this CO-Z unit, you can spend twice as much for one made of plastic which takes half as long again to distill an equivalent four liters. You also can spend well over twice as much and get one made of stainless steel and glass which does the same thing in the same amount of time. At this very reasonable price and given its features and build quality, my opinion is this CO-Z model is the best overall value. You'll see, above, a one-star review or two warning that the glass carafe is brittle and prone to breakage because the lid is too hard to remove. You can take that at face value or, firstly, consider that (spoiler alert): Glass is brittle and prone to breakage. Secondly, read the manual and note the warning against attempting to remove the NON-REMOVABLE lid. Other reviewers complain about having to scrub mineral deposits from the reservoir upon completion of distillation. Consider that the purpose of distillation is, in this application, to remove minerals from the water and they have to go somewhere. The unit has an auto shut-off which evidently works by sensing excess heat, such as would be expected when the reservoir has boiled dry. You can easily minimize after-use maintenance by not relying on this temperature sensor and instead using a heavy duty appliance timer with a countdown function. I set mine to three hours and forty-five minutes and have no problems with baked-on deposits. In addition, scrubbing or the use of specialized cleaners is, in most cases, unnecessary. A half cup of white vinegar allowed to sit for a brief period, followed by light wiping and rinsing of the interior of the unit will easily remove the mineral residue. A 3M Dobie cleaning pad (the one with a thin plastic mesh for light scrubbing on one side and sponge on the other) is ideal for this. [NOTE: I noticed the particular timer linked in the preceding paragraph is no longer available. It was rated at 1800W/15amps. The distiller is stated to operate at 750W, which is (according to online calculators) about 6 amps. I am NOT an electrician or electrical engineer but know enough to know that you need a timer that can handle the load, for safety's sake. It appears to my untrained eye that there is a newer version of this timer with the same 1800W/15amp capacity.] Incidentally, the unit is much larger than it appears in the photos, about the size of a medium-sized coffee urn. Not having extra counter space in my small kitchen, I keep it and the jugs of distilled water on this very sturdy and inexpensive cart (see photo). One final tip: I strongly recommend placing a small plastic funnel in the spout of the carafe during the distilling process, and not relying on the strange metal cap provided (see photo). This will ensure the distilled water reliably dripping into the carafe during operation. Overall, I am entirely pleased with the value, quality and performance of the CO-Z Water Distiller. ONE YEAR UPDATE: This distiller continues to give excellent results. I have five small hydroponic units and distill from six to nine gallons of water per week, usually over a two to three day period. Cleaning is done after all distillation is completed, using only white vinegar and the soft scrubber pad mentioned in the review, above. If there is especially heavy mineral buildup in the tank but I still have a few gallons to go before completely finishing, I will use a Scotch-Brite Non-Scratch Scour Pad (the blue ones, NOT the green--which are very abrasive) to remove it. I noticed one or two reviewers reported rust and corrosion. I suspect that is the direct result of improper maintenance and storage...leaving the distiller assembled and wet between uses or overnight when it is not being operated. After cleaning I set the components on wooden trivets (see photo), the distiller head upright and the tank inverted, to air dry thoroughly. The unit looks as good as new with no signs of corrosion. [I assembled these trivets from scrap wood but any similar object of sufficient diameter with an open design will serve the purpose.] One other small tip: Using a funnel with a wide spout makes transferring water into storage jugs much faster and easier. TWO YEAR UPDATE: As seen in the accompanying photo, proper care and maintenance ensure reliable, long-term operation. After two years of regular use, using the tips and procedures outlined above, there is absolutely no corrosion or degradation of performance. Incidentally, I've never used any of the activated charcoal filter packets and see no reason to do so in my application.

