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salt water in loop

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JerkasaurusRex

Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Location
New York, New York
So my loop is very basic and i want to neutralize it so it dosnt affect the copper and stuff. I have a bong so its an open system. Would it be ok to neutralize it with some vinegar turning the bleach into salt water? I guess i could put a filter inside the bong to catch the salt but that would be a pain. Is salt water with some CuSO4 ok to run in the system? The CuSO4 is my biocide.
 
Bleach in your system? I hope you didn't add bleach into the water in your evaporative loop. Are you using Tap water & referring to the Chlorine thats in it? Tap water will present more of a problem with clogging the shower head used in your bong than causing oxidation. Water contains less than 1% Chlorine. That means there's less than 10ml of Chlorine per liter of water in your system
 
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Slayer2003 said:
"vinegar turning the bleach into salt water"





............I did not know that. :-/

acid + base = salt + water

the salt isn't table salt though - it depends on which acid and which base were reacted.

and putting a filter in wont take out any salt at all - salt completely dissolves into water and the only way to get it back out is to distill the water. your evaporater would act as a distiller and the salinity of your water would skyrocket until it started to crystallize in the pump and around the showerhead :(

i wouldn't try an neutralization - it may be more work, but flushing your system and filling with distilled is going to be the best solution.
 
Well the bleach is one of those bleach tablets you put in a toilet bowl or in a urnal or something like that. Its one of those little patties/tablet things and its predominantly made out of bleach. I figured neutralization would be good but wouldnt just putting a filter were the water drops catch most of the salt since the water is evaporating the salt would crystalize as it was dropping and land on the filter while the unevaporated water would go right through?
 
Constantinos...I think you need to just flush your system really well with distilled water and dish soap and start over.

Forget about the toilet tablets. they are not made for water cooling, and if chlorine tablets were a desireable additive someone would have marketed the, by now.

Do something tried and true before you find yourself with problems that are both incurable and costly...not to mention unhealthy.

Shane
 
Do you understand that he is using a bong?

I suppose if he has the equipment to distill water, then he should go ahead and use distilled water, but until he dumps approx $.79 a gallon on distilled water, he's going to stick to tap water.

Constantinos, what's the PH of your water? If it's +/- 2 or so of 7 (neutral), then I wouldnt worry about neutralizing it anyways.

And, feel inside your bong, is there a slimy coating on the inside? I'm just curious to see if anyoen else got that too.
 
How can i test the pH with household stuff? I dont ahve any litmus paper or anything like that.

As for the slimy coating, i dont have any but my water is blue colored becasue of the bleach.chlorine tablet.
 
adamwinn said:
i wouldn't try an neutralization - it may be more work, but flushing your system and filling with distilled is going to be the best solution.

Go with that.

DO NOT NEUTRALIZE...AT ALL! If you neutralize bleach w/ an acid it will suddenly give off mass qauntities of chlorine gas...all at once. I have heard it said that one lungful of pure chlorine gas (normal air is 20% Oxygen, 80% Nitrogen) is enough to kill you. Simply dump the water down a drain and refill it, or go w/ distilled, or whatever else suits your fancy.

As for the CuS04 being used a biocide; I do not recommend it, it is not overly effective, and since it is a salt it enhances corrosion, for bong setups I have recommended cambden tablets (or K-meta, or potassium meta-bi-suilfite) used for homebrewing, and available at some wine stores. You can also use iodine, or practically anything else that one of the members here will recommend. While the bleach tabs themselves are very effective at killing most any kind of microrganism / funguses etc. they also contain detergents, and greatly enhance corrosion.

Edit: Found some hard data:
In a recent study of 323 cases of inhalation exposures reported to poison control centers, the largest single source of exposure (21%) was caused by mixing bleach with other products.
Taken from:
http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic851.htm

1-3 ppm can cause mild mucous membrane irritation
5-15 ppm, moderate irritation of upper respiratory tract
30 ppm, immediate chest pain, vomiting, dyspnea, and cough
40-60 ppm, toxic pneumonitis and pulmonary edema
430 ppm, lethal over 30 minutes
1,000 ppm, death within a few minutes
Taken from
http://www.nsc.org/library/chemical/chlorine.htm

ppm is parts per million, so the worst case above @ 1000ppm is actually only .1% of chlorine gas in the air.
 
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Gah... you added Bleach to your system. Drain it *now*. Bleach will cause your waterblocks to turn into a nice Red/Ox equation ;). Thats not good for the longevity of your parts to say the least.
 
good luck w/ your setup...ID mean to be scaremonger ;) Bleach based products really should have much stronger warnings on the label, there is practically no warning on it at all about mixing chemicals, and their little fine print one-liners just don't cut it imo.
 
Idiot!?!? No, you sir are not an idiot, I actually asked them same question...then I stumbled upon a chemistry book w/ way too much time on my hands ;)
 
Thanks for taking the time to find some good info on the chlorine gas, redwraith.
 
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