What is the best type of tubing to use as a condenser for a water distiller?

Question

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.

Answer 1

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 (p=1 bar, T=100 °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.