JANUARY 29, 2025 UPDATE: This distiller has now seen 29 months of constant use. During winter, it makes two full 1.6-gallon jugs of distilled water daily. In addition to my CPAP machine's humidifier, we have three ultrasonic humidifiers that we use exclusively with distilled water, so needless to say, this distiller is kept VERY busy. At this point, we've probably saved at least $2000, and quite possibly much more than that, by not having to buy jugs of distilled water. It's paid for itself many times over. OCTOBER 13, 2024 UPDATE: This distiller is still humming along, 26 months post-purchase. It runs almost daily, sometimes multiple times per day. It has saved me a tremendous amoung of money, both at the cash register - for jugs of distilled water - and by preventing mineral crusting damage on my ultrasonic humifidiers. Note that I have replaced the stock power cord with a 2-foot 14AWG power cord (NEMA 5-15P to IEC-320-C13) after observing that the original cord would get VERY warm at the ends. Since replacing the cord, the ends no longer get warm. Something to consider. ORIGINAL REVIEW: Five months in, this distiller is still working great. We use the water in both my CPAP machine and an ultrasonic humidifier, and it has no problems keeping up with the demand. Some observations and tips: I have the 1.6-gallon unit and it takes 6 hours from power on to completion when cold water is used. If I start with hot tap water, that time is reduced by about an hour. I don't usually make the full 1.6 gallons, however, since it requires allowing the unit to boil dry (I address this below). The user manual may lead some people to think that the button on the front is a START button that must be pushed to begin the distillation process, but this is not the case. That button is a RESET button, which must be pressed if the unit trips. The user manual assumes that you will allow the unit to run dry each time, thus causing the unit to overheat and trip. And because they assume that you will allow the unit to trip, they also assume that you will be starting each cycle needing to reset that tripped condition. Continuing in that vein, it is my recommendation that you do not allow the unit to run dry. Why not? Because as the water boils out, the mineral content in the boiler is getting more and more concentrated, to the point that what remains is a sort of mineral-rich slurry. This slurry will start to cement itself to the bottom of the boiler in any case, but it is a much worse problem if the unit is allowed to boil dry, making cleaning an even more unpleasant task. Rather than allowing the unit to boil dry, consider buying a digital timer (or even a smart plug), figure out how long it takes to distill 1 to 1.2 gallons, and then use that timer to stop the unit before it can boil dry. Or, if you know you will be at home when the unit has finished creating the amount of distiller water that you want, set a timer on your smart phone and then simply turn the unit off (using the rocker switch on the back of the unit) when the alarm sounds. Be careful with the AC power sockets on the rear of the unit; they are not as sturdy as you might think. There is a fair amount of flex to them and if you don't handle them gently, you might break a socket. When unplugging the cords from the unit, don't try to pull the plugs straight out. Instead, simply wiggle the plugs slightly as you gently pull, and work them free that way. Be sure not to get water in the power sockets or switches when filling the boiler. Always check to make sure that everything is dry before plugging the unit back in. When I fill the boiler, I set it in my bathtub with the reset button (front) and power sockets (rear) oriented so that they are not facing the faucet. This way, if any water splashes the electrical bits, it is minimal, and I can just wipe it away quickly with a dry cloth. The stainless steel spout on the upper housing is a bit loose-fitting (or at least it was on my unit). It is a friction fit and doesn't like to stay in place. You can position it as required, only to have it come loose just by bumping it slightly. It will also come loose if you lift the upper housing that holds the coil and fan. This happens because the tab that holds it in place merely rests on a shallow plastic ridge, and it is held there under minimal tension. The tab, when disturbed, has a tendency to bypass the plastic ridge because of the loose fit, and once that happens you have to remove the entire upper housing and reseat the spout. Very annoying. The solution to improve the fit is to bend the curved stainless steel tab on the spout slightly so that it is a wee bit straighter than its curved, from-the-factory shape. This will elongate it just enough to increase the tension and give it a tighter fit. The cleaning powder that comes with the unit is surprisingly effective. Put an inch or two of water in the unit, add a couple of tablespoons of powder to the water, and let it boil for maybe 15 to 20 minutes with the upper housing removed (and unplugged). Before the cleaning solution has a chance to boil out, power the unit off and use a wooden spoon, a heat-friendly plastic scraper, or a wok brush to further loosen the crud, taking care not to splash yourself with hot water. Then unplug the unit, rinse it out, and then repeat the process as needed. Doing this once a month or so should be sufficient. People have wondered about the tube that is included with the distiller. As far as I can tell, you would use this if you wanted to distill water into containers other than the polycarbonate jug included with the unit. The puzzling thing, though, is that unless you are distilling water into a very short container, you would probably need to elevate the distiller to have the container clear the stainless steel spout. Strange. You will likely grow annoyed with the carbon filter packets. They're fiddly and they break open, and honestly, depending on your water source, they may not even be necessary. Here's what one site has to say about them: "There are a couple of contaminants that can convert to gas with water, namely benzene and VOCs. Most distillers use a small activated carbon filter at the spout, which removes these contaminants as water drips down into the holding container." So, if you are fairly confident that your water is free of these things, and you're mostly distilling to get rid of minerals that would otherwise leave deposits on expensive equipment, you could probably forego the carbon filters. That's my situation, so I doubt I will be ordering more. Overall, I am happy with my purchase, and I feel confident that I can recommend it to others. It is a cost-effective way to not have to be dependent on supermarket stock, which I think is even more important now, given that inexpensive "store brand" distilled water isn't always an option (one national brand is selling for $3/gal).

