Deionised water in custom loop

[Davehaslanded]

Just to be clear from the start, I have ordered distilled water for my loop (and paid for the heavy premium that you have too living in the UK). I recently tweeted Jayztwocents asking if it was okay to use deionised water instead of distilled, which is very difficult to get hold of in the UK. (He even refers to the number of tweets he has got about it in his recent video)

I had read online that using deionised water was bad for the loop because it could have small debris in it and due to the lack of ions, it would corrode the water blocks to try and take the ions from them. My tweet was basically along the lines of "I've heard this. Is it true or is it BS? Jay essentially said it was BS.

While I fully trust Jayz opinion, I have still ordered distilled water but I would be interested to see what others think about this subject, especially as the loop will need refilling at some point.
I understand that in the USA and Canada it is very easy to get hold of distilled water even in your local supermarkets. Here in the UK, no High Street shops stock distilled water. It's main uses are restricted to industry. (For example my best friend is a train driver and can get hold of it straight out of a tap)

So what are your guys opinions on using deionised water in custom loops, and what are your experiences of using it if you have done in the past?

[.:MARK:.]

To understand the need for it, you need to understand some basic chemistry. The ions in water are dissolved because the water molecules are slightly polar, meaning that the molecule has a slight positive and a slight negative charge on the specific atoms it consists of. So for normal table salt, NaCl (Sodium Chloride) which may be dissolved in water, the Sodium ion (Na+) is surrounded by water molecules and the same goes for the Chloride ion (Cl-).

The main reason I see for having water with no dissolved substances, is to prevent electrical conductivity. The reason it happens is because the ions act as electron carriers when a potential difference (Voltage) is put across it. This means a current can flow and so can cause a short circuit.

It is entirely possible that the ions in the water may combine with other substances they come in contact with and become electronically satisfied forming another compound.

These are entirely possible through chemistry but in practice your mileage may vary.

 

Hope this wasn't confusing

[Davehaslanded]

To understand the need for it, you need to understand some basic chemistry. The ions in water are dissolved because the water molecules are slightly polar, meaning that the molecule has a slight positive and a slight negative charge on the specific atoms it consists of. So for normal table salt, NaCl (Sodium Chloride) which may be dissolved in water, the Sodium ion (Na+) is surrounded by water molecules and the same goes for the Chloride ion (Cl-).

The main reason I see for having water with no dissolved substances, is to prevent electrical conductivity. The reason it happens is because the ions act as electron carriers when a potential difference (Voltage) is put across it. This means a current can flow and so can cause a short circuit.

It is entirely possible that the ions in the water may combine with other substances they come in contact with and become electronically satisfied forming another compound.

These are entirely possible through chemistry but in practice your mileage may vary.

 

Hope this wasn't confusing

Think i get the gist of what your saying. But in the long term, any liquid will become conductive anyway, and most people say that if you spring a leak when the PC is on, your screwed anyway weather its deionised, distilled or premix. What i don't get in what your saying is, whether or not a typical water loop would be affected by using deionised instead of distilled. Jayz said no, but i get the impression that distilled is still better, on the other hand, some guys state they have used Deionised water for 5 years with no problems. Infact, one website even suggested using deionised water to flush systems when emptying a loop. My problem is that you have one group saying deionised water is the worst thing short of tap water, and another saying it wont really differ from distilled. I'm really looking forward to do my first water loop, and had i not needed to cool Xfire r9 290s, i probably would have just bought an Alphacool Kit, but it is so complicated to get into if you plan the whole loop yourself: Right fittings that matches the tube, Blocks that match the GPU (i have a non ref MSI 290. Needed EK 290 Rev 2.0) Radiators that fit in the case, Pump with enough power for all the components, The right fluid and its availabity, the sheer cost! I think i'm pretty much there now and all bits are ordered, but what a week or so researching and hounding forums and youtube personalities on Twitter.

Glad i've learnt. But i can see why All-in-one coolers appeal so much now. lol 

[.:MARK:.]

Well the problem is usually that people tend not to conduct experiments or studies on this topic. When one person chooses distilled, they usually stick with it and not try anything else. Those who may use tap water may not go on to distilled water. If anything, distilled water is a short term benefit by not having conductive water when doing your first testing and bleeding.

[airdeano]

either can be used, distilled can be more available and less-expensive depending on location. 

[Davehaslanded]

either can be used, distilled can be more available and less-expensive depending on location. 

Cool, thats what i thought. Yeah here in the UK its difficult to get hold of distilled water, apparently its nearly impossible in mainland Europe. I had to pay £14 (about $24) for a 2.5l bottle. Not great. But then most our parts are more expensive due to our economy. Spent £200 ($343) on GPU blocks alone.

