Your opinion: Distilled vs deionized water for cooling loop. Driving me nuts!

[glytch5]

You can get distilled water from the store for about 1.50 a gallon... while deionized water I have not seen for much less than 26 bucks a gallon... even if not intended for water cooling.

Some guys say that deionized water is the worst thing, because it will ionize and cause corrosion super fast. They say distilled water contains less bacteria and is more pure.

I have also read some articles online, that are the exact opposite of what I see price wise. The internet tells me that deionized water is cheaper than distilled water, because it takes less time, and less energy to produce... yet the prices speak for them selves.

Big brands like Primochill and Alphacool plus others sell very expensive containers of deionized water and say its the BEST for making coolant or running in your loop! When you buy pre mixed coolant, one of the main ingredients is "de ionized water" never "distilled water"

So what do you guys think? and why? ALSO-people keep saying you can get deionized water in stores... I HAVE NEVER SEEN IT!!!!! Distilled water is everywhere though... Never seen distilled water cost more than a couple bucks... never seen de ionized cost less than 25 bucks.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

Distilled water is just purified water by distillation or evaporation and then condensation. It will be free of impurities but not mineral ions present in them.

Deionized water is the water after removing most of the mineral ions. So we can safely say that this will have a much less chance to cause corrosion than distilled water.

So yes, deionized water is what used as the base in coolants in custom loops.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Distilled water is just purified water by distillation or evaporation and then condensation. It will be free of impurities but not mineral ions present in them.

Deionized water is the water after removing most of the mineral ions. So we can safely say that this will have a much less chance to cause corrosion than distilled water.

So yes, deionized water is what used as the base in coolants in custom loops.

Distilled water will be free of any mineral impurities as well...

 

[Lucky_SLS]

Don't see how mineral impurities are removed by evap and condensation. Only dust and other impurities will be removed AFAIK.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Don't see how mineral impurities are removed by evap and condensation. Only dust and other impurities will be removed AFAIK.

Because minerals don't boil off with the water.

Imagine if you had a pot of water with salt dissolved in it. If you boil it off, all the water would evaporate (which you would capture if distilling), but the salt would be left in the pot.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

True, but it's not complete removal of all minerals. Distillation works behind vapour pressure and boiling point I believe. Dunno which minerals but some can be very close to each other. That's y I said de ionization removes most mineral ions.

 

[TJ Hooker]

When I think of dissolved minerals I think of dissolved metallic salts/ions. In which case I don't think any of them boil close to 100 C. But maybe I'm misusing the word mineral here. Although even if I'm not, there are still other ions that's can be present, such as dissolved gases.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

Maybe u r right, but I remember de ionized water being used in more sensitive chemical tests than distilled water since its more pure. That's all.

 

[TJ Hooker]

After reading a bit more you're right, deionized water has less ions than distilled water. However, after the DI water has been exposed to air and equilibrium is reached, it should have about the same amount of ions as distilled water.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

I think then that would be true for both the cases. Coolant recirculation with outside ambient air will do that to both distilled and DI water.

 

[glytch5]

hmmm... I didn't get any messages on my email about this convo!
I am starting to think that the whole thing on google where it talks about the two and clearly states and Deionized water is cheaper is coming from the old days... where on ships they had to use fuel to distill water... now days its a heck of a lot cheaper.

I feel like distilled water is more pure in terms of bacteria, fungus algae and all that, but deionized water is more pure from minerals and ions... the thing you truly don't want in a loop.

I'm glad you guys spoke on here... so Lucky_SLS you are a straight deionized water guy? Where do you get your stuff? DO you think Type II is sufficient, or you must go type I?

 

[Lucky_SLS]

I still haven't reached that amount of enthusiast level pc building XD , but I follow ppl who build those custom loop pc. So I just shared the info I knew.

And like I said, de ionized water is used as the base for all coolants.

 

[glytch5]

Ah well, I just wanted opinions anyway. There is a lot of info on this. I have had brand names who sell deionized water tell me distilled water is fine lol. So idk...
I use distilled water for stuff like, loops flushing and making system cleaners like blitz kits. I used deionized for doing coolant concentrates. Or if hell froze over and I decided to run just water and biocide, I would def do deionized.

 

[Paperdoc]

I'm a Physical Chemist, so I understand and have used for decades both of those water types. Many comments above are wrong. Then I'll add further considerations.

Distillation means boiling the water until it evaporates off water vapour - that is, water in a gaseous form. There are very few dissolved things that can evaporate off with the water - mostly a few gases like Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide - and NO ionic materials. Water made with any proper still system will be free of most possible contaminants, but with a few gases in small amounts. Chemists who need even those things removed typically will re-boil the distilled water to drive out the dissolved gases.

Deionization removes a lot of dissolved ionic items in water, by treating it with an insoluble polymeric resin in bead form. The resin material readily exchanges Hydrogen ions from its surface for metal ions captured from the water. This process does not remove other types of contaminants, and it uses much less energy that distillation. That is why it is less expensive. HOWEVER, scale of production and distribution operations can affect final selling prices dramatically. So a large-scale system to produce and sell distilled water MAY come out cheaper that a small-scale deionization system.

Costs aside, distilled water is certainly much purer - that is, it has much less dissolved contaminants of any form remaining in it.