Update: 5/12/2025. We've had this distiller since December 2024. It blew the first fuse in Feb. Thankfully it came with one extra. Unfortunately it blew the second fuse at the beginning of May. We bought a pack of 5 fuses and it's working now that we replaced it again. I love this distiller, BUT the fact it's blowing fuses every 2 months is concerning. Update: Bought Dec 1, 2024. It arrived Dec 9th and it died on Feb 3, 2025. So it didn't even last 2 months. We used it 1x a day a couple of times a week. Sometimes it went unused for an entire week and then maybe it would be run in the AM and then PM if we were low on distilled water. Updating to reflect 1 star. It finished running today and when I went to clean it out I realized the light was off on the back. After some testing it must have had a power surge. It burned out the surge protector as it's dead as well. It was the only thing plugged into it. We bought the CO-Z 6L to replace the DC House 4L distiller. We've used the CO-Z 3 times so far and LOVE it. For reference, this is our 3rd distiller. The DC House is about 20 months old. We've had issues with it for about a year. I I left a review on it's page you can read more about, but it was losing steam from the seal and we'd have to regularly add food grade silicone to help seal it, etc. In the last week it started doing the burning smell that our original distiller did right before it finally died. Yes the C0-Z is a 6L so it is supposed to be larger. However, it's also way heavier. The lid seems to lock on really tightly. It was very hard to get it off at first and I had to look at the instruction manual just to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong. I LOVE this because a loose seal with the lid is the main issue we'd had with the DC House. The 2 extra liters of water make a HUGE difference. I don't think I realized just how much. We have multiple humidifiers in bedrooms that take 2 gallons each. We have a high end espresso machine that we only use distilled water in and I have a lot of carnivorous plants. So we had to run the distiller 3 times a day before. With this one I can easily run it less often and it seems to take the exact same amount of time as the 4L. I have tried to time it with starting them both at the same time, but keep missing when they finish. I just know they are both done at the same time when I go to check. Besides the great seal on the lid, this unit also has a power switch on the back and the reset switch on the front. I like that you can power it off to prevent the reset switch from being hit accidentally. That's not happened to us, but if my kids were younger or we had more pets in the area the distiller is setup, it is a very handy safety tool.

