demineralized water in liquid cooling?

[mentalcrisis00]

Just got a swiftech pump, radiator and apogee cooling setup for my gaming rig, i also got the swiftech hydrx liquid additive because i figured it'd be best to get the additive that recommended for the pump and such.

It says to get "demineralized water" now i've heard of mineral water but where do i find demineralized water? I don't have a filtration system for my tap so can i buy it someplace? Has anybody used the hydrx additive? any suggestions?

thanks

-Ray

 

[VinDSL]

demineralized = distilled

 

[Zepper]

Demineralized water is sold all over - drug stores, etc. - it is pre-filtered to remove solids and has the minerals removed by ion exchange resin but organic chemicals can remain. Sometimes the pre-filtering will remove the organics too, but they don't have to be removed for the water to be called "demineralized".

Distilled is one step better and is sold in places like Wally World for about 70 cents a gallon (should have no minerals or organics to 99.999% pure) - other places like drug and grocery usually charge a bit more. We use gallons of it in the winter to humidify the house, in the steam iron, vaporizers etc. This is made by prefiltering to remove most solids and organics and then boiling the water and recondensing the steam - the dissolved minerals are left behind in the boiler for the most part and the light volatiles (organics) escape up a stack near the end of the condensing process.

If you want the purest, it's called Reagent Grade distilled water - from chemical supply houses. Comes only in glass or glass-lined containers with glass or Teflon seals/stoppers. Made by pre-filtering, ion exchange, followed by several stages of steam distillation. Followed by testing on very sensitive equipment for certification. Generally used only in analytical chemistry labs.

The WallyWorld grade demin or distilled stuff is more than adequate for WCing.

.bh.

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Demineralized water is sold all over - drug stores, etc. - it is pre-filtered and has the minerals removed by ion exchange resin but organic chemicals can remain. Sometimes the pre-filtering will remove the organics too, but they don't have to be removed for the water to be called "demineralized".

Distilled is one step better and is sold in places like Wally World for about 70 cents a gallon (should have no minerals or organics to 99.999% pure) - other places like drug and grocery usually charge a bit more. We use gallons of it in the winter to humidify the house, in the steam iron, vaporizers etc. This is made by prefiltering to remove most solids and organics and then boiling the water and recondensing the steam - the dissolved minerals are left behind in the boiler for the most part and the light volatiles (organics) escape up a stack near the end of the condensing process.

If you want the purest, it's called Reagent Grade distilled water - from chemical supply houses. Comes only in glass or glass-lined containers with glass or Teflon seals/stoppers. Made by pre-filtering, ion exchange, followed by several stages of steam distillation. Followed by testing on very sensitive equipment for certification. Generally used only in analytical chemistry labs.

The WallyWorld grade demin or distilled stuff is more than adequate for WCing.

.bh.

Wow. Good post.

 

[mentalcrisis00]

wow thanks everyone, i figured i could find it at the drug store or walmart but i wasn't sure, never really had to look for it before and i didn't want to run my seals and bearings.

seeming this is my first liquid cooling system it'd be better to be safe then sorry

again thanks for the info

-Ray

 

[Zepper]

You can't use plain distilled water in WCing if you want to protect your seals and valves. Distilled water is actually pretty harsh stuff. You can buy special additives for WCing, but a 20% mix of Zerex and distilled should do. Unfortunately Zerex only comes in green...

.bh.

 

[ELicious]

Really? I just used distilled water I bought from the grocery store and mixed it with 10% anti-freeze. Haven't had a problem yet.

 

[Zepper]

One is NOT using plain distilled water if one has put anti-freeze in it... :roll:

.bh.

 

[mentalcrisis00]

You can't use plain distilled water in WCing if you want to protect your seals and valves. Distilled water is actually pretty harsh stuff. You can buy special additives for WCing, but a 20% mix of Zerex and distilled should do. Unfortunately Zerex only comes in green...

As i said in my original post i am getting in swiftech Hydrx, which is an additive for recommended use with swiftech equipment. Prevents corrosion and algea and all that good stuff, and it's also UV green.

So i won't be using straight distilled water i think the Hydrx is 30% additive and 70% water or something like that.

