As nouns the difference between strainer and percolator

is that strainer is a device through which a liquid is passed for purification, filtering or separation from solid matter; anything (including a screen or a cloth) used to strain a liquid; any device functioning as a sieve or filter - in special, a perforated screen or openwork (usually at the end of a suction pipe of a pump), used to prevent solid bodies from mixing in a liquid stream or flowline while percolator is a device used to brew coffee by passing boiling water through coffee grounds.