I tend to think that the 'aggresiveness' of distilled water that some people talk about is more of a myth. I would say that stainless steel vessels are used to handle distilled water because a high level of purity is desired and one has to avoid the smallest traces of impurity. Any water, whether distilled or tap water, in say a copper vessel is going to pick up some copper as a contaminant.
Distilled Water
- Thread starter George7941
- Start date
- Status
Preventing it until the additives are depleted.
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2002
- Messages
- 39,798
Distilled water can have other stuff in it. I've tested condensate where the operator had dosed the chemical tank with too much caustic. The condensate had a high Ph. Several boiler chemicals are amines and they too get carried with the saturated vapor.
I wonder if they use a two stage distillation process. That is, where one effect flashes off any volatiles ..and then a second stage is used for water "production".
Anyway, deionized water is a magnet for anything that wants to throw off any ions. The softening and de-alk (de acid'ing actually) introduces sodium into the water.
I wonder if they use a two stage distillation process. That is, where one effect flashes off any volatiles ..and then a second stage is used for water "production".
Anyway, deionized water is a magnet for anything that wants to throw off any ions. The softening and de-alk (de acid'ing actually) introduces sodium into the water.
The aggressiveness of "distilled" or "deionized" water is not a myth. However, we use deionized water along with 50% coolant. That coolant eliminates any aggressiveness of the deionized water.
There are many different levels of "purity" of water. The generic distilled or demineralized waters purchases at your grocery store are not clean enough for a chip manufacturing plant. There are still minerals left in those off-the-shelf waters. However, they are plenty clean for your automobiles coolant system.
There are many different levels of "purity" of water. The generic distilled or demineralized waters purchases at your grocery store are not clean enough for a chip manufacturing plant. There are still minerals left in those off-the-shelf waters. However, they are plenty clean for your automobiles coolant system.
As a pipefitter,i've worked on several ozone plants here in Florida.Ozone is some bad stuff! I was able to see and sample the water at different stages of the process.Too much ozone leaves the water tasting sweet.Not enough,just like well water.I myself prefer ozonated water.
Just my thoughts on this issue:
Distilled water is obtained by boiling regular water, and regular water boils around 100 deg C. The steam which then forms, and condensed on a condensor coil which is cooler than the steam. This condensate accumulates, and collects to form what we know as distilled water.
Now, while it is true that distilled water does not contain any "minerals", it does still contain a fair bit of other things. All this hinges on the fact that water boils at 100 deg C, and anything that boils above that gets removed (ie minerals, metals etc). However, anything that does boil BELOW 100 deg C will get condensed along with your distilled water.
Distilled water is obtained by boiling regular water, and regular water boils around 100 deg C. The steam which then forms, and condensed on a condensor coil which is cooler than the steam. This condensate accumulates, and collects to form what we know as distilled water.
Now, while it is true that distilled water does not contain any "minerals", it does still contain a fair bit of other things. All this hinges on the fact that water boils at 100 deg C, and anything that boils above that gets removed (ie minerals, metals etc). However, anything that does boil BELOW 100 deg C will get condensed along with your distilled water.
The "fair bit of other stuff" is inconsequential for the purpose of a closed cooling system in a car. A single step distillation of water will produce water that is essentially free (about 99% removal) of mineral salts - namely calcium/ magnesium/sodium carbonates and sulfates. But there will be a fairly high level of dissolved CO2 in the distilled water. Again for the purpose of a engine cooling system, this too is inconsequential since the additive package in the coolant contains pH buffers and corrosion inhibitors for iron and aluminum.
When the manufacturers specify distilled water, their sole purpose is to have a water that has had the calcium/magnesium scaling tendencies reduced to zero, since these scales impede heat transfer significantly.
Demineralized or Deionized water is almost always purer than single-distilled water. But the additional purity is practically of no benefit for an engine cooling system. DM/DI water sees practical application in steam generation at pressures of 600 PSI and up, food & soft drink (that's they're called "soft" drinks), chemical manufacturing, semi-conductors, etc.
Phil
The water softner substitutes salt for calcium so don't use softened water in your cooling system. The RO filter removes the salt, so it should be fine to use. The only advantage of softening it first is that the RO filter doesn't clog up with calcium.
Definitely use the RO water. Not only has it been completely softened, but it's had it's total dissolved solids reduced even further by the RO. The quality probably approaches distilled water quality. Plenty good enough for a cooling system.
- Status
