Bong and tap water

[AgEnT0140]

Every evaporative cooling tower setup i have seen uses regular tap water. but people with radiatiors use water wetter or some other additive in the water. What is the difference other than the fact the evaps loose coolant and it