custom coolant?

[etherealrhythm]

many may view me as a complete idiot when i say this... but is it possible to use actual water in a watercooling setup? all coolant is just distilled water with anti-freeze and a few other chemicals in the mix isnt it? what is the purpose of these chemicals?

im asking this because ive just bought a new rig and thanks to a very unfortunate incident involving a wet x850xt pe and a dodgy barb, ive lost half the coolant. i have 26p in my bank account until the 24th so buying more is out of the question til then, and was wondering would actual tap water, maybe boiled and filtered cool sufficiently enough to get me my rig back til then?

[amduser]

go at your local car parts store and get some stuff for a engine. is cheap, and easier then to produce some for urself.

[MaxxxRacer]

ya.. tap water will be fine. even if u have mixed metals and such, running it for a short time will not be too much of an issue.. boiling it might not hurt... but if u can manage the 3 dollars get a gallon of distilled water...

[etherealrhythm]

cheers maxxx, i think ill pbly just go with the tap water then and buy some proper coolant in a few days in case it performs better. and how sad does that sound... "if you can manage the 3 dollars" - ive just spent 3000 dollars on some new parts and cant even afford some distilled water haha.

[MaxxxRacer]

hey thats how it always works out. just make sure to not run straight water for too long. not to healty for the system. maybe a few drops of household bleach to stave off any bacterial growth.

[etherealrhythm]

dont the pumps like it or something? and bleach? would boiling it have the same effect?

[MaxxxRacer]

boiling it would keep the bacteria away for a short while but the bleach would be a more permanent solution.

pumps like what?

[etherealrhythm]

ah i see now, stop the build-up inside the system.

[etherealrhythm]

i see what you mean now, running straight water for too long doesnt inhibit build up of harmful elements without an agent like bleach to break it down. you can just ignore me if you like, and the torrent of confusion spewing from my cakehole.

[MaxxxRacer]

cakehole... lol i like that... funny

[etherealrhythm]

haha think its a british thing man :). and yeah, i used the tap water after boiling it and it seems to be working peachy :). there was about half of the coolant left in the res so its still a nice blue colour as opposed to a dodgy tap water colour lol. cheers for reassuring me man, wudnt have tried it otherwise.

[Nubius]

When you boil the water are you catching the steam and letting it collect? I forgot what it's called, but as a 'survival' technique if you only have salt water you're supposed to dig a hole in the ground and assuming you have the materials build a pyramid like thing about the hole in the ground filled with water....it steams up, steam collects in the corners and drips down into containers and thus is 'purified'

Just boiling water might kill some bacteria, but bleach would do the same....but as far as minerals and anything else in the water, its going to remain there unless you are infact 'catching' the steam and collecting that.

All other things besides bacteria will still remain in the boiled water though......so if you're going to use a bacteria killing agent, whats the point of boiling it

[masturdebat3rr]

yes nubius, i would rather catch water vapor than watch tv... -_-

[MaxxxRacer]

nubius that is called distilling it...

[etherealrhythm]

well its gonna be a severe cba in that respect my friend. coolant is coming soon, any suggestions?

[saratoga]

I think bleech damages copper, so maybe thats not the best idea. The main problem with tap is just the minerals. But for a short while they're not going to hurt anything unless you have terrible water quality.

[Nubius]

nubius that is called distilling it... yeah exactly, this I know...my point being if you aren't catching the vapor then whats the point of boiling it besides killing bacteria which any other solvent like bleach would do right?

The main problem with tap is just the minerals. exactly....hence why I brought up the whole point of distilling in the first place.

yes nubius, i would rather catch water vapor than watch tv... -_- Point of this comment waaaas?????

[masturdebat3rr]

the poitn on the comment was to tell you how inefficient and BORING catching vapor is.... lol, i mean, everytime some water boils off, you need to collected it, but then, w/e your collecting with has bacteria, minerals and other junk, which defeats the point of boiling the water in teh first place. not only that, you ahve to catch little by little or else the water vapor will just drip down. what is more efficient is beg for money on the streets and buy a bottle of distilled water

[etherealrhythm]

dudes, get 4 weeks pay in 2 days, any suggestions for a coolant purchase?

[Stocky]

Maybe try this:

Zerex - Super Coolant.

Improves heat transfer, reduces operating temp, protects all metals from corrosion.

[MaxxxRacer]

distilled water and zerex....