Coolant question

[Morgoth97]

Hello, forum

I would like to inquire if my supply of distilled water is appropriate for use with a coolant concentrate (I'm planning to use EKWB's cryofuel) in a custom water cooled system.

 

Ive conducted several tests using a TDS and conductivity meter, I've tested the supply with 500 ml samples and I've gotten the following:

- 0.79 PPM

- 0.56 PPM

- 0.81 PPM

- 0.65 PPM

so that's an average of 0.70 PPM

 

I know that distilled water should have a TDS of 0 as that's pretty much in its definition. I also know that distilled water will ionize as its exposed to the metal surface of the water loop system so I assume to a margain of error the distilled water is appropriate for use?

 

[xHadrian]

16 minutes ago, Morgoth97 said:

Hello, forum

I would like to inquire if my supply of distilled water is appropriate for use with a coolant concentrate (I'm planning to use EKWB's cryofuel) in a custom water cooled system.

 

Ive conducted several tests using a TDS and conductivity meter, I've tested the supply with 500 ml samples and I've gotten the following:

- 0.79 PPM

- 0.56 PPM

- 0.81 PPM

- 0.65 PPM

so that's an average of 0.70 PPM

 

I know that distilled water should have a TDS of 0 as that's pretty much in its definition. I also know that distilled water will ionize as its exposed to the metal surface of the water loop system so I assume to a margain of error the distilled water is appropriate for use?

 

Yes, it will get conductive over time. Distilled water is safe to use, in fact it must be mixed with some coolant concentrates to make a full bottle of coolant.

[For Science!]

13 minutes ago, Morgoth97 said:

-snip-

Not entirely sure if I'm following your trait of thought. PPM is a measure of concentration, and so the variance in your concentration is probably down to error in mixing two volumes of fluid. You have assumed your TDS of your distilled water to be 0, which is analogous to saying "I am assuming my distilled water is pure water", which means all the testing is strictly flawed since you have assumed the final result "is my water pure enough" to be true.

 

Pure water (MilliQ-grade) has a resistance of 18.2 MΩ·cm at 25 °C and how close you are to this is the only measure of how pure your water is. Resistance can also be given in conductivity, and MilliQ water has a conductivity of 0.055 uS/cm

[For Science!]

[Is my distilled water good enough to dilute the EK-CryoFuel?] <-- Your Question

[Distilled water is good to use if it is close to pure water] <-- The answer

[I assume the TDS of my distilled water to be 0] <-- Your assumption

[I assume my distilled water to be pure water] <-- Extrapolation of your assumption

 

So you can see that from the 3rd step of the logic flow, you've already answered the original question, but by assuming the result. Its like asking "I want to find out whether my car can travel at 80 km/h" and then saying "I am going to assume that the engine can do 80 km/h", and then subsequently testing how much gasoline the car consumes

 

[I made the dilution of EK-CryoFuel 4 times and found the results to be a bit different each time] <-- Your result

 

The conclusions you can draw from this is that there is a bit of variation when you mix two fluids, and that your water supply is of a reasonably constant ionic constituant (i.e. batch to batch of "distilled water" does not change). However it gives no indication of whether you distilled water is actually distilled water, unless you do proper control experiments.

 

[Morgoth97]

2 hours ago, For Science! said:

[I assume the TDS of my distilled water to be 0] <-- Your assumption

Sorry, misplaced "my", I meant I assume the distilled water you find in retail to be about 0 TDS.

 

I actually have access to a machine (An old millipore machine from 2012) that deionizes water and stores it in a tank and was wondering if the water it processed was suitable for my personal needs (water cooling my PC). 

 

I tried eliminating as many variables as possible and even washing the container and electrode with the sample "distilled water" multiple times and kept room temperature constant.

 

[For Science!]

1 minute ago, Morgoth97 said:

-snip-

 

I would just take the reading from the millipore machine, it should give you a reading about the resistance.

 

Having said that MilliQ water is completely overkill for a watercooled PC and it is essential you use additives like you find in EK-CryoFuel since MilliQ water alone is mildly corrosive since it'll aggresively pick up ions from the waterblocks. I use MilliQ + CryoFuel in my system too.