UPDATE ON MY UPDATE: I just bought a second one of these, even though the last one rusted through after 11 months. Here is why. As I wrote in my original review, I happily advised using vinegar to clean the yuck after use. I have now learned that vinegar can etch stainless steel and if exposed long enough to H20, it can cause rust. Oh my!! I realized I was contributing to the demise of my distiller! So I bought another one, only this time with the warranty offered, since others were complaining about other issues. I DO LOVE this distiller. It's very easy and convenient. So In faith, I'm giving it a fourth star and I'm continuing to enjoy the ease of use, but now I am only using the Citric Acid powder to clean it. Look for food grade and get it much cheaper. Original review: I've been using this distiller every other night for over eight months now, and it has done really well by me. This is my drinking water, so I'm rather fussy. I find it to be very easy to clean, which seems to be a major complaint among reviewers. Yes, I let it go to the end, and it shuts off while I sleep. But it should be treated like one of your dishes. It should be cleaned every time you use it. I either throw a scoop of the provided powder (rarely) or a quarter cup of vinegar (usually) and, either way, I put enough water in to cover the bottom, put a plate over it, or put the top back on, and set it aside for an hour, or all day if I have to leave. But usually in an hour, I swish it around then rinse it out and it looks brand new. I may take a plastic brush and run it around the bottom to make sure everything is loose, which it usually is. Very easy. No need to fill it halfway or boil it. That is totally unnecessary. It isn't a pleasant odor, which is why I cover it. It has not malfunctioned, and I enjoy the taste. I will say though, it has shown a couple of tiny rust-like spots inside on the bottom, which I will be inquiring about. But over the months they haven't increased in size at all. Still, I don't think this should happen. So, one star off for that. Otherwise, a real workhorse. I do recommend it. The glass jar is top notch. UPDATE: Turns out, you shouldn't ignore the rust spots if you have them. After 13 months, they finally rusted through. I ran it at night (as always), and when I got up the next morning, all my outlets had tripped off and there was water all over the counter that had leaked through the bottom of the tank. Never been more grateful for my circuit breaker. Yikes! I bought it when it was still around $150. not happy about that either. I suppose it paid for itself, but not by much. Now I'm wondering, should I get it again and hope this one doesn't rust? I can't afford a really good one. Very frustrating.

After putting the components together, I saw the plug connected to the lid was very short so decided the longer plug was provided to allow the unit better access to a wall plug outlet. I connected the longer plug to the shorter plug on the unit and then plugged it into the wall receptacle. The fan worked, but the unit did not heat. After an hour of waiting for the unit to heat, I reviewed similar products as I planned to send this "faulty" unit back. Saw a video on another product which showed the short plug going from the unit lid to the first plug outlet on the bottom of the unit and the long plug going from the second unit outlet to a wall plug outlet. Both plug outlets on the distiller are on the back of the unit and I never looked at the back. Once I plugged the two cords in the correct plugs, the unit worked beautifully. The instruction manual did not show the back of the unit or explain where/how to plug the cords. Granted, I am mechanically challenged and feel silly for my oversight (my husband usually takes care of anything mechanical), but the instruction manual should have a diagram of the installed cords as well as detailed instructions of all steps needed to set up the unit. I purchased this distiller to avoid plastic particles leaching into water stored in plastic jugs. There is a long plastic tube included with this unit which is used to direct the distilled water into the collector bottle. I do not want the water in contact with plastic so did not use the plastic tube. The unit works well without the tubing. It drops water into the glass water collector without spillage . Another reason not to use the tube is that its length inside the collector pitcher makes positioning and removing the water collector pitcher difficult. The unit is relatively quiet. The only sound is the fan which is a soft sound. The outside of the unit becomes slightly warm, but not hot. Cleaning was easy. We have well water so the bottom of the unit was covered in white mineral deposits and there was also white debris on the underside of the removal lid. I poured enough white vinegar into the container to cover the bottom, then dipped a paper towel in the vinegar and easily wiped mineral deposits off the inner sides of the container and the lid. Waited five minutes and then wiped the bottom clean. Vinegar easily removed the mineral residue, no scrubbing needed. Did not use the cleaning powder included with the unit as I prefer using more natural cleaning products such as vinegar or baking soda. Aside from the instruction manual, this seems to be a very nice product. I put the distilled water into two glass pitchers with lids so the glass bottle collector pitcher is now available for future use. The smaller pitchers are lighter and easier to use for filling my coffee machine.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of research on plastics in products that we ingest. Many single use plastics leave a residue on food and people are ingesting the plastics. There is research out there indicating that people have large concentrations of plastic in their bodies. So, I use the distilled water in my CPAP machine. If distilled water is in a plastic jug I don’t want to add to any more plastic entering my body. So I purchased this because it has a glass pitcher and a stainless steel evaporator. It works great. I also noticed the first night that this distilled water has absolutely no smell. I didn’t realize that water in plastic containers actually has an odor (probably plastic).