[Bagmup]

To understand the need for it, you need to understand some basic chemistry. The ions in water are dissolved because the water molecules are slightly polar, meaning that the molecule has a slight positive and a slight negative charge on the specific atoms it consists of. So for normal table salt, NaCl (Sodium Chloride) which may be dissolved in water, the Sodium ion (Na+) is surrounded by water molecules and the same goes for the Chloride ion (Cl-).

The main reason I see for having water with no dissolved substances, is to prevent electrical conductivity. The reason it happens is because the ions act as electron carriers when a potential difference (Voltage) is put across it. This means a current can flow and so can cause a short circuit.

It is entirely possible that the ions in the water may combine with other substances they come in contact with and become electronically satisfied forming another compound.

These are entirely possible through chemistry but in practice your mileage may vary.

 

Hope this wasn't confusing

Your user pic makes what you just said more epic..

[tezunegari]

Cool, thats what i thought. Yeah here in the UK its difficult to get hold of distilled water, apparently its nearly impossible in mainland Europe. I had to pay £14 (about $24) for a 2.5l bottle. Not great. But then most our parts are more expensive due to our economy. Spent £200 ($343) on GPU blocks alone.

I don't know about the rest of Europe, it my prefered car repair shop ATU (600+ locations in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Italy and Switzerland) have destilled water in 5 L canisters priced about 5 to 6 Euros. So you might want to check with a car repair shop for that.

[Davehaslanded]

I don't know about the rest of Europe, it my prefered car repair shop ATU (600+ locations in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Italy and Switzerland) have destilled water in 5 L canisters priced about 5 to 6 Euros. So you might want to check with a car repair shop for that.

This was suggested to me too. But i was informed that car shops often wrongly sell Deionised water as distilled (for Car Batteries.etc) Could be worth a look though. Might pop over to Halfords at some point.

[FreyrGauti]

I bought deionised water at my local pharmacy, been using it with mayhems pastel concentrate for about 8 months now without any problems.

[Davehaslanded]

I bought deionised water at my local pharmacy, been using it with mayhems pastel concentrate for about 8 months now without any problems.

Good to hear. So have you emptied the loop at all since using deionised water and/or seen any signs of corrosion?

[FreyrGauti]

No, I haven't drained the loop since I put it together, but I haven't seen any signs of corrosion.

 

I'd like to thing that I'd see some discoloration in the coolant, since it's bright yellow, if corrosion was setting in on some component in the loop, but I can't ofcourse be sure without taking the blocks appart.

[MeFakeScientist]

I wouldn't imagine you would have much in the way of issues. It may have some bacteria in it (seeing as it's only deionised) so you could potentially get more bacterial growth than if you used distilled water. If you are using a dye or some other form of anti bacterial component then that will obviously not be a problem.

There is always the possibility of corrosion with DI water for the reasons mentioned above in the excellent explanation by .:MARK:., however, I don't see it being much to worry about tbh, I imagine the manufactures make things as corrosive resistant as possible! It would also occur over a long period of time and it wouldn't be a case of massive sudden failure if something bad was happening so you would almost certainly notice it before it happened.

[Davehaslanded]

I wouldn't imagine you would have much in the way of issues. It may have some bacteria in it (seeing as it's only deionised) so you could potentially get more bacterial growth than if you used distilled water. If you are using a dye or some other form of anti bacterial component then that will obviously not be a problem.

There is always the possibility of corrosion with DI water for the reasons mentioned above in the excellent explanation by .:MARK:., however, I don't see it being much to worry about tbh, I imagine the manufactures make things as corrosive resistant as possible! It would also occur over a long period of time and it wouldn't be a case of massive sudden failure if something bad was happening so you would almost certainly notice it before it happened.

Something i'm not entirely clear on, I have ordered a silver kill coil. The suggestion was to use a kill coil with distilled (which is what i will do with the first loop) but does this work as a anti bac and anti corrosive?

These are the kinda things i haven't seen asked on the forums and after hours of searching, it's just easier to ask. lol

[MeFakeScientist]

Something i'm not entirely clear on, I have ordered a silver kill coil. The suggestion was to use a kill coil with distilled (which is what i will do with the first loop) but does this work as a anti bac and anti corrosive?

These are the kinda things i haven't seen asked on the forums and after hours of searching, it's just easier to ask. lol

The Silver will work as an anti bacterial agent but not as an anti corrosive, The only thing with silver is I wouldn't recommend using it if you have Aluminium stuff in your loop, this can (and I emphasise can) cause some corrosion, I have read about people who have had problems and people who haven't but I would probably avoid if possible.