 

[ELicious]

Originally posted by: Zepper
One is NOT using plain distilled water if one has put anti-freeze in it... :roll:

.bh.

Oooh, I was getting confused by your wording. I thought you meant to not use plain distilled water at all in your system.


BTW mental, water has the best heat transfer characteristics, so the more additive you put in, the less performance you will get.

 

[imported_OrSin]

You can't use plain distilled water in WCing if you want to protect your seals and valves. Distilled water is actually pretty harsh stuff. You can buy special additives for WCing, but a 20% mix of Zerex and distilled should do. Unfortunately Zerex only comes in green...

This is totaling wrong. Sorry distilled water will great for the seals and vaule and copper connectors. The only reason to add anything at all to your water is to increase it cooling propertes and prevent algea from growing the tubes. Becare with adding anything like antifreeze. First it doesn't increase cooling much at all and some are too thick even in low ratios so you water flow might be affected. Remember most radiator fluid is designed to stop freezing not to increase heat conductivity.

 

[josh6079]

Be sure to clean your components out with distilled white vinegar even if you just took them out of the box. Radiators can be pretty dirty brand new. Take apart your water blocks and soak them in a glass bowl with the vinegar as well for about 8 hours. Also, it'd be better to leave that Hdryx stuff out, but if you put it in do NOT use the recommended amount they say to use on the bottle: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=54331

Personally, I use distilled water and some iodine or some algae killer additive I got from a Petsmart that is normally used for fish tanks. If I want it to glow a certain color, I just lightly use some UV dye. Temps are great.

 

[Zepper]

Automotive anti-freeze has lubricants and anti-corrosives to protect metallic surfaces and the water pump in your car. The propylene glycol that provides the anti-freezing function is only one of the substances in what we call "anti-freeze" for simplicity. You don't have to change out a-f because the prop-gly goes bad, but because the lubricants and protectants degrade.

.bh.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: mentalcrisis00

You can't use plain distilled water in WCing if you want to protect your seals and valves. Distilled water is actually pretty harsh stuff. You can buy special additives for WCing, but a 20% mix of Zerex and distilled should do. Unfortunately Zerex only comes in green...

As i said in my original post i am getting in swiftech Hydrx, which is an additive for recommended use with swiftech equipment. Prevents corrosion and algea and all that good stuff, and it's also UV green.

So i won't be using straight distilled water i think the Hydrx is 30% additive and 70% water or something like that.

I dont see how using pure distiled could be damaging at all. Distiled should hold no charge, and hence should be better then having anything added. Also water in its purest form has more CP then when mixed with anti-freeze.

Like someone said above, anti-freeze isnt ment to improve cooling, its ment to prevent the engine fuild from freezing. So please explain to all of us how pure distilled water is damaging on a closed loop.

The only exception i could see on why one shouldnt use pure DI water is it has no anti corrisive agent in it. Also if mixing metals, since there is no water wetter, you'll run into galvinization with mix metals. But if ur mixing metals, u probably have a ****** loop to beging with. Also, there is no lubricant in the water to help maintain pump life.

Anyhow, i dont like green. I used green for about 1 year and changed to blue and now im on red. If your really in doubt about coolant, you can never got wrong with Promochil, and Fuild XP. SVC is selling FuildXP for about 26.00 shipped. U get 32 onces which is about enough to fill a loop twice unless you have a obnoxiously large radiator, and resivour. Promochil is on sale at performance-pcs, for simular price and both fuildxp and promochil come in different colors to make everyone happy.

BTW, if your new to watercooling, which sounds like you are, id highly get one of those two because there non conductive. Meaning if u messed up somewhere and it spills, all u need to do is wipe and not worry.

Gives a sense of relief when your starting your venture in watercooling.

Bah lastly, i reciently found out that when using antifreeze, u cant use regular antifreeze. You have to make sure its phosphate free, and siliate free. Theres only a few places i can think of in getting that. 1. an online vendor that sells the high performance zerex, because regular zerex isnt phosphate free, and a porsche dealer. (Autozone and PepBoys do not carry phosphate free antifreeze) So pick your choice.