Is distilled/deionised water a scam?

[Gettoff]

rallycross said:

I was in a Halfords recently and saw a guy come in and buy a trolley full of ionised water - dozens of 5 litre bottles, what could he have needed this much for? ( it takes years of topping up batteries to use a couple of litres so I was intrigued with what would anyone need 100+ litres for ?

Window cleaners use it as it doesn't leave a residue, or maybe it was for the fish tank at home .

[tr7v8]

kambites said:

I just use the contents of my garage dehumidifier.

This around 10 litres a week on average!

[anonymous-user]

I have gone in to Halfords and bought loads of 5 litre bottles of de-ionised water.

It was needed to perform a long term humidity test on some equipment, the humidity generator needed de-ionised water otherwise it gets damaged and it is an expensive item to repair.

[dacouch]

rallycross said:

I was in a Halfords recently and saw a guy come in and buy a trolley full of ionised water - dozens of 5 litre bottles, what could he have needed this much for? ( it takes years of topping up batteries to use a couple of litres so I was intrigued with what would anyone need 100+ litres for ?

It's good for water fountains or the waterfalls you see in office atriums or restaurants as it does not scale up the mechanics with limescale

[Dogwatch]

Gettoff said:

Window cleaners use it as it doesn't leave a residue, .

Yes, ours gave up his ladder and squeegee for one of those (very) long handled hose brushes. Does his own deionising and leaves windows spotless - literally!

[JulianHJ]

Slightly off-topic (prompted by the dehumidifer comments) - would the water collected by a condensing tumble dryer be a better option than tap water for a steam iron? We live in a hard water area, so limescale is a fairly big issue.

[Toaster Pilot]

V8LM said:

Word of advice - if you believe that don't try drinking it to prove the point.

Still want to after getting a face full of it pulling a lower radiator hose off and not accounting for how close my head was to the destination of the water that was going to leave the radiator

[Ozzie Osmond]

V8LM said:

Negative Creep said:

Antifreeze is a scam because that's just vodka with blue food dye in it

Word of advice - if you believe that don't try drinking it to prove the point.

Very wise. Ever wondered why the Smurfs and Muppets were funny colours??

[anonymous-user]

JulianHJ said:

Slightly off-topic (prompted by the dehumidifer comments) - would the water collected by a condensing tumble dryer be a better option than tap water for a steam iron? We live in a hard water area, so limescale is a fairly big issue.

Probably. Rainwater also would be better than hard tap water.

Have a look at water softeners. Cheap, reliable, and they work.

[calibrax]

JimClark49 said:

Thanks for the replies.

I actually bought it for my cooling system on the motorbike (with an aluminium radiator). So it seems the consensus is that it is worth buying and is not a scam.

Well, if it's for batteries, then no it isn't a scam. But as a replacement for normal water for filling your radiator, if you live in an area with naturally soft water, then there's no need for it - just use tap water (and antifreeze of course!)

[GC8]

JimClark49 said:

Thanks for the replies.

I actually bought it for my cooling system on the motorbike (with an aluminium radiator). So it seems the consensus is that it is worth buying and is not a scam.

Not at all, but whether you were scammed depends on what you paid. You can buy five litres from a 99p shop, but if you've paid £4:99 for a 5l container then you've been had...

[RYH64E]

JulianHJ said:

Slightly off-topic (prompted by the dehumidifer comments) - would the water collected by a condensing tumble dryer be a better option than tap water for a steam iron? We live in a hard water area, so limescale is a fairly big issue.

Yes, much better. The water from a condensing tumble dryer is the same as that from a dehumidifier, condensed water vapour that is pretty much free from dissolved solids.

[derin100]

Ozzie Osmond said:

V8LM said:

Negative Creep said:

Antifreeze is a scam because that's just vodka with blue food dye in it

Word of advice - if you believe that don't try drinking it to prove the point.

Very wise. Ever wondered why the Smurfs and Muppets were funny colours??

Yes, the Germans used it to try to slow down the advance of the Soviet Army by contaminating alcohol supplies with methanol leading to blindness and death in some who drank it.

[cologne2792]

Dogwatch said:

Yes, ours gave up his ladder and squeegee for one of those (very) long handled hose brushes. Does his own deionising and leaves windows spotless - literally!

I do the same. Use about 400 litres on a good day and it costs less than 1p a litre. You need a good low tds water supply and some exchange ion resin in a suitable container.

[Ozzie Osmond]

scdan4 said:

tap water has loads of ions in it - impurities if you like. These will react with the contents of your battery and kill it (stop it from working in the manner what which it should.)

^^^^ This. You absolutely do not want ordinary tap water in your car battery.

On the other hand it doesn't matter what you put in your cooling system. Even hard water areas aren't a problem because you only fill the system once and there's only a limited amount of hardness in it. It's not like your domestic water system which has more, and more, and more hardness constantly flowing through and being deposited.

[cptsideways]

RYH64E said:

JulianHJ said:

Slightly off-topic (prompted by the dehumidifer comments) - would the water collected by a condensing tumble dryer be a better option than tap water for a steam iron? We live in a hard water area, so limescale is a fairly big issue.

Yes, much better. The water from a condensing tumble dryer is the same as that from a dehumidifier, condensed water vapour that is pretty much free from dissolved solids.

Been wondering about this myself, so it should be good for screenwash too? always tipping it away but that might be a good use for it.

[StuntmanMike]

GC8 said:

No. He was an idiot. It costs £1 a gallon which will last you a lifetime, so its a slowly operating scam...

If its £1 a gallon, surely you couldnt boil it for that price, not with energy prices as they are.

[GC8]

Better than that: when I last bought it, it cost 99p for five litres.

[226bhp]

scdan4 said:

Distilling the water (boiling it, condensing then collecting the steam) removes the ions as they remain in the boiling water rather than the collected distillate.

Where would the ions go if you boiled it dry?

[Slobberchops]

226bhp said:

Where would the ions go if you boiled it dry?

Residue?