A quick google search found this:

http://www.distillerwarehouse.com/nonelectric.htm

24 oz. in 30 to 40 minutes. Can be powered by a camp stove or fire or similar.

They're in Edmonton too. Would be nice to have if they weren't so pricey.

Hacksaw, I have that exact same still, I bought for for $150 about 10 years ago and still have it. It is/was called an E-still. We use it in last resort mode during hurricanes but it does a great job. Later down the road I ended up getting a military PUR 35 off of flea bay for $200. So we have both as back ups for total loss scenarios. The company I bought them from no longer sales them but you may still find them at other places. $300 is a lot of money for that though. It's a good still but not a $300 good still.





E-still

http://www.zetatalk.com/food/tfoox152.htm

$184.00

E-Still (Non Electric Water Distiller)
Great for camping, remote living, emergency preparedness, easing y2k concerns - a stainless steel distiller with no moving parts! Use with any type of stove - gas, electric, wood, a propane burner or camping cook stove, in a home fireplace or outdoor camp fire, on a charcoal grill. All it needs is a source of heat to boil water, steam condenses into 99.9% pure distilled water. You get 24 ounces in just 34 minutes, one gallon in 40-45 minutes. Includes a Boiling Pan, Patent-Pending Disks, an Upper Condensing Pan, Stainless Steel Discharge Extension Tube, and a length of High Temperature Medical-Grade Silicon Tubing to provide further distance of the Receiving Vessel from the heat source. The Pure Survival e-Still is a Manual-Fill, Batch-Type Distiller. With a Propane Camp Stove used as the Heat Source, the e-Still produces 24 ounces of Pure Sterile Distilled Water in 34 minutes as follows:12 minutes to reach the Boiling Point and Produce Steam,12 minutes to produce the First 12 Ounces of Distilled Water, 10 minutes to produce the Second 12 Ounces of Distilled Water, One 16.5 Oz Propane Bottle lasts for 8 batches ? producing 192 Oz [1.5 gallons] of Pure Sterile Distilled Water. The Production Batch Time varies with the Heat Source ? but, in general, the Pure Survival e-Still will produce 1 gallon of Pure Sterile Distilled Water in 40-45 minutes. With a Pure Survival e-Still in the house, you will never have to worry again about storing bottled water for an emergency. Create your own Pure Sterile Distilled Emergency Drinking Water when you need it the most ? in an emergency!

A quick eBay search and I found something very similar for under 100 bucks.

Pur 35 for $200!?!?! Aren't those things like $1800 new?

That's why I want a solar still, but I cannot find a design I like well enough. When I used to work at sea, there were times when the wind and current would act to move a vessel int eh direction you wanted it to go, at which time someone I knew would say "The Lord is doing the work." With a solar still, one could say the same thing.

IMHO, if you are in a survival situation letting the forces of nature work for you will be key, instead of trying to force them into doing what you want. Spending your energy using a still over a fire might be too much work for what it is worth. However, I am not going to say that having one around is a bad idea. If you have plenty of food, shelter, warmth, etc. and water is the one thing you lack, it could be a life saver.

I have an old camping book that describes building a salt water still from a gallon paint can with a fitting brazed onto the lid. A coiled copper tubing condensor fits inside the can for transport.

The idea is that large lid allows you to clean out the salt deposits and it will pop off instead of exploding if the tube becomes clogged. I wouldn't put the lid on any tighter than needed, though.

I read that distilled water will absorb aluminum and copper, so the best tubing to use is food grade stainless (316).

Copper is not going to kill you. Thye have been using it in kitchens, breweries and distilleries for centuries.

I see one now on e-bay for $350, when I got my Survivor 35 I had bidded on it and it was a military grade one. No one even bidded against me and closed at $200. When I got it, it was brand new with the factory tags etc. Then a trip over to Daytona Beach to the ocean and after pumping the biocide out, out came drinking water. Then a trip to the marine store to pick up some biocide and treated for storage. I keep it in my LRBOB (Long Range Break out Bag) for the just in case Katrina type stuff. I would strongly recomend this unit for coast living people. The ocean is an endless supply of water.


http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&maxrecordsreturned=300&frpp=50&from=R10&satitle=survivor+35&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=ZIP%2FPostal&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1&fsoo=1

$350 or Bid
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-Katad...bayphotohosting

I think only water and especially distilled water with its higher capacity to bond with minerals leaches those materials. Alcohol doesn't leach them, so it is safe to use copper for brewing and moonshining, but I wouldn't want to use them for distilling water. Copper toxicity and biounavailability can cause all kinds of problems, the least of which might be headaches. There all kinds of sites discussing copper toxicity.
This one is interesting.

Copper toxicity is usually due to:
1. excessive supplementation
2. the increasingly common problem of low levels of zinc in the diet
3. contaminated food and drinking water due to contact with metallic copper
4. external exposures such as a copper IUD or accidental 5. agricultural overspray
5. elevated levels of estrogens.

If you still cook in copper pots, you should at least switch to aluminum. Food for thought: The Romans used to flavor their foods with salt, pepper, and lead sprinkles. They thought lead was good for them.

Could you set up the classic 'desert solar still' (hole and sheet type) and put a lot of salt water in the hole?

(I'm thinking of a clear plastic sheet, a small stone, a shallow dish full of sea water and a bigger pot to catch the fresh as it drips down)

Of course it would need to be sunny, but the kit would be very small/cheap/improvisable