Tony

THIS. Proud Kettle owner. And only boiling water for tea I may add!

jeff spahn

I have instant boiling water at the tap. So much more convenient.

Bilal928S4

Deionized water (DI) is very corrosive. When we use DI water for humidification in Data Centers it is run in stainless steel piping and connections. Basically anything that the DI water comes in contact with is stainless steel, otherwise it will eat through it in time.
Filtered water is not the same as distilled water. Filtered water will still have minerals dissolved in it.
Distilled water will have the least amount of impurities in it.
For use in automotive radiators, the best is distilled water plus coolant.
Hope that helps.

extanker

"the finest waters......."..............some of you po owners beeeezzzz funny

whatudrivin

What about water from a Reverse Osmosis system? I have one and have tested the water coming out at around pH7 and less than 5ppm of minerals in it.

Bilal928S4

You can also use the water from your dehumidifiers.

Alan

It's not really boiling (else you'd have bigger problems) - Ergo - its not hot enough to make proper tea.

Get a kettle - filling from the instant tank will allow the kettle to boil really fast - that's what I do.

Pour water the on immediately - while still bubbling.

Alan

123quattro

Coolant is designed to be used with crappy water. If you change it every two years like you are supposed to the coolant additives can deal with the impurities in your source water. Better quality water is always a good thing, but not necessary.

dr bob

My new Honda has instructions to use only their ready-to-use coolant in it. If any water is added, they want to completely flush the system and refill with their RTU coolant again. Aluminum block and aluminum radiator. It's not a bad way to go, removing the user and local water-quality variables completely. K's 4Runner, dealer-serviced since new per her insistence, just got it's first coolant change at 100k and 9 years old, under a similar regimen.

Reality is that local water quality is all over the map all over the map. The local water quality here is probably worse for drinking than bottle mineral water, only because it is so alkaline. Meanwhile the water company serving our PNW home in central Oregon says that they have 0.6 - 4 grains hardness, and the plumber there laughed when I said I wanted connections for a softener in the system. So check your local conditions and decide for yourself if the silicates and phosphates in the coolant will be sufficient to bind the calcium and sodium dissolved in your local water. We are always in the hunt for silicate-free coolants (like G05), yet depend on them to mask the presence of minerals in our water. Using that one? With distilled water I hope!


Distilled water is amazingly cheap, by the way. I keep several 2-gallon bottles in stock at all times. If nothing else, it's emergency drinking water.

Rob Edwards

If your stomach is incapable of buffering whatever weak alkalinity is in your drinking water, you have much bigger problems than hard water. Most humans with functioning lungs maintain an arterial plasma pH of between 7.36 and 7.44, and have tremendous acid-base buffering capacity thanks to carbonic anhydrase and breathing.

I always haul deionized glass-distilled water home from the lab, just 'cause it's convenient. 18 megaohms/cm. That plus Porsche coolant +/- water wetter if I've remembered to buy it. If I didn't have that source, distilled water from the grocery at the bottom of the hill.

Bill Ball

My car gets nothing but Perrier.

No, seriously, I live in an area of relatively soft tap water and have never used anything but that. The original radiator and cooling system are still clean and cooling well after 24 years. For most of that time I've also used "green" coolant, as the factory did, which contains phosphates and silicates as part of the corrosion inhibitor package, changed every few years. The now more commonly available yellow coolants are phosphate-free to prevent calcium and magnesium phosphate deposits (scale) with the very hard water present throughout Europe (reference Prestone: http://prestone.com/enca/learn_more/...sked_questions ) and use other corrosion inhibitors. Silicates have been eliminated too based on issues with some Japanese cars. Other coolants tout being borate, nitrite or amine-free as well. New cars may have very specific coolant requirements, but for our old cars I don't fuss over any of this. Nothing wrong with distilled water, but if you use one of the longlife (yellow) phosphate and silicate-free coolants, I don't see the need, especially if your local tap water is not full of rocks.

http://www.machinerylubrication.com/...t-fundamentals

DKWalser

I agree with everyone's concerns about using tap water for filling the radiator, which is why I make my own water using 2 parts liquid hydrogen to 1 part liquid oxygen. (I tried using the gas form of the two components, but that takes up a lot more storage space.) Just put the three parts into a plastic milk jug (sterilized, of course) and mix thoroughly. Only takes a little mixing to get a smooth, liquid, water-like consistency.

While I'm not a drinker, I'm told the water could be substituted for branch-water for mixing with a quality single malt; that's another topic and I don't want to hijack the thread into a discussion of appropriate mixers for use with single and blended malt whiskeys. The home-made water, assuming it has been mixed thoroughly (don't use the lumpy stuff), should make some crystal clear ice cubes if you prefer your drink on the rocks.

If you want to try this method yourselves, be warned that I've found measuring the parts by weight or volume to be inaccurate. The only way to do it properly is to individually count each atom of hydrogen and oxygen. I use a portable electron microscope I picked up at Harbor Freight (on sale!) a few years ago. It might not have all the bells and whistles of a commercial quality unit, but I think it's fine for home shop use. (It's about the only thing I'd buy at Harbor Freight again.) They have a pocket-sized version, but I've not tried that one.

Counting enough atoms of hydrogen and oxygen to fill the radiator can be time consuming, but I think the results speak for themselves. It does require a steady hand with the tweezers. I think most people could do it with practice.

Bill Ball

Good one, David.

mark kibort

yes, distilled water and flush it a few times too, because there will be a lot of water left in the system , especially if you dont drain the block at the drain ports. after couple of years and maybe a few blown hoses, you will end up with pure distilled water and coolant. (im mainly water and a little water wetter due to racing requirements). Those eaten away head gaskets can be prevented by distilled water.
too much stuff in tap water.

Speedtoys

A) Its not boiling
B) Its way not hot enough to make tea work right.

..Im pretty white, but my parents are English..there are RULES about tea..