Most of the time I used DI water from a lab.
Distilled water for mixing engine coolant?
- Thread starter ntsqd
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We had a filtration system at the radiator shop. Once filtered our 400 ppm water was 3-4 ppm.
I'm curious what the "ideal" water would be for coolant mixing. PH, TDS, GH?
Is RO water with a TDS of 50 as good a de-ionized? Does it really matter?
Is RO water with a TDS of 50 as good a de-ionized? Does it really matter?
I have never seen an automotive repair facility with an inventory of distilled or deionized water jugs sitting on the shelf.
SO, In practical terms, it's the best we have that is relatively cheap, readily available, and better than guessing the water quality coming out of your hose.
I use demineralized water from the hardware store. It's only a couple of dollars a gallon. I mix it 50/50 with Nulon One coolant that's rated for 10 years or 600,000 miles of service life. So far I've had zero cooling system related problems with any of my vehicles.
We use distilled and deionized
You are of coruse correct and itis nonetheless creepy.
I always bring the disilled water with the car if I ever need a need rad or hoses done so there is no incentive for folks to just run tap water.
No offense to the person who linked it, but this is an odd article, and the "reasoning" is spurious.
Its late and I dont want to type too much but I recommend to follow the rest of this thread over that link.
Oh no, don't get me wrong as I don't believe any of that. Only distilled or deionized for me!
Distilled?
Yes.
Yes.
I don't really follow, "over that link"?
This is somewhat of a typical complaint that in actual practice makes zero difference whatsoever.
RO, distilled and deionized water are essentially the same thing. Undesirable ions are removed and are not exchanged for another. Water softeners are ion-exchange resins and exchange certain metallic ions for sodium (or in some cases potassium). Note it is a sodium ion, not sodium chloride or salt. Soft water does not contain salt from the resin.
But here's the thing. Yes deionized water will dissolve metals, but so will any other water that has a low concentration of the metal. Tap water probably has a low concentration of aluminum, so it will dissolve just as much as DI water.
However, in a closed system such as an automotive cooling system the water will quickly reach saturation. So the actual amount of metal being removed is in the micrograms. The only time DI water corrosion is an issue is one where the system is open, such as a distillation plant that is continually producing the water and it is flowing out of the system.
Plus the fact that coolants have passivation chemicals in them to help prevent corrosion. This is never a problem.
DI, distilled or RO water is always the best choice for mixing with coolant. You do not want to pre-load the chelating agents in the coolant with hard water. Some domestic water is naturally very low in minerals and can be used (such as the water here in the City of Milwaukee). But not all water is low in minerals, so using a demineralized water is always a good choice.
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Have a couple of old tractors that used well water only...or whatever water was available, I'm sure some of the water used was roof runoff, no antifreeze and the owners manual had you drain them in the winter. Most boats are like that still. One of those tractors is a 1949 model on it's original engine. I keep some green in it now but the rest is just tap water.
A dissolved solids meter does tell me that distilled water has less DS than my tap was or bottled water, but my city water has a DS count of 25, distilled is 7PPM and the health guidance says 500PPM is safe to drink. Of course, one can't tell what the dissolved solids are.
A dissolved solids meter does tell me that distilled water has less DS than my tap was or bottled water, but my city water has a DS count of 25, distilled is 7PPM and the health guidance says 500PPM is safe to drink. Of course, one can't tell what the dissolved solids are.
No, Deionized should be 0ppm.
Does it really matter? No and yes. Would you see a difference in a well maintained vehicle following recommended service interval...probably no.
Would that coolant degrade more quickly, technically yes.
The ideal is 7pH, 0 TDS, 0 GH
It’s not the “activeness” of the water. Both are polar liquids and are miscible.
Water isn’t an “active” compound as such. Like most oxides it is very stable.
I think that most of this thread would disagree with "water being very stable" If you strip out the mineral ions it actively tries to replace them with whatever it is in contact with, usually that being metallic ions. Once it has those it is still a very effective solvent.
It’s because you don’t know what some of the words mean.
Which is better for mixing with engine coolant? I've been using purified water for mixing with coolant the last couple of years and have had no problems; however, distilled water is still available for an extra $.50 a gallon.
I have been reading in the coolant section and found most of the members favor using distilled water when changing/flushing coolant.
We are experiencing a severe drought here and have been using the water produced by the air conditioner for watering plants. According to my brother-in-law (PhD in chemistry) this is distilled water.
We usually get 3-5 gallons per day. Water for free!!
We are experiencing a severe drought here and have been using the water produced by the air conditioner for watering plants. According to my brother-in-law (PhD in chemistry) this is distilled water.
We usually get 3-5 gallons per day. Water for free!!
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