Distilled water

[John From Detroit]

Side note... In today's world I can find Flavored water, Purified water with junk added, sugar water, no-sugar water, Vitimine enriched water, "Enegerized water" (sugar added)

But finding pure, un-added to, distilled water to top off a battery with?

Any suggestions folks?  I'm looking, after a year, I need to top off a bit (not urgent YET)

 

[Shayne]

I buy distilled water all the time to use is our batteries and golf carts, at the grocery stores and Wally World. We buy it buy the gallon.? lt's usually? with the other waters.

 

[Tom]

John,

Same stuff you'd use in an electric clothes iron.

 

[John From Detroit]

Tom, I know that, Shyne,,, You don't know how much I hate wally-world but if that's where I have to go, that's where I have to go.  I'll dry Fred's first

 

[Chet18013]

If you have a RO unit, use that water. In 99% of the cases, it's as good as or better than distilled water. If you can find demineralized or deionized water use it. It is the highest purity of all.

Chet18013

 

[John From Detroit]

If you have a RO unit, use that water. In 99% of the cases, it's as good as or better than distilled water. If you can find demineralized or deionized water use it. It is the highest purity of all.

Chet18013

I may pick up a small RO unit just for this kind of work... Alas,they are a bit pricey though

I guess I just need to keep looking,  Went to a couple of stores I figured would have it yesterday w/o luck
but today I drive past a few more stores I also figure will have it.  Used to be you could find it anywhere, but today all the Yuppie waters have taken over

 

[Chet18013]

Check the bottled drinking water labels. All the water sold by Coke is RO water with nothing added. If I recall, they say mineral free on the label. In my prior life, I sold some equipment for this to Coke in Philadelphia.

Chet18013

 

[Woody]

Tom, I know that, Shyne,,, You don't know how much I hate wally-world but if that's where I have to go, that's where I have to go.? I'll dry Fred's first

Almost any supermarket here in Indy sells it along with their bottled water, usually in gallon plastic jugs. I can't imagine that they wouldn't have it in Detroit. I try to wait for sales at K-Mart when they sell it for around 70-85 cents per gallon.

W00dy

 

[Karl]

John,

You might try checking in the laundry soap/cleaning supplies area of the supermarkets. Also many of them have RO water dispensers for you to fill your own jugs, or they have empties for sale right there.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Most major grocery chains sell distilled water in gallon jugs. Somewhere along the aisle with the big bottles of "spring water" you will usually find some distilled water as well.  That's where I get my battery water.

Coke's bottled water (Dasana brand) is indeed purified via reverse osmosis but then minerals are added back in for taste. Since the exact minerals used in Dasana water are a Coke trade secret, it's difficult to say whether they might have an adverse effect on batteries. However I feel confident in saying that  the new flavored Dasani's products are undesirable in batteries.

 

[Mike in Texas]

We have our own water well that produces very hard water so have a reverse osmosis / filter unit in our house. We use the water that it produces in our steam iron and there is never any scale. Wife wants me to put one in our motorhome but I haven't checked to see if there is enough room for the filters and the surge tank. Because of the high replacement cost of the batteries, I have so far used purchased distilled water to fill them.

 

[Carl L]

We have our own water well that produces very hard water so have a reverse osmosis / filter unit in our house. We use the water that it produces in our steam iron and there is never any scale. Wife wants me to put one in our motorhome but I haven't checked to see if there is enough room for the filters and the surge tank. Because of the high replacement cost of the batteries, I have so far used purchased distilled water to fill them.

Reverse osmosis units can deliver distilled quality water but they are pricy.  A microfilm lab I had under my supervision used a three tank system for that purpose.  Insofar as batteries are concerned use bottled distilled water.  It is dirt cheap, available in most every supermarket, and is correct for the use.  Tap water or partially purified water can 'poison' a battery.

Regards,

Carl L/LA

 

[John From Detroit]

There are, far as I know, basically three ways to distill water, Steam method, Resin method and Reverse Osmosis

I think the physics lab at my college used resin.

By the way,  I did find some,  I had gone to avout 3 stores I felt should have had it and no joy.  #4 was the key to joy  Right there in the water isle.  2 brands House and Absopure  Both steam distilled (Worst method)

 

[IowaCamper]

What will happen to the batteries if I used straight well water. No filter straight from the well?? Should I start saying oooooops and go battery shopping?

Thanks for your advise.

John

 

[Carl L]

Depends on the well.? ?I have had well water coming out of limestone, harder than a brick.? I have had well water with so much sulphate in it that it stank, so much CO2 that it fizzed.? The wells in Nevada have arsenic in them.  The city water I have here in the Los Angeles area has a pH of 8.5 -- it is alkaline.  Would any of that affect a battery?  Probably -- especially the LA stuff.

Use distilled water in your batteries like the battery mfrs instruct.? The stuff is cheap, widely available in supermarkets, and stores forever.

 

[Karl]

John,

The most common problem is the creation of sulfates; calcium, iron, etc., and can shorten battery life considerably. Lead sulfate is a common problem with batteries that have been discharged too far and too often, but sometimes an equalization cycle (relatively high voltage at low current) will reverse the process because the lead will be redeposited on the plates, but I don't think it has any positive effect on the other sulfates, which are not part of the battery to begin with. It may, in fact, be harmful by plating the lead plates with iron or other contaminants. Always use distilled water.

 

[John From Detroit]

Some loss of water is normal in battery operation, if the water contains chemicals, Iron, Copprer and other conductors, sooner (as opposed to later with distilled water) the minerals are going to build up enough to short out the battery cell(s) and then you go battery shopping.  It can be that simple

And as others have noted... There are other possible failure modes due to non-distilled water

The house batteries on my rig took about half a gallon of distilled (including what I spilled getting it into them) the chassis battery turns out to be maintance free sealed,  Who'd a thunk it