Custom Loop Question - Deionised or Distilled Water???

[euphoria4949]

Hi everybody,

As the title suggests, I have a question about which water to use in my new loop.
I have always been informed that Distilled water is the best thing to use. So I bought a few litres a couple days ago of what I *thought* was distilled, but it turns out it's Deionised not Distilled. So I set out to find some Distilled instead, but I'm having serious trouble getting hold of Distilled where I live.

So I've been doing some Googling to find an answer to whether or not Deionised is safe to use, but, I've learned nothing!!! So far from the few threads on this subject on TomsHW, OCN and a couple of other sites, the pattern seems to be, 50% say it's absolutely fine and 50% say that Deionised will corrode the metal in the pump or block!

So can a few seasoned water cooling veterans please help me out here by telling me what you think about Deionised water in a loop.

Thank you, I really appreciate it.
Cheers

 

[Buzz247]

Deionized still has mineral and metal dissolved in it. This will reionize quickly in a loop and corrode. Anyone that says differently is DEluded (pun intended)

Distilled only. That simple. Most grocery stores carry it. Even walmart does

Edit: deionized can be used in glycol/alcohol mixes due to properties of the media

 

[euphoria4949]

Thanks for your reply.

I've just emigrated from the UK where Distilled water is abundant and cheap, to eastern Europe where unfortunately it seems that Distilled water is like rocking-horse poo or chickens teeth, i.e. it don't exist! :-\

I've tried everywhere to get it, but no luck. So if Deionised water is no good, then I'm gonna have to take the tediously long approach and make it myself =(

[EDIT] I will also be using Biocide/Anti-algae and a killcoil if that makes a difference.

 

[everlost]

i used to work at a facility where distilled and de-ionized water was used to cool high voltage semicondutors. one thing we noticed was PVC and some Teflon parts took a beating. reducing a 5 or 10 year maintenance cycle to an anual event.

i dont know what the tubing is made of. but i would avoid mixing PVC and De-Ionized water.

 

[manofchalk]

You could probably just catch rain water, that would be pure enough for this usage.

Though far as I know, De-Ionized water is an even purer form of Distilled. What causes water to conduct is the minerals in it, pure H20 doesnt conduct electricity. So to me, if anything properly de-ionized water would be purer than Distilled.
The all knowing Wikipedia seems to back me up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purified_water

It also seems that De-mineralized and De-Ionized are the same thing, and I'v been running De-mineralized for a fair while with no issues to my knowledge. It seems that the only downside over distilled is that it doesnt remove organic matter, but with a killcoil and biocide that wont matter.

If your concerned about it ionizing and the possible negative effects of it stealing Ions from your loop, pour it in a bucket and throw in something Copper or Brass and let it sit for a bit. That should re-ionize the water, while only contaminating it with a metal its going to be exposed too in the loop anyway.

 

[Buzz247]

*blink blink* I always understood deionized wasn't as pure as distilled. That some traces of metals and minute particulate remained, as well as very acidic vs more ph neutral of distilled. I learned something new! Today was a success then lol. I bow to manochalk and his wiki companion

 

[Lawrence Orsini]

Deionized water will pretty quickly reionize in your loop, using the ions from your metal parts to do so! I'd stay clear of deionized water, it will physically eat small amounts of metal off of your kit until it becomes PH balanced (re ionized) once again.