Difference between distilled and deionized water for auto use?

[Meursault74]

Thanks. I'm not a chemist so I won't go on but I am surprised that DI water and distilled water can corrode metal unless it contains dissolved oxygen, CO2 or other contaminants.

Hydration of aluminium oxide is one process, but that is very slow.

I guess I'll just have to remain surprised.

Jack

Any pure water exposed to the atmosphere will have carbonic acid (dissolved CO2).

I remember exhaling (CO2) on solutions with pH indicators to make them change colors when I was a student.


Even if the pure water didn't have any slight acidity in a closed system, it would leach metallic ions slowly into the water.

We filled a machine cooling system with 18M-Ohm water and the system still needed to have the deionizing resin beds in the system changed out periodically. We knew when the resistivity got too low we'd got some slight electrical arcing in the system. The metallic ions in the water allowed that to happen.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Any pure water exposed to the atmosphere will have carbonic acid (dissolved CO2).

I remember exhaling (CO2) on solutions with pH indicators to make them change colors when I was a student.


Even if the pure water didn't have any slight acidity in a closed system, it would leach metallic ions slowly into the water.

We filled a machine cooling system with 18M-Ohm water and the system still needed to have the deionizing resin beds in the system changed out periodically. We knew when the resistivity got too low we'd got some slight electrical arcing in the system. The metallic ions in the water allowed that to happen.

Thanks again and yes, I understand that.

Meursault74 said:
The water has no metallic ions in it and has a better ability to leach them out from the metal surroundings over time.

The implication here was that those contaminants were not required.

Anyway, all good.

Jack

 

[mike93lx]

Hey, an article in Popular Mechanics some 60 or maybe 70 years ago said use distilled water. So there!!!

Was it in the same month as this?

 

[logical]

Was it in the same month as this?

Always dig a separate hole at least 3 feet away for old paint.

 

[atomicpunk]

I use water out of the dehumidifier in my basement, it's free.

 

[Sumboodie]

The 50/50 mix isn't much more, so I just get that.

 

[MileHighRover]

The 50/50 mix isn't much more, so I just get that.

It's more for half the coolant.

 

[Sumboodie]

It's more for half the coolant.

I was factoring that.

Case of 50/50 runs me around $60 where the 100% is $90.

So $10/gallon of pre mix vs $8.25 if I added distilled water (at $1.50/gal). I use maybe 3-4 cases a year, so not really a big deal.

 

[PCustoms]

I was factoring that.

Case of 50/50 runs me around $60 where the 100% is $90.

So $10/gallon of pre mix vs $8.25 if I added distilled water (at $1.50/gal). I use maybe 3-4 cases a year, so not really a big deal.

How much to fix the leak?