You should use distilled water in your battery to limit the odd ions in the
electrolyte.
But that is really a minor effect, and people use tap water in batteries all
the time
without noticeable loss of battery life.
Years ago when I pumped gas, I remember well being told to fill up the battery
water container and let is sit still. We provided sfill water for batteries at
that gas
station. So did all the others.
There is a better reason to use distilled water in cololant. Using distilled
or deionized
water in coolant minimizes corrosion, particularly of aluminum components.
Some
tap waters promote corrosion more so than others, depending on their dissolved
solids content, and to some extent on the dissolved solids themselves. Some
waters
have dissolved sulfide ions and watch out if that is the case.
All corrosion is electrochemical in nature. Electrochemical corrosion requires
a hard
(metal) connection between the anodic material (which corrodes) and the
cathodic
material (which does not in general). Corrosion also requires a connection
through
an electrolyte, a liquid, to complete what is called a corrosion cell. Cells
can be large
or small, and the differences in metals at the crystalline level explain why
corrosion
always involves pitting by very small corrosion cells.
Tap water makes an excellent electrolyte for purposes of corrosion in most
cases
because of its dissolved solids content.
Distilled or deionized water has practically no dissolved solids, is not an
electrolyte,
that is, it does not conduct electicity.
Ethylene and propylene glycols are organic liquids that do not conduct
electricity.
No electrolyte in cooling system means no corrosion. It is that simple. Use
distilled
or deionized water for best results and longest component life.
Robert Bigham
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
EarthLink Revolves Around You.
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Subject: Re: [MBZ] Distilled water here and there
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Mercedes recommends use of tap water to dilute the coolant, unless it
is exceptionally hard water.
Pure distilled water is not electrolytic, but it is a rather good
solvent and it will tend to pull minerals from the aluminum alloys
in the head. Tap water already has some mineral load and is thus
less aggressive in this sense. Of course an extremely high mineral
content is bad also so that is why there is an exception for very hard
water.
Robert Bigham [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
You should use distilled water in your battery to limit the odd ions in the
electrolyte.
But that is really a minor effect, and people use tap water in batteries all
the time
without noticeable loss of battery life.
Years ago when I pumped gas, I remember well being told to fill up the
battery
water container and let is sit still. We provided sfill water for batteries
at that gas
station. So did all the others.
There is a better reason to use distilled water in cololant. Using distilled
or deionized
water in coolant minimizes corrosion, particularly of aluminum components.
Some
tap waters promote corrosion more so than others, depending on their
dissolved
solids content, and to some extent on the dissolved solids themselves. Some
waters
have dissolved sulfide ions and watch out if that is the case.
All corrosion is electrochemical in nature
