Three Days = One Pitcher of Water

This pitcher of water took me three days to obtain. I kid you not. Here's why...

You are not supposed to drink the tap water in Poland -- nothing new there for us. But I was getting tired of schlepping bottled water from the corner store. (Have I mentioned how much I am missing my car?) Anyway it was time to tackle the distiller.



So on Friday, with Megan feverish and planted in front of the television, I pulled out the box with the distiller in it and got started. Here's how the process went:

1. Removed distiller from box.
2. Read instructions since this one is different than any other we've had.
3. Disassembled distiller and washed/dried all pertinent bits.
4. Reassembled distiller.
5. Started first run through distiller. Instructions state it takes 5 hours for the cycle to complete. Instructions LIE. Actually closer to 6 hours. For 3 L of water. Grrrrr.
   
6. Instructions directed me to dump the first 2-3 cycles through the distiller. Sigh. Dumped first 3 runs which took me into Saturday afternoon.
   
7. Cleaned out trays as directed to prevent buildup. Then ran 1 more cycle yesterday (Saturday) evening, this time using the charcoal filter (as per instructions).
   
8. Used this batch to soak the Brita filter on Sunday morning. Then had to fill and dump the Brita pitcher, per Brita instructions, twice.
   
9. After all this, finally have potable water for drinking and cooking.

To those who say life overseas is all about adventure and glamor I say, "Three flippin' days for one pitcher of water!"

Off to clean the distiller with...