Adding color to distilled water

[dodo_lex]

Guys, I know this is not probably a typical question, but it is a good place to try...

So, I don't know if you are familiar with gas lift used in oil industry, So I'll try to explain it in few sentences so you could get a better perspective of a problem. When oil reservoir pressure is not sufficient to bring oil through pipe up to the surface, sometimes gas lift is used. Its literally pumping gas in to the pipe, and by that you can reduce the density of oil (cause gas is lighter obvsly) and help the reservoir pressure bring the oil up on the surface. On the faculty, students made a model of gas lift with fiberglass pipes simulating the steel pipes in wellbore, and centrifugal pump in a barrel
simulating the reservoir. The pipe goes vertically upstairs about 20 feet in length. I wanna know is there some kind of paint that can be put in a clear distilled water that we are currently using, so that the fluid running through the pipe would be more visible and more cool haha. Conditions that need to be satisfied are: The colored water should not leave color residue on fiberglass pipes, it should not mess with the centrifugal pump's normal work, and if possible it should not leave residue on rubber pipes which are used for returning the fluid from the top back to the plastic barell. I asked here because I was wondering if color used for computer water cooling could be used maybe?

Hope I made myself clear, sorry for the English...

Thanks!

 

[kindangrysliceofpie]

This is a great place to ask! Water cooled systems use different chemical mixtures with water, and if left alone for more than a few days residue would be left behind. Your best bet would be a lot of food coloring, or another non adhesive dye.

 

[dodo_lex]

Yeah maybe, I'll research more in to food dye. You think the pipes wouldn't color themselves with with food dye? I mean, with time they wouldn't get that blurry color like i sometimes saw with pipes in water cooling?

 

[kindangrysliceofpie]

I have no clue. What material are you using?

 

[Paperdoc]

First, I'm intrigued that you say you have used fibreglass pipe for this. Most fibreglass systems I have seen are far from transparent because the fibreglass resin used is some shade of brown and the glass fibres themselves scatter light quite well. So are you sure that stuff is fibreglass? A very common truly transparent material available as clear tubing is Polycarbonate, under common trade names like Plexiglass, Lucite or Lexan.

Secondly, for your purpose I suggest the bottles of additives for computer liquid cooling systems are NOT what you want. Although some do contain dyes for esthetic reasons, their main components are corrosion inhibitors to protect metal components and biologically toxic materials to prevent growth of microorganisms that produce slime agglomerates. You probably do not want either of those - sounds like all you need is a visible dye. Now, finding a dye that does NOT have any affinity for the material of your transparent pipe depends on the material. That's why I started by asking how sure you are what that pipe material is?

My starting point would be common food colouring you can buy in any food store. You could try contacting the makers of those food colouring products, armed with the REAL material of your pipe, and asking what they know about which of their dye products will NOT leave colours in certain materials. Since the actual dye chemicals are quite different depending on what colour and what food type they are designed for, that company's Chemists might be able to give you some good suggestions.

 

[Paperdoc]

Thanks for Best Solution.