distilled water in rad?!!
Discussion
I use deionised water, I'm in south Lincolnshire (Bourne) where the tap water is described as 'aggressively hard'.
I get a 25 litre plastic can of deionised water from Hexeal Chemical in Norwich, about £12 or £13 on eBay, and free delivery.
I also use it to dilute screen wash, much better than tap water, no streaks!
I get a 25 litre plastic can of deionised water from Hexeal Chemical in Norwich, about £12 or £13 on eBay, and free delivery.
I also use it to dilute screen wash, much better than tap water, no streaks!
Edited by MisterT on Wednesday 12th July 07:48
Aussie John said:
Does anyone living in a hard water area use distilled or maybe ionised? just had my rad recored, was told it was clogged with limescale. Only done 6k miles since last recore [ although 10 years ago ] cheers, John.
I use de-ionised water in my Ranger and don't have an issue with limescale or furring. However I am a window cleaner so have access to it.There is a difference between de ionised and soft water. By its name de ionized has removed the electrically charged ions, and I seem to remember it will remove ions from the surrounding material to reach its normal state again, i.e. it will corrode things. Soft water simply does not have any limescale it it so is the better option. Of course a bucket full of rainwater works just as well.
Aussie John said:
Does anyone living in a hard water area use distilled or maybe ionised? just had my rad recored, was told it was clogged with limescale. Only done 6k miles since last recore [ although 10 years ago ] cheers, John.
I suspect the bit in bold is your main issue, 10 years of it not flowing a lot will cause issues I guess???Hi Nathan, although it hasn't done the miles, the coolant was still changed every 2/3 years so maybe gathering limescale from each change or maybe the blockage was alloy from the block slowly being corroded by a voltage between radiator and engine; I am confused but am going to PH test my coolant regularly and try to keep it in balance, cheers, John.
blitzracing said:
There is a difference between de ionised and soft water. By its name de ionized has removed the electrically charged ions, and I seem to remember it will remove ions from the surrounding material to reach its normal state again, i.e. it will corrode things. Soft water simply does not have any limescale it it so is the better option. Of course a bucket full of rainwater works just as well.
You're absolutely right but I would think that by adding anti-freeze to the mix the de-mineralistion qualities would be satiated. I'm not sure if that's absolutely correct. Radiator cores don't like rust and don't like calcification. Water causes rust because of dissolved oxygen and made worse if salt compounds are present. Once water is taken to near boiling point then the O2 is purged and If you use pure water as your basis for coolant then you eliminate the effects of salt and calcium. If the water subsequently acquires ionic atoms when in the cooling system then they are not going to be Ca or Na coming from the rad. There could be some ionic Fe leeching from pre-existing rust and aluminium surroundings but that won't cause further rusting and with rust inhibiting antifreeze then its all covered anyway. For pure water you can choose between distilled water, deionised water (DI) and reverse osmosis water. Essentially they all strive to be pure water except they use different methods to get there. As far as rads are concerned they all do the same thing except distilled water costs more to make. DI is relatively cheap. BTW "soft water" has lower cacium but not necessarily zero salts and definitely you should not use water from a domestic water softener as this does have high salt content.
Plan B said:
I'm not sure if that's absolutely correct. Radiator cores don't like rust and don't like calcification. Water causes rust because of dissolved oxygen and made worse if salt compounds are present. Once water is taken to near boiling point then the O2 is purged and If you use pure water as your basis for coolant then you eliminate the effects of salt and calcium. If the water subsequently acquires ionic atoms when in the cooling system then they are not going to be Ca or Na coming from the rad. There could be some ionic Fe leeching from pre-existing rust and aluminium surroundings but that won't cause further rusting and with rust inhibiting antifreeze then its all covered anyway. For pure water you can choose between distilled water, deionised water (DI) and reverse osmosis water. Essentially they all strive to be pure water except they use different methods to get there. As far as rads are concerned they all do the same thing except distilled water costs more to make. DI is relatively cheap. BTW "soft water" has lower cacium but not necessarily zero salts and definitely you should not use water from a domestic water softener as this does have high salt content.
That's a brilliantly in depth and interesting post. For my window cleaning I use DI water straight from my well. Total Dissolved Solids readings from the well are typically 48-62 parts per million and from my mains water around 330. Rain water is an excellent source for window cleaning as it has a TDS in the low teens and zero when run through a DI vessel.I was using a Reverse Osmosis Unit but at 500 feet above sea level and with very low water pressure (boosted by pump) I could never achieve a reading lower than my rainwater tank !
Gassing Station | Chimaera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff