It works well. It isn't too noisy. They said to run water through it once and discard the water. But I noticed a weird after taste for about four or five distillings. I don't think it hurt anything, but I would recommend that you distill four or five batches before drinking the water. I am also using a food grade silicon tube to send the water to a gallon glass jug I have, rather than using the glass carafe. I did this when I was trying to figure out where the weird taste was coming from. It was still there after I started using the glass jug, so it probably isn't the carafe.