Distilled Water Shootout!

[Martinm210]

Details

Summary:

Electrical conductivity or EC is a commonly used indicator to measure water purity. While conductivity itself isn't the only measurement goal, total dissolved solids (TDS) in ppm (Parts per million) are also routinely converted from this number. To keep it simple, I'm just measuring the conductivity in this test and including a conversion table that was included with the meter to TDS if you are so inclined. Distilled waters typically should be better than 10uS where municipal water systems could be as high as 500-800uS. In water cooling we have had all sorts of numbers thrown out there with suggestions that grocery store distilled wasn't good enough. In addition there was not any data in regards to how quickly this water becomes ionized in the loop which is important when considering the relevance of purity.

Wal-mart brand amongst others tested extremely pure at under 1uS

All of the distilled waters tested well under the 10uS suggestion by wiki's definition.

Bottled spring waters and others not purified with distillation however tested at a variety of levels, some not much better than tap:


So "Distilled Types" all tested out ok, but what happens when put in contact with metals?

Ionization tests

Just a few minutes of metal contact agitation:


Few weeks not quite a month in the loop:


Charted Results:


While there are some EC meter measurable differences, the 1-5uS amounts are insignificant relative to the ionization that occurs later when added to the loop. The very pure distilled water (regardless of brand) is almost instantly ionized at very high levels. 0.7uS Wal-mart distilled converts to roughly .35ppm TDS or 0.35 parts per million or 0.00000035%, tiny and insignificant to say the least.
Conclusion as of 3-24-12

1) There is no such thing as Nonconductive fluid, all no matter how pure instanly become conductive. You spill it you have problems.
2) Tap, Spring bottled, and spring drinking waters are not recommended due to higher ionic concentrations of unknown contents. At least with distilled the ions are metals that match what the loop is made of.
3) Any distilled water or ultra pure water is ok, there is a measurable difference in the bottle by a few uS, but there is no practical difference once added to the loop. 1uS or even 5uS doesn't matter when the ionization jumps to 20 instantly and 80 in just a few weeks.

Distilled is distilled.

Cheers!
Martin

[defect9]

if the contaminant is Pure Awesome®, does it make the loop perform better?

[The Jesus]

Interesting and useful results as always Martin

(I have multiple tests of your's bookmarked in a folder to reference for new users, always a great read)

EDIT: Plans for a temperature shootout with different liquids?

[Hondacity]

where do you get 36hour days? lol

[Proximon]

This is cool, but is it scientific? Is electrical conductivity enough to measure all the possible contaminants possible in water?

I'm just asking, because I don't know. I have wondered about this for a while and thought the answer would be harder to arrive at.

What about the amount of free oxygen in the water? What would happen if you boiled the distilled water first?

[penguins]

simple answer, Yes.
longer answer, it's what is used to test distilled water.

[Waterlogged]

Wow, contamination happens faster than I thought...but the question is, at what point does it become conductive enough to cause problems. Honestly though, as long as the water starts out pure when I pour it into the loop, that's all that really matters to me because I know nothing will grow in it if the parts have been cleaned good and quality water is used.

Martin, ever get over to Medford or Grants Pass? If you do, could you get some water from Walgreens? It's the only stuff I use in my loops and the label says it's distilled, filtered and ozonated. I'd ask you to get it from your local Walgreens but...my god man, you live in the middle of no where.

This is cool, but is it scientific? Is electrical conductivity enough to measure all the possible contaminants possible in water?

I'm just asking, because I don't know. I have wondered about this for a while and thought the answer would be harder to arrive at.

What about the amount of free oxygen in the water? What would happen if you boiled the distilled water first?

Why would you want to re-boil distilled water?

[Martinm210]

if the contaminant is Pure Awesome®, does it make the loop perform better?

Absolutely! You could probabaly market some of that for a good $25 a liter too..lol

Interesting and useful results as always Martin

(I have multiple tests of your's bookmarked in a folder to reference for new users, always a great read)

EDIT: Plans for a temperature shootout with different liquids?

I think Skinnee has already covered that in his coolant temp test. His Minnesota Tap performed practically the same as the ultra pure so I am sure there would be no measurable difference in temps between distilled brands.

where do you get 36hour days? lol

I live in the middle of nowhere as WL said.. Actually, this water quality thing has been bugging me for a while and easy to do with the new meter so I may as well put it to use.

