Where to get chemically pure water?

Seriously? This is "good enough"?

I thought it was just for kettles and irons...

I'm really paranoid about disturbing this electrolyte, as getting more is not going to be that easy.. :roll:
 
Buy some distilled from the auto shop, if this isnt pure enough for you :roll: Boil distilled water in a clean glass coffee pot and recondense using a glass container and a fan and allow to drip into another clean glass container.

Ive made my own distilled water just from tap water in the above fashion. Pulled my batteries off and found my distilled water was contaminated. Made my own. :D
 
I throw out 2gal per week from the home dehumidifiers.

(I throw it in the washing machine, actually.)
 
If you are near Seattle, I've got a 7-stage Reverse Osmosis De-ionization water setup at my house that I use as top-off water for my coral reefs. I output <0.1ppm water.
 
I would be more than happy to do that for you. I know there are guys who are into reefkeeping in toronto area. You could save some time and shipping costs to deal with one locally. Most guys only run 4-6 stage RoDI setups, but that's more than adquate for battery needs. I'm sure any of them would be happy to fill all the containers you want. Grocery stores often have distilled or 2-3 stage RoDI water at around ~1-3ppm and its not the purest, but cheap and available.
 
Yeah - if I can find it here, no sense in taking up UPS's time and space...

I had a talk with my chemist Dad and got the term "reagent grade water" out of him. That sounded good.

I'll keep you guys posted, and worst case scenario Luke I'll take you up on your super-pure stuff.

I'm pretty sure that in a city the size of Toronto I should be able to find what I need, if I look hard enough!
 
Apologies for interrupting, but I am unclear about the intended purpose for the water you are seeking. Is it part of the cell for ion/electron transport, or is it for cooling purposes? The reason I ask is because it would matter significantly whether DI/RO vs. distilled water is used. DI/RO water would be great for ion transport in a redox reaction and that is what batteries are all about, and "reagent grade water" (deionized (DI), say 18Mohm) is super clean and is routinely used in metal analysis laboratories for ultra low analytical levels (parts per billion and lower). But if used as a "chiller fluid" it needs to be understood that DI water is surprisingly corrosive because it is not pH neutral... usually acidic... lots of extra hydronium ions floating about. Distilled would be the preferred water for that application. Hope that helps. :)
 
EEK! Acid is NOT what I want.

This is supposed to by pH neutral water, yes for alkaline electrolyte top-up, not cooling.

Thanks for that info!
 
Let me clarify... the DI would be fine for adding to an alkaline solution. The "acidicness" :? of the DI would be neutralized by the alkaline battery solution with no loss of alkalinity or ill effect. The precaution I was offering is limited solely to using it as a simple chiller solution... for example you would never want to use DI (deionized) water to top off your auto radiator.

Knowing your application, I would agree completely with everyone who is recommending just going to the grocery store and picking up some distilled water. Regular distilled water is pretty darn clean. All you needing to avoid is unwanted metal cations... especially magnesium and calcium which can be in pretty high levels in tap water (hardness). Even though i have access to DI at my workplace, I would still just use regular ol' distilled from the store for this.
 
chet said:
DI water is not suitable for any battery. You want distilled water.
Click to expand...
Real (Canadian) Men make their own pure water...from Beer.
Find a sunny patch of dirt back in the bush, where the ground is damp. Dig a pit deep enough to put a pan in the bottom so the top of the pan is below ground level. Before you put the pan in, drink lots of brewskies... yer friends can help here. Once the beer is filtered, everybuddy piss in the pit... extra moisture...
THEN in goes the pan (don't get the steps mixed up here.) Cover the pit w/clear plastic sheeting, making sure the edges of the sheet are well covered/sealed. Place a small rock in the middle of the sheet so that it indents the sheet over the pan. The sheet will start to sweat underneath in the sunshine with H2O and the H2O will dribble down to the rock and drip into the pan... there's yer pure water. Ya can tell all that yer EV runs on beer and piss and solar... A true trybrid
tks
loCK
 
These are not "old SLA" batteries. These are SAFT NiCads.... Alkaline, not acid. The instructions I have specify with great emphasis that the water used must be pH neutral.

They recommend "distilled" water, but caution that it should be tested with litmus paper to ensure no acidity is present. It goes on to say that any acidity in the water used to top up these cells will destroy them!

Considering they're spec'd for a 30 year / 200,000 cycle life, I am going to err on the side of caution... :shock:
 
Also, Leslie, regarding your "boil it in a coffee pot" advice -

from speaking to my dad, who holds a BSC (albeit from the 70's! :roll: ) who used to distill water in a lab - IF you're taking the condensate off at PRECISELY 100 degrees Celsius, then yes, you'll be getting pure H2O - but if the liquid you're working from is heated to ABOVE 100C, and you're taking the condensate off assuming it's only water, you could be mistaken. Other liquids present in the source could be present in the condensate if you're not in control of the temperature of the steam, as I understand it.

Can anyone weigh in here? I am probably missing a great deal of information, that's the feeling I get, anyway.

It would just really be a shame for me to wreck these cells considering their design spec. I would love to get 30 years of service out of these, and am just trying to do everything in my power to assure that I do.

Anal? Perhaps. Maybe I'm compensating. I'll be 30 next year and everyone seems to want me to procreate.

I've trained the perfect dog, built the perfect road racing bike, now it's NiCads. None of these resemble grandchildren to the people that want them! :roll:
 
What your Pop says has some merit Mike, but one would have to start off with some water with some volatile contaminants to begin with.... like chlorine which can be easily removed by ariation before distillation. Chances are the manufacturer/distiller takes such precautions and has relatively good control of temperature and process and starts with relatively clean water to begin with. Also when a vat of 99.9 % water is boiling, it's guaranteed that the water will be at 100 C at sea level until the water is all or mostly gone.

Concepts about pH, acidity/alkalinity, ionic strength, neutralization, buffering, etc., are all very difficult concepts to convey in a simple way, especially in a forum setting like this. I think I should not have attempted to do so here even in a limited specific context like this, but since I brought it up, let me say one more thing. pH measurement has very little to do with measuring acid/base content or strength; so if you measure a pH other than "7" on some distilled water, don't let it frustrate you too much. It has virtually no relation to the "amount" of acid or base present.

Distlled water will be great. If you have concerns over store bought distilled water, google Fisher Scientific and get the super duper ditilled reagent water. Although the beer idea is sounding pretty good right now :mrgreen:
 
I'm working on some Lamb's Amber Rum, Angostura bitters and Tropicana at the moment....

Perhaps I should switch to Pernod, though, as these are French cells!

Mot a dit.. :mrgreen:
 
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