Most people dislike drinking water with chlorine due to its unpleasant chemical taste and odor. Unfortunately, if you are using a public water system, you are likely familiar with chlorine in your drinking water.
Boiling water is often considered as a method to remove chlorine. However, the effectiveness of boiling water in removing chlorine is uncertain. There may be simpler and more efficient methods to eliminate chlorine from your water supply.
Boiling water might eliminate free chlorine, to give a quick response. Nevertheless, this method is time-consuming and ineffective for removing chlorine that has been mixed with other substances, such as ammonia. Hence, if your water has been chlorinated, boiling won’t get rid of it.
How Does Boiling Water Remove Chlorine?
When water is heated to its boiling point of 212°F, it undergoes a phase change and turns into steam. During this process, the chlorine present in the water also evaporates. This is because chlorine cannot remain in water at high temperatures.
To remove chlorine by boiling water, it typically takes four minutes to remove 1 milligram of chlorine in a batch of 10 gallons of water. Knowing the amount of chlorine in your water is essential to determine how long to boil it if you choose to use this method.
Can chlorine be removed from chlorinated water by boiling it? Maybe, if you boil the water for an extended period of time. Yet there’s no genuine way for you to know.
Can boiling water remove chlorine effectively?
Boiling water does remove chlorine from it effectively, but there are a few drawbacks to this process.
You can’t be certain how much chlorine and how quickly it will be eliminated from your chlorinated water throughout the boiling procedure. You cannot see or smell chlorine vapor, even at minute levels. As a result, chlorine from drinking water cannot be accurately removed.
Besides, it takes a while to boil tap water. A unit of water won’t boil for more than four minutes until the chlorine is removed. It takes a long time since a pan or kettle has to be filled, turn on the burner, wait until the water has boiled, let it cool, and then pour the liquid into several containers.
Plus, only free chlorine is removed when water is boiled. Chlorine that is unattached to any other chemical element is known as free chlorine. You cannot boil chloramine-treated water to get rid of the chemicals; chloramine is a blend of free chlorine as well as ammonia.
How effective is boiling water when it comes to removing chlorine?
Chlorine and other dissolved gases escape from boiling water due to the temperature increase. It’s the reason why as water is heated, bubbles start to develop on the pot’s side.
The amount of water’s surface area determines how well boiling water removes chlorine. It is more efficient to boil water in a large pot than a narrow stream. Large amounts of water cannot be effectively boiled so we cannot effectively remove chlorine.
Moreover, chloramine from drinking water cannot be adequately removed by boiling. A significant amount of chloramine would need to be eliminated after 60 to 90 minutes of boiling.
The amount of water that is exposed to the air, the water’s pH, and the level of chlorine are all reasons that can affect the efficiency of remove chlorine from water.
How Can I Tell Whether My Water Is Dechlorinated?
How much chlorine remains in your tap water after it has been boiled? And how do you initially determine whether your water contains chlorine?
If you use municipal water, you may also get in touch with your neighborhood utility to ask if they routinely test for chlorine and what the levels are if they do. This will inform you of the chlorine content of your water supply, but it won’t inform you of the chlorine content of the water after boiling.
Testing your drinking water is the only method to know for sure how much chlorine is present. Online or at a hardware shop, you may get a basic test kit. A digital meter is another option and is more accurate.
How to Know if Boiling Water Has Removed Chlorine
Testing your drinking water or tap water both before and after the boiling procedure is the only method to determine whether chlorine has been eliminated.
Prior to altering your tap water, check its chlorine level using a home test kit. After noting how much chlorine is present, boil the water. When the water has cooled, test it once more, and compare the findings. Hopefully, you’ll notice that your water has significantly less chlorine in it.
What are the steps to boiling water?
Removing chlorine from water effectively by boiling tap water or drinking water is our goal here. There is no recipe to removing chlorine from water, but it is important to take note of these things mentioned below:
Verify the cleanliness of the water you are using. Use a cloth to filter hazy water to get rid of the turbidity. One should also make use of a large-diameter pot. The chlorine will vaporize more quickly the greater water surface area that is exposed to the air.
Besides, at least 15 minutes are required to bring the water to a rolling boil. When water is boiling so quickly that it is bubbling and steaming, it is said to be at a rolling boil.
To optimize the amount of chlorine evaporation, leave the water exposed.
Uncover the water and let it cool. Any remaining chlorine will be able to off-gas as a result. Lastly, keep the water in a spotless container with a tight-fitting cover.
Alternative Ways to Remove Chlorine From Water
Although boiling water can effectively remove chlorine from water, it is not the fastest or easiest method. In addition, except for kill bacteria, which can be exceedingly unlikely to be present in chlorinated water, it won’t eliminate any other impurities.
Reverse Osmosis
In addition to being the finest method for eliminating chlorine, reverse osmosis also successfully purifies water by removing tons of other impurities.
Drinking water passes through various water filters throughout the reverse osmosis process, including a RO membrane, activated carbon filters, a sediment filter along with a post-filter.
Chlorine is eliminated through reverse osmosis filtering in two stages: the activated carbon filters, which does so by adsorbing chlorine, and the reverse osmosis membrane, which include very small holes that prevent chlorine from getting through to the opposite side.
Reverse osmosis is the best method when it comes to remove chloramine as well as remove chlorine, so it’s a wonderful choice if you’re also wanting to remove chloramine.
In addition, since the majority of RO water filtration systems are installed beneath kitchen sinks or countertops, they are not the best option if you want a whole-house system which can remove gaseous chlorine from showers. Additionally, these filters often cost $400.
Carbon Filters
Activated carbon, ordinary carbon, along with activated charcoal filter cartridges are the three categories of carbon filters that may be used to dechlorinate water.
Although this sort of carbon cannot be used for remove chloramine from your tap water, it is most frequently used to lower chlorine. Adsorption is the method that AC utilizes to seize and remove particles of dissolved gas from the water.
While activated charcoal filters have properties comparable to AC filters, they are not as effective or widely used compared to activated carbon.
Whole-house, under-sink, and water-pitcher filters all use carbon water filter cartridges. Carbon media, which has a substantially larger surface area as well as a greater longevity than carbon cartridges, is also available in whole-house tank-based systems.
Distillation
Boiling water remove chlorine and impurities, leaving just the molecules of pure water, which is the process of distillation.
The process involves boiling water in a container. As the water vaporizes, it rises and travels through a cooling passageway. The vapor then condenses into a different container.
Most contaminants cannot evaporate with water when it is boiled. Chlorine can evaporate, but it cannot combine with water to revert to liquid form, leaving it stuck in the distiller. The majority of distillers utilize a charcoal filter to get rid of pollutants that survive the distillation process, such as very small amounts of chlorine.
While distillation can effectively reduce chlorine levels, we do not recommend it as a method. The distillation process can take up to six hours to purify even one gallon of water.
UV Light
The most popular method for destroying bacteria and other hazardous elements in water is ultraviolet light. Most people are unaware that UV radiation with wavelengths in the range of 180 to 400 nanometers can also be utilized to remove chlorine from water in addition to killing microbes.
Most UV purifying systems for in-home use are installed to treat the entire house. A UV lamp can be installed as a separate water treatment system or as a post-treatment system for another whole-house system, such as a water softener.
Boiling Water Chlorine Removal Frequently Asked Questions
Is it crucial to eliminate chloramine and chlorine from tap water?
If you are only planning to consume tap water, then the presence of chlorine and chloramine up to 4.0 ppm is considered acceptable by the EPA. Chlorine and chloramine are commonly utilized for disinfection purposes and provide a cost-effective and efficient method of destroying bacteria and viruses.
Although small doses of chlorine are believed to be safe, you may still choose not to consume them. If you intend to use tap water for dialysis or aquariums, you will need to remove the chlorine.
What hazards does chlorine pose to your health?
Although high levels of this chemical can cause irritation to the skin, eyes, and lungs, there are no identified health risks associated with drinking tap water that has been chlorinated.
Does rainwater have chlorine in it?
No. During the process of chemical disinfection of water treatment, chlorine is applied to vast quantities of water. Neither well water nor rains contain this chemical.
Will letting water out help decrease chlorine?
Chlorine in a gallon of water can naturally evaporate within 24 hours. Although it’s not the most effective solution for obtaining chlorine-free drinking water instantly, and a substantial surface area of water must be exposed to the atmosphere for it to work, it’s worth considering in emergency situations.
Can neutralizing additives be used to eliminate chlorine from drinking water?
Sure, you can eliminate chlorine using certain neutralizing chemicals. One of the best additions is sodium metabisulphite, which destroys chlorine by acting as a counterbalance. Neutralizing additives are mainly employed in the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries; they aren’t a popular domestic practice.
Does chlorine exist in bottled water?
The presence or absence of chlorine in bottled water depends on the type and extent of water treatment used.
How long should the water be boiled?
It is recommended to boil chlorinated water for at least 15 minutes. More chlorine would be eliminated from the water the longer it is boiled.
In a run of boiling water that contains 10 gallons, 1 mg of chlorine should evaporate in 3.7 minutes. It will take more than 60 minutes to use the same concentration of chloramine.
You can figure out how long your water has to be boiled if you know how much chlorine is in it. The time indicated above is a “best case” estimate; the actual time required to remove every bit of chlorine will be higher. For this reason, I advise letting water boil for 15 to 20 minutes.
Does Boiling Water Remove Chloramine?
Chloramine from drinking water cannot be efficiently removed by boiling it. A noticeable amount of chloramine must be removed after 60 to 90 minutes of boiling chlorinated water since it is a considerably more stable molecule than chlorine. Using a reverse osmosis filtering system is the most effective technique to get chloramine out of your drinking water.