Distilled water for cooling....article

pH of my rainwater is just under 7.0. My antifreeze in the car is mix is 8.0.

Rainwater is typically a pH 6 or lower because of CO2 dissolved. However, the antifreeze mix has a pretty hefty buffer, so it’s not likely to be depleted much by dissolution with rainwater.
 
Here in eastern NC. our dehumidifier would fill up it's 2.5 gallon container every 5 days of use to keep our exercise room that was in an unattached garage. I would think that would work well, especially if you filtered it through a coffee filter for extra precautions.
When I get flooded it takes about 6 months of dehumidifier and I save as much of that as I can. Probably have about 20 gallons around and I usually use that for the antifreeze and flushing. But we have a surplus of rain water this year. Freshly made!
 
Rainwater is typically a pH 6 or lower because of CO2 dissolved. However, the antifreeze mix has a pretty hefty buffer, so it’s not likely to be depleted much by dissolution with rainwater.
We are having copious amounts of rain the last ten days.

Pure water (if you can keep it pure) is a very aggressive solvent.

One year I was monitoring the ambient CO2 during the summer. I found it peaked about 8am generally in the 600ppm and was lowest around 4pm in the 300ppm. So it depends on when the rain falls!
 
We are having copious amounts of rain the last ten days.

Pure water (if you can keep it pure) is a very aggressive solvent.

One year I was monitoring the ambient CO2 during the summer. I found it peaked about 8am generally in the 600ppm and was lowest around 4pm in the 300ppm. So it depends on when the rain falls!

However, it’s going to be overwhelmed by whatever buffer is in the coolant. Just don’t pour it straight in.
 
However, it’s going to be overwhelmed by whatever buffer is in the coolant. Just don’t pour it straight in.
The native limestone around here is a great buffer. Maybe a couple of small pebbles in the overflow tank? Or use that to use for fill water? It also has a lot of iron in it.
 
The native limestone around here is a great buffer. Maybe a couple of small pebbles in the overflow tank? Or use that to use for fill water? It also has a lot of iron in it.

I’d prefer a buffer that doesn’t lead to scale deposits.

I used to collect comic books, where there were suppliers of preservation materials. The top of the line was polyester sleeves and acid-free backing boards impregnated with a calcium carbonate buffer.
 
GM said in the past to mix Dex-Cool concentrate with drinkable(potable) water but said for the inverter/electronics coolant for a Volt/Bolt to use only premixed Dex. Scale can hinder cooling in an ICE, but in the inverter of a hybrid or BEV a blocked cooling channel can fry a IBGT or MOSFET used to switch or amplify power to the drive motor/generators.

Prestone has put on the back label of their concentrated coolants: Water quality matters - mix only with distilled water.

Some coolant inhibitors, especially phosphate are effective sequestering agents - with an affinity for sodium/calcium/potassium ions. There’s good reason why the Europeans didn’t favor phosphates in their coolant with their harder water. On a side note, German washer fluid concentrate such as Einszett Krystal Klar or Mercedes Summer-Fit(the mix ratio is 1:100 to 1:192) uses sodium docusate(yes, stool softener) for the same sequestering effect.
 
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Its a sales pitch, just because there is a website (or its in print) for it doesnt mean its even remotely true. Its selling a product and anyone can produce a website or an advertisement to sell anything. Do a search for claims made in the 1950's just because its on the internet is no different, except its cheaper and easier to do it on the internet.
 
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