I wouldn't sweat it with corrosion though tbh, in terms of how corrosion happens it has all sorts to do with Anodic index and electrolytic stuff and how far apart the different metal types are in terms of potential but if you like a good read then take a peek at this: http://martinsliquidlab.org/2012/01/24/corrosion-explored/%C2'> I have to say that, at times, it makes it look like it's all going to go badly wrong but they are just some specific, isolated cases!

Hope that helps!

[Davehaslanded]

Ok guys I have a major issue. Although not shown in any of the advertising pictures, the phobya 200mm has been updated to revision 2.0 which has a larger end tank and doesn't fit in my 600t anymore. I've rung around a few stores online and they all say they only have rev 2 in stock now. Any ideas?

[Leonard]

Just to be clear from the start, I have ordered distilled water for my loop (and paid for the heavy premium that you have too living in the UK). I recently tweeted Jayztwocents asking if it was okay to use deionised water instead of distilled, which is very difficult to get hold of in the UK. (He even refers to the number of tweets he has got about it in his recent video)

I had read online that using deionised water was bad for the loop because it could have small debris in it and due to the lack of ions, it would corrode the water blocks to try and take the ions from them. My tweet was basically along the lines of "I've heard this. Is it true or is it BS? Jay essentially said it was BS.

While I fully trust Jayz opinion, I have still ordered distilled water but I would be interested to see what others think about this subject, especially as the loop will need refilling at some point.

I understand that in the USA and Canada it is very easy to get hold of distilled water even in your local supermarkets. Here in the UK, no High Street shops stock distilled water. It's main uses are restricted to industry. (For example my best friend is a train driver and can get hold of it straight out of a tap)

So what are your guys opinions on using deionised water in custom loops, and what are your experiences of using it if you have done in the past?

Deironized water is really for making the coolant less conductive and cleaner than distilled water but over time as you said which is quiet correct, it will get conductive. @.:MARK:. really explained it well. Distilled water is more than sufficient for water cooling but know that there are different qualities of distilled water that give different experiences. I have used just normal distilled water from the grocery and a laboratory and the laboratory distilled water is much much better. it stays cleaner longer and takes longer to form algae.

 

What you really need to understand is the different metals used in loop. Aluminum in a water loop can cause problems fast while brass and copper have a higher tolerance together than brass + copper + aluminum.

 

No matter what you use you will get oxidization as that is just the down side of water mixing with metals but what you want to do is reduce it as much as possible.

To understand the need for it, you need to understand some basic chemistry. The ions in water are dissolved because the water molecules are slightly polar, meaning that the molecule has a slight positive and a slight negative charge on the specific atoms it consists of. So for normal table salt, NaCl (Sodium Chloride) which may be dissolved in water, the Sodium ion (Na+) is surrounded by water molecules and the same goes for the Chloride ion (Cl-).

The main reason I see for having water with no dissolved substances, is to prevent electrical conductivity. The reason it happens is because the ions act as electron carriers when a potential difference (Voltage) is put across it. This means a current can flow and so can cause a short circuit.

It is entirely possible that the ions in the water may combine with other substances they come in contact with and become electronically satisfied forming another compound.

These are entirely possible through chemistry but in practice your mileage may vary.

 

Hope this wasn't confusing

[airdeano]

Ok guys I have a major issue. Although not shown in any of the advertising pictures, the phobya 200mm has been updated to revision 2.0 which has a larger end tank and doesn't fit in my 600t anymore. I've rung around a few stores online and they all say they only have rev 2 in stock now. Any ideas?

 

mod the roof for a alphacool st30 360

 

 

mod the front intake to 2x 240 (better option for fans and cooling)

[Davehaslanded]

I bought myself an alphacool dual bay reservoir. It can be seen here: Alphacool Repack Dual 5.25" Drive Bay Reservoir for One Laing D5 Pump : 15171

http://amazon.co.uk/dp/B00D4WO0XY

My problem is that I have since purchased a kill coil and I would like to put it into the reservoir. There is no clear way to do so. As you can see the Font fill port does not allow a direct line into the reservoir. Whilst I could probably stretch out the kill coil and get it into the reservoir, I doubt I would ever be out to get it back out again.

Suggestions please

[Davehaslanded]

Just waiting for a t-fitting to create a drain port at the bottom, then ready to fill the loop. I'm a little nervous as this is my first custom water loop and it seems a little ambitious.

[fishy]

such a hassle to get a plain bottle of distilled water?

we sell it in grocery stores here, central EU

and it's cheaper than bottled drinking water

 

and i saw that vid from Jay

and no, distilled water is not better than regular water for drinking

afaik, he gave the dog the rest of the water

[Davehaslanded]

Hey guys, just an update, the water loop is finished, if your intrested i made a short video which can be found here: