Distilled Water... worth it?
 

This has probably been asked before, but is distilled water actually any better than tap water?
Given that conduction is a non-issue as any water will get ionised to conductivity within seconds of entring the system, what makes distilled water superior to tap water?

electrical conduction set aside, the tap water is actualy better. You see, in addition to just water, tap water contains minerals, which aid in heat carrying capabilities of water. I'm not saying it will be a noticable difference, but there is a difference.

--MAtt

Those minerals are the reason not to use tap water. They will do a number of things includind:

1. increase corrosion of Al. and Cu
2. contains a number of different bacterias that will thrive in yer cooling system
3. after time the minerals will deposit them self in a film along the walls of the cooling gear
4. Most pumps recomend using distilled or filtered water.

Its cheap, .25$ for a Gallon at some places.

good points joe. I must however continue to recommend tap water. Not by itself but with a surface friction reducer/corrosion inhibitor such as water wetter. I have had good luck with purple ice, which is a similar product. But just for safekeeping purposes, I'd probably recommend distiled water.

--MAtt

The bacteria is going to be a non-issue considering there will be bacteria coating your tubing anyway. This includes the block, pump etc. etc.

However, if anyone has their own gamma radiation irradiator they can sterilise all components before assembly and as long as the computer is put together in a sterile room or perhaps a tissue culture fume hood with UV lamps to kill bacteria and use deionised + sterilised water, everything will be peachy.

The other alternative is to whack a splash of water wetter into some distilled or deionised water. The water wetter will take care of the bacteria/mould etc. Tap water can be used, but it really is dependent on the quality of the tap water. Here in Australia, if you live along the coast the water has a pretty high level of minerals in it. So spend a dollar or two on a container of distilled/deionised water that won't have any, simply for peace of mind.

Cheers

Memphis

I don't think so. First of all, as far as conductivity goes, distilled is just as good (bad) as tap water.

Any dissolved solids in your tap water is not going to help anything. Even if your water was laced with silver, it doesn't make your water magically more thermally conductive.

In actuality, distilled water is more likely to be contaminated by algal spores and bacteria than tap water is. Most tap water is mildly chlorinated to prevent the growth of any biologicals. The chlorine dissipates harmlessly after a few hours of exposure to air. Even in a closed system, the chlorine gas is in very low concentration and will eventually dissipate out of the system via the tubes (it will go right through).

The main reason to use distilled water is because it has very little in the way of calcium carbonate. That is to say, distilled water is much "softer" than most tap water. The carbonate is responsible for the white scaling on bathroom tiles. Even if your house has a soft water system, all that is happening is the calcium is being ionically exchanged for sodium or potassium. These don't scale, but you still don't want them in your system because they CAN form buildups.

Bottom line: distilled water is cheap, use it. Add water wetter, it will prevent biologicals.

Neil

Well I don't have a water softener running but the water here (south coast of the UK) is pretty soft. I'm really not sure on the cost of distilled water to know if it's a lot of extra expense, sounds like it's cheap enough to use, but things are often strangely expensive here compared to the US. :) Where's a good place to get it? I've seen it at auto stores for car batteries, is this a good bet or is there somewhere cheaper you guys have found?

got a walmart?

usualy distilled water can be found at the grocer.

ok, would boiling the water before puting it in the system make a difference? This allegedly sterilizes the water.

--MAtt

Walmart? no we don't have those here, however I'll check for distilled water next time I'm picking up some groceries :)

Distilled water can be found at an autoparts store (used to fill up batteries), and it's cheap. I can't imagine it'd be more than a pound a liter in the UK, and frankly, I'd be shocked if it were even HALF that expensive.

You can also use water found in those vending machines, since they, too, are very soft. If your tap water is soft, you can probably use it as well. Distilled is better, but soft tap water isn't the end of the world.

As for boiling the water, it should come out of your tap relatively sterile. If you boil it, you will kill everything that might have survived the chlorination, but it'll recolonize from airborne bacteria and algal spores as soon as it cools. Probably not necessary, and probably a waste of effort.

Neil

Would bacteria even be a factor? I was under the impression that most people used ~25% antifreeze in there water. If any bacteria were in it they won't be for long. :)

Water wetter pretty well ends bacteria :)

and no bio's are not a big issue in yer cooling system is teh harsh minerals that are the worst.

What about plain old liquid soap to kill bacteria?

I'm currently running antifreeze for corrosion / growth control, water wetter is too damn hard to get hold of.

Why not try some other liquids,like those used in car engine radiators ?
Or even wiskey :>

er car engines use water... what other fluids can you think of that have as good thermal properties and are easily available?

Just back from WalMart Distilled water is $.66 for a gallon.

Butcher.

You can get water wetter from Tekheads

It's a bit pricey though.

ooo thanks Darkhorse, I was planning to order some from danger den along with some peltiers.... I may do that anyway actually.

ok i did a project for a tech school that i attend and we used peltiers to cool water down and then ran the water to different parts ie pentium 3 650 and a voovoo 3 3000
Distilled water is the best to use, it suposly wont conduct electricty and it has verry few impurityes in it so it will cool better,we tried a couple different mixes, alchol(rubbing kind but 80 proof wont burn) and rv antifreeze mixed 50/50 with water, see we would of had ice if we had better heatsinks on our peltiers, we used super orbs from 3dcool and they worked ok, but we took the square bottoms off and thet left the edges of the pielters exposed so that only the center was cool. bactiera might be a problem for you see we siphond the system the first time by mouth and it created bacteria after a while, we got a pump that you can attach it a drill from sears and used the handymans secret wepon (duct tape) and taped it to the hose, after that we got a bleed vlave made of stainless from a plumbing supply store and fitted it to the system to bleed the air out you will want to get as much air out of your system as possable but go with plain distilled water to make a long story short

Jason

oh yeah i guess you want to kb\now what the final temps were
pentium 3 650 around 75 to 80 degerees f
voodoo 3 3000 around 86 to 90 degreese f
that was on the cooled system we also had a static cooled system with factory parts in it the project was for a tech fair that we went to and took first then we went to state but lost because our school diddnt have enough money to buy all the eye candy that the schools that won had we were running unreal tournyment on each system to tax then a little also.
later
jason