This is cool, but is it scientific? Is electrical conductivity enough to measure all the possible contaminants possible in water?

I'm just asking, because I don't know. I have wondered about this for a while and thought the answer would be harder to arrive at.

What about the amount of free oxygen in the water? What would happen if you boiled the distilled water first?

I questioned conductivity myself until I researched it. Conductivity converts to TDS and pretty much the standard for this sort of thing. I am sure there are certain contaminants that don't increase conductivity well such as some organics/oils but EC meters are pretty common in measuring water purity...the less junk and ions you have in there the lower the conductivity.

Wow, contamination happens faster than I thought...but the question is, at what point does it become conductive enough to cause problems. Honestly though, as long as the water starts out pure when I pour it into the loop, that's all that really matters to me because I know nothing will grow in it if the parts have been cleaned good and quality water is used.

Martin, ever get over to Medford or Grants Pass? If you do, could you get some water from Walgreens? It's the only stuff I use in my loops and the label says it's distilled, filtered and ozonated. I'd ask you to get it from your local Walgreens but...my god man, you live in the middle of no where.


Why would you want to re-boil distilled water?

Yes we go to Medford to shop now and then, I will see about getting some from Walgreens. Going to Reno this weekend..they may have a store there too although the wife will probably give me that usual look when I have another jug of water in my hands at the checkout..lol

[mlwood37]

As soon as oxygen is added to the water the contamination goes though the roof.

With premixes this is slown down as it slows down this rate how ever after a week or so in a loop with 2 blocks this is back to a level with makes the fluid conductive.

All so bottle type has a lot to do with TDS levels as well.

@Martinm210 glad you got that meter it will serve you well.

I should get my results out for UK shop brands and Car shop brands. As Morrisons is absolute dire out of the bottle and so is asda, were as car shops you get what you pay for. All so choosing a bottle that is Pure white is better than choosing a bottle that is see though. if the container is blue or black avoid at all costs.

[Sideroxylon]

Nice job Martin...as usual. And very timely too since Primochill Base High Purity Deionized Water was recently spotted out in the wild. It's only $27 a bottle or closer to $40 with shipping!!! It must be some really good stuff.

I, as well as the community, would love to see your test results on this stuff.

[NKrader]

when reading the title of this thread i got really excited when i clicked it.


i was expecting somthing with supersoakers and such.. but no.

[eth0s]

Excellent work as always. However, I have a minor quibble over your use of the word "contamination".

I disagree with your use of the word "contamination", as this implies that some foreign substance has been introduced into the solution, which is not the case. You are placing copper in distilled water. The fact that you are observing an immediate increase in the number of copper ions in the distilled water is obvious, and is hardly surprising. Copper ions are water-soluble, and love to jump off the copper and into the water. Distilled water has been rendered non-ionic by artificial process, and is therefore very receptive to becoming ionic, and therefore readily accepts the copper ions. The fact that the water gains copper ions, is therefore not contamination, at least not in my frame of reference, since it is the natural result of placing copper in water. Furthermore "contamination" has only a negative connotation, wheres your copper ionic solution has a beneficial property, in that the copper ionic solution will function, even at low concentrations like this, as a bacteriostatic substance, or in other words a relatively weak fungicide (how effective a fungicide, I have no idea). Now, it is true that the copper ions in the water raise the conductivity level of the water, which is of course very bad in the case of a leak, and which could arguably be called a "contamination". But I would still object to the use of the word contamination since it connotes the wrong meaning, and I would instead advocate using the word "ionization", to describe the phenomenon you have observed.

One final quibble regarding EC to TDS conversion: it looks like you are using EC for your assessments, and that you are not converting to TDS, although you list three EC to TDS conversion factors in your histogram. I would caution against making any conclusions based upon a conversion to TDS using any of the conversion factors listed, since I believe any of those three conversion factors would greatly skew your results, since they are not well-suited to calculating the amount of copper ions in your solution. However, admittedly I am not an expert in EC to TDS conversion, and perhaps NaCl is close enough to copper ions to make a general guess as to the amount of copper in the solution, but I doubt it.

[matari]

As soon as oxygen is added to the water the contamination goes though the roof.

With premixes this is slown down as it slows down this rate how ever after a week or so in a loop with 2 blocks this is back to a level with makes the fluid conductive.

