Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:53:05 -0600
Reply-To: Ben Cichowski <aquasheck@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Ben Cichowski <aquasheck@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Distilled Water
In-Reply-To: <71d9cdf90801311014m3ce471a5kdde1d57924b0f77d@mail.gmail.com>
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Hi Jake and All,
Question: "Where would I find out
if the Vancouver BC water supply has these polyphosphates? I think
they use chloramine as an anti-bacterial...."
You should be able to just put in a call to your city works and ask them if they are using any polyphosphates (zinc orthophosphate is one of the more common ones and may be a more familiar term to whatever city worker you happen to get on the phone). Also, Canada follows suit with EPA on just about everything, so I would bet that each year, every customer is shown a "consumer confidence report" either as a mailing or on the web. This CCR will give you all the information about the water coming in through the tap (test results, what chemicals they use, etc.)
Again, I'm not sure if Canada does these CCRs, but I would bet that they do. If you're in the US, you get one for sure (but may not notice it).
As for chlorine, I don't think it should be a problem for anything. By the time it reaches your tap, it is so unbelievably low in concentration (and continues to be used up over time).
If you're worried about it, set it out in an open container for a day and it'll probably be gone.
-Ben
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:14:18 -0800
From: crescentbeachguitar@gmail.com
To: aquasheck@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Distilled Water
CC: vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
Thanks Ben, that's good to know. Where would I find out if the Vancouver BC water supply has these polyphosphates? I think they use chloramine as an anti-bacterial....
On Jan 31, 2008 7:59 AM, Ben Cichowski <aquasheck@hotmail.com> wrote:
I'm only a shade-tree mechanic, but my full time profession is as a water quality engineer. I personally used distilled. If your tap is supplied by a municipal system in a town larger than 3,300 people, chances are your tap water will be sufficiently free of minerals that may precipitate out in your system (but also read my last line).
The big 4 to worry about are Calcium, Magnesium, Iron and Manganese. When you used to see a lot of antifreezes containing phosphates, these were put in for corrosion control, as well as to sequester minerals like Iron (surround the molecule so it doesn't precipitate out). But, then they started to find that phosphates destabilize under high temps and actually precipitate out of solution themselves...thus adding to the problem.
One thing to keep in mind is that, even if you are using tap water, your municipal system may be using polyphosphates to sequester iron (if your area has high iron concentrations), or for corrosion control of distribution lines. If you use tap water in this situation, it is essentially like using an antifreeze that contains phosphates - not good.
In short, go with distilled and live on the safe side.
-Ben
> Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:31:53 -0500
> From: d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM
> Subject: Re: Distilled Water
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>
> Yes, arouand that time as many new coolant formulations were being
> introduced,many cooling system issues were found to be related to minerals,
> ions and other stuff in tap water that reduced the effectiveness of coolant
> and cuase precipatation, (deposits that clogged) and abrasion of cooling
> system parts. Most large diesel engines reqiure distilled water fill and
> many antifreeze suppiers now sell pre mixed with distilled or deionized
> water. If you have hard water, you want to use distilled. If you think there
> is a lot of confusion with automotive antfreezes, try the truck and
> industrial engine world.
>
> Dennis
>
>
> >From: Vdub Guy <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
> >Reply-To: Vdub Guy <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
> >To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> >Subject: Distilled Water
> >Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:26:04 +0000
> >
> >OK, I knew I wasn't dreaming, a search of the archives brought up many
> >hits about how distilled water should be used with coolant. I only went
> >back as far as 2003, and don't have time to sort through them all, but has
> >opinion on this changed? Jeff
_________________________________________________________________
Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser!
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--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL
1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
Crescent Beach, BC
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
http://subyjake.googlepages.com/
_________________________________________________________________
Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser!
http://biggestloser.msn.com/