The unit works great and distills a gallon of water in three hours and 15 minutes. The unit was ready to distill after a few minutes of assembly. The design of the carafe is nice with the stainless steel top and silicone sleeve on the base. Also, the unit comes with activated charcoal pods for added filtration and citric acid powder to descale the unit periodically. I had a problem with the first unit but CO-Z bent over backwards to make it right and I had a replacement unit within a couple of days. Their customer service is first rate. They were responsive right away when I had the problem with the first unit and updated me daily, on the status of the replacement shipment. I would definitely buy this unit again if I needed another distiller.

It seems that my model has been recently updated to reflect some changes. So far it's basically three: 1. The lid of the carafe comes off, just rotate it far enough and pull, like a notched jar. It includes an annoying non-removable sticker on the lid to tell you this forever. 2. The carafe no longer includes a silicone ring on the bottom to keep it from sliding around. Not a big problem for me. 3. Included in the box is a 4 inch or so rubber tube. The manual doesn't explain what it's for in the slightest. But, hey, free tube I guess. "Nah, I'd rather you throw this away." Speaking of included stuff, the included manual is pretty terrible. Sentences don't make sense, photographs are small and almost always lacking detail. There's instructions for replacing the top portion silicone ring, for example, but it was already installed and they don't ship spares, so why is it there? It includes charcoal teabags which I'm not sure what they actually do since the water coming out the spout is already distilled. When I made and discarded my first batch (as instructed), I just rinsed out the carafe and let it air dry. Next day there were black spots all over the inside, where the dissolved charcoal was left behind. The carafe has a handle and some metal bands, but it's really finicky to put together and doesn't even hold very well anyway. All the human interface stuff feels really really cheap, from opening the place they stuffed the charcoal bag, to the feel of the reset switch, to the fit and finish of the metal shielded dripping panel thing. They also include a stamped metal thing similar to the shielded one but the manual doesn't say what it's for. I'm guessing covering the hole of the carafe when not in use, but it fits very poorly. It should be threaded. First things first, it can make 6 gallons of distilled water per day, but that's only if you run it 24 hours a day and don't sleep. To be fair, if you run it 24 hours a day, you wouldn't be able to sleep anyway because the fan is extremely LOUD. You have to position the carafe and the shielded metal panel perfectly. If the spout actually touches the shield, capillary action will draw water away from falling into the carafe and you'll get spills. Some kind of stop-and-go lever like they use in coffee machines would have been ideal but that costs an extra 3 cents I guess so they left it out. So middle-schooler math tells you bringing a gallon of water from room temp to boiling takes something less than 1 kwh of energy according to my napkin. I ran a whole cycle and tracked usage at 2.8 kwh so the power seems to be primarily used towards the fan. An electric kettle is about 80% efficient so this device is easily below 50% efficient. Now I've tried distilling my own water the hard way with a pot, glass bowl, and inverted lid and, while it takes forever, I didn't need active cooling on it to get it to work. I think I would have preferred something that ran more silently and used less power, even if it distils less water. When done, the unit does turn itself off, but you definitely don't want to let this happen. All the gunk in the water will glue itself to the inner pot and it will look and smell terrible. You want to pull the plug a bit early so that the worst of it is still dissolved in what's left and you can flush it away. Because the inner pot cannot be immersed in water, cleaning it out is pretty awful. I have very hard water and after the first use there was a lot of calcium on the sides. The solution to this is the chemical cleaner they provide (citric acid, basically), but you have to refill the device all the way to above where it was in order to etch it away, which is just a lot of water wasted. Overall I don't think I can give it less than 3 stars because it does, in fact, work. But it's really not that great to command the 5 stars some people want to give it. I see myself only using it during the current and any future distilled water shortages coming out way, and in more normal times, just paying the extra 50 cents over the cost electricity to save time and hassle to pick up distilled water from the store.