All so bottle type has a lot to do with TDS levels as well.

@Martinm210 glad you got that meter it will serve you well.

I should get my results out for UK shop brands and Car shop brands. As Morrisons is absolute dire out of the bottle and so is asda, were as car shops you get what you pay for. All so choosing a bottle that is Pure white is better than choosing a bottle that is see though. if the container is blue or black avoid at all costs.

This thread is about distilled water, not premixes. Can we please stick to the topic. That being said, great review. I bought Crystal Clear distilled, and it came with floating in it. I like Walmart the best, They clear there selves quick, so it is not sitting there forever.

[ryan92084]

Want a sample from my 4 year old loop

[Martinm210]

I stopped at two automotive stores today in search of "Deionized" and came up short. The first store actually told me my city "Tap" water was perfectly fine! He said he has been using it for years and never had a problem. This was not your usual revolving door employee either, I know he has been working there for a while. The second store told me to go to Wal-mart and buy distilled.

Anyhow, since I came up short I stopped at a few more stores and bought a few more distilled samples as well as some bottled water samples.






And an updated chart added to the OP as well:


Now what the heck am I going to do with all this water!!

[NKrader]

now what the heck am i going to do with all this water!!

i was expecting somthing with supersoakers and such..

yessss!!!

[Martinm210]

LOL,

Didn't see the opportunity to say Cheers correctly!

[matari]

Awesome

[CrazyNutz]

Never thought I would say this but... Walmart FTW

Mmmm beer. I'll be running that through my loop tonight!

[voigts]

Very good information Martin. If this doesn't debunk the entire premix non-conductive concept, I don't know what does. Given the large quantity of distilled that Walmart sells, I wouldn't have expected them to get the lowest conductivity. They are really taking over the world.

[basserdan]

Now what the heck am I going to do with all this water!!

Take a bath!

I have the exact same meter - an attempt to get spotless water to wash my truck.

Thanks again though, for answering another question I have considered but failed to resolve due an overwhelming acute laziness.

[mlwood37]

We have to test with 443, your meter seems a little different to mine. All so a note for you ideally you should test at 25c even though the meter auto calibrates to take the temp range into account we found that some times it will alter the end result. Pic above was taken a 16.3c but i cannot be arsed waiting around for it to warm up.



We use a mix of test sticks / and electronic equipment to test the PH as well and the PPM.

[NEOAethyr]

Good thread .

Always knew dasani would suck...
That's one of the main brand bottled waters around here.
We also have this mountain brand, from nestle (Ice Mountain® 100% Natural Spring Water), which is pumped from up north somewhere on priv property, sucking the water out of the great lakes to sell to the chinese lol (We're not allowed to sell it to them in giant bags anymore lol).
I think there might be one more main brand around here and other then that, a few off branded ones probably made from the same people as the main brands.

From what I've read in the past, none of the bottled waters are even any good.
It's the gallon's you're looking for, like that wallmart water for instance.

[Martinm210]

Yeah, I guess the bottom line of all this can be summed up to:

There are some minor differences you can measure with an EC meter, but any water from the worst distilled, the best distilled, to the ulta pure is extremely ionic hungry and will become nearly instantly conductive when introduced to the loop. Ions will hop into the stream of water until it reaches some sort of happy place. In just a few weeks that can be 80uS and in just a few minutes it is 20uS. This concludes:

1) There is no such thing as Nonconductive fluid, all no matter how pure instanly become conductive. You spill it you have problems.
2) Tap, Spring bottled, and spring drinking waters are not recommended due to higher ionic concentrations of unknown contents. At least with distilled the ions are metals that match what the loop is made of.
3) Any distilled water or ultra pure water is ok, there is a measurable difference in the bottle by a few uS, but there is no practical difference once added to the loop. 1uS or even 5uS doesn't matter when the ionization jumps to 20 instantly and 80 in just a few weeks. Distilled is distilled.

While I wouldn't recommend it, I have run my household tap water which reads 208uS in a nickel plated loop for over a year now without any problems. If that works, I sure as heck think even the "bad" 5uS distilled water is going to be fine.

[st0ned]

The only problem of tap water is calcarium ( I'm not sure if this is the name in english ) that will deposit everywhere it can on your loop :p .


EDIT: Google translates it in to limestone...