demineralized water for liquid cooling
 

Just got a swiftech pump, radiator and apogee cooling setup for my gaming rig, i also got the swiftech hydrx liquid additive because i figured it'd be best to get the additive that recommended for the pump and such.

It says to get "demineralized water" now i've heard of mineral water but where do i find demineralized water? I don't have a filtration system for my tap so can i buy it someplace? Has anybody used the hydrx additive? any suggestions?

thanks

-Ray

You can get it in most supermarkets.

Sounds like just a fancy name for distilled water?

There is a difference between demineralized and distilled. Demineralizing happens with a kind of chromatography, where + and - ions (K+, Na+, Cl-,...) get exchanged for H+ and OH- respectively. This way, you get water that doesn't conduct electricity (in theory), and should only react like water theoretically does. Mind you, it's impossible to get every ion out of water, so practically, it's not 'pure' water. Also, there probably are microorganisms left in this kind of water, even though there are no ions in it anymore. This might not be very nice in a watercooling.

Distilling means you evaporate the water, leaving behind anything that isn't H2O, and then condensing the vapour again. This also doesn't produce 100% pure water, but comes close.

Well I stand corrected!

Err, so he wouldn't want distilled and de-mineralized, as much as de-ionized water then?

That's an interesting link, Jmke. Who knew water was so complicated... :rolleyes:

From what i've heard from the other forums and people i've talked to, the fully de-ionized stuff from chemistry shops and labs is really the best thing to have but is also expensive.

The next best thing is distilled water, which is for the most part non conductive and non corrosive. That can be bought at walmart or drug stores for like a dollar a gallon, and that is what almost everybody uses along with the liquid additive.

Really the best thing would be the premixed stuff from a company that makes liquid cooling equipment for computer technology. Unfortunatly that stuff is 30 bucks for every half gallon or less.

So i'm sure i'm gonna go with the distilled water and swiftech hydrx additive seeming it's the cheapest and most accessable. I'm not to worried about leaks because the swiftech stuff has a pretty good track record in that regard.

thanks all

All you need is a $1 per gallon of distilled water, that's the whole point of the "additive." They provide the addtive to combat iomnization.

basically distilled water is as stated above, boiled to remove impuritues. Impurities are what makes water electrically conductivce or ionoized.

If you have two "dissimilair" metals in a water-cooling system and you ususally do, there is the potential for Dissimilar or Galvanic Corrosion. Aluminum is probably the most probelmatic of metals when in "mixed company" because it corrodes so rapidly.

As the particles (ions) staurate the water in your cooling system this begins to effect how well it can transfer heat and if there's a spill that water is now electrically conductive which will cuase a short and fry components.

Switech adds ethelyne glycol and a few otrher additives to the solution tp prevent these things. Don't worry amnd just get distilled, if the label reads "Steam Distilled" that's better.

Dissimilar metals are really the biggest problem I have seen with people's cooling systems. I do not care what anti-freeze or corrosion inhibitor you use your liquid will beging to get cloudy much sooner than it should and your cooling system's effectiveness will also start to fade as the cloud begins to build up on your block. Distilled water is great, the price is right some protection to it and you are set. Use a copper water block and the rest platic or ceramic. So the only metal you have is the water block.

I have been liquid cooling for 5 1/2 years now without any problems!

WZ

I have been using de-mineralized water and Swiftech Hydrx in the correct ratio for about 2 months and the liquid is still as clear as day one. I had an incident a few weeks ago when the graphics started getting all weird on the screen even in the BIOS. I turned it off and looked inside. Everything looked fine except there was some green droplets on the back of the graphics card (Asus N6600). The fittings on the chipset water block were not tightened all the way and it slowly leaked. I tightened those up and removed the video card, cleaned it with rubbing alcohol and reinstalled it. No more problems with either graphics or the leaks. The coolant was slightly conductive but not enough to make permanent damage.