The rest of these comments have not been raised above, but come from practical experience. What happens once you open the bottle of "pure" water (from whichever source) and start to use it? It becomes contaminated! It most certainly will start to absorb gases from the air. It may acquire microscopic dust particles. It may acquire living microorganisms. Whatever container you place it in - plastic tubing, metal heat sinks, etc. - it will dissolve minute quantities of these materials in the water. The fact that you use it in a recirculating cooling loop which heats it up means that all chemical reactions and biochemical reactions are proceeding faster. So, oxidation of the metal parts of the circulation system by oxygen absorbed from the air will be faster than if the system were cold always. Multiplication of living microorganisms provided with oxygen from air and with "food" from decay of dust and other foreign particles also will proceed faster. These processes WILL occur, even if slowly. Trying to prevent them with clean Distilled water, a sealed system, or attempts to sterilize it to kill off microorganisms, is extremely difficult.

That is why suppliers sell concentrated additives for liquid cooling systems. Typically these mixtures contain pH stabilizers to keep the recirculating liquid's pH in a benign range, oxygen scavengers to trap dissolved oxygen, corrosion inhibitors to protect the metals in the system from oxidation by any of many trace ionic species, and toxic chemicals to prevent the growth and reproduction of biological organisms. When used was directed, these additive products do their job well. They cannot be effective permanently but they will prevent the development of problems for years. Using them is much better that trying to use absolutely pure water and hoping to keep it sterile.

 

[glytch5]

Nice man, thanks for the info. Again though... everywhere you look, distilled water is about 20 times or more cheaper than deionized water type II or higher.
Typical 1Gallon of deionized water is about 26.99. Typical distilled water from pharmacy or store 1 to 1.69$ per gallon.

Why is that? these aren't deionized water from little home made specialty companies either... these are industrial/commercial bottlings of it.

Everything you said is why I would never run just water and biocide... always either pre mixed coolant or concentrate. I appreciate the response... but still don't get why distilled water is so cheap compared to the other. I read what you said... but it just doesn't make sense to me why the price gap is so wide.

 

[Paperdoc]

I agree about that price difference. I don't typically buy those items, but now you got me curious and I'm going to look around in local stores. Back before I retired, when I was working in industry, I had easy access to distilled water in the labs where I worked so it never was an issue for me. Even now the only real need I have is for deionized water for use in a steam iron. But where I live the tap water comes from a very "soft" supply (very low dissolved minerals) so I don't usually worry about that.

 

[glytch5]

Ah okay. Yes I have heard you can buy it for irons... but I have never seen it in stores. I hear they use deionized for water jets and cutting as well.
Thanks for the reply sir. Most people say to just use distilled water... but if the expensive stuff really makes a difference in coolant concentrate I have no problem paying extra... just want to make sure its worth it.

 

[Paperdoc]

You have two "best choices" that should work equally well:
1. Use the pre-made complete solution.
2. Use Distilled water (it's cheaper and chemically better than deionized) plus a concentrate, and mix up your own filling solution according to the instructions.

 

[glytch5]

Still not sure that the distilled water from the grocery store is all that great since its so cheap... I just don't feel like it could be as good... or else big brands would just sell that.

here is a funny one for ya, I tried to buy some deionized water type II from Grainger... they won't let me buy it. Its a "lab chemical" hahaha.

 

[fhslaxman26]

Thanks for all of your information Paperdoc.

I do have an additional question, I went online and thought I bought Distilled water, but ended up buying Type I Deionized water. Would that be sufficient with a concentrate?

 

[glytch5]

type I deionized water is fantastic stuff. Its absolute good for concentrate.

type 1 is better than 2, and 2 is what primochill and many brands sell to use for concentrate. Don't even hesitate to use it... just make sure you do your best to keep it capped up when your not pouring.

I have come to find that distilled water is more acidic than deionized. the distilled waters I have tried are about a 6 or even less... the other stuff is closer to neutral. When you get a coolant in concentrate its generally basic or alkaline.

 

[Paperdoc]

Don't worry about the pH of distilled water. pH is a measure of the balance of hydrogen (H+) versus hydroxyl (OH-) ions in the water. In pure distilled water there are VERY few ions of any type, and there is always some CO2 (carbon dioxide) dissolved in it from the air. In the water it reacts with the H2O to form Carbonic Acid, H2CO3, which dissociates into H+ and HCO3- ions, thus increasing the H+ ion concentration slightly. This lowers the pH, because even though there are not many H+ ions around, there are even fewer OH- ions.

In deionized water there are many more dissolved ions of several types around, and their presence tends to stabilize the pH value by tying up some of the H+ ions.

More importantly, when you add a cooling loop concentrate to either of these types of water, they provide VASTLY more ionic species, and these are particularly chosen to reduce H+ ion concentration and raise the pH into the alkaline region slightly, then stabilize it there so further additions of small quantities of things (like CO2 gas from the air) will not make any significant change to that stable solution. The final pH of the solution is almost totally dependent on what that concentrate does; the initial pH of the dilution water you use - distilled or deionized - makes virtually no difference.

 

[glytch5]

I'm rockin' deionized for now. Best results with concentrate so far. I won't use it for flushing expense wise, but concentrates all day long.

It seems to do wonders when honing razors and knives on extremely fine sharpening stones... down to about .5 micron. Makes quite a difference.

 

[glytch5]

anyone ever find out why the deionized water is so much more expensive?

 

[btmedic04]

another option to consider comes from my experience running a salt water aquarium. running one requires very pure water with 0 TDS (total disolved solids) and I had to purchase a reverse osmosis deionizer system (ro/di.) you can purchase a ro/di with 4-7 stages and it will produce 50-150 gallons per day. way more than you'll ever need for a water cooling loop. For what its worth THIS was the ro/di I purchased and I had 0 TDS output until the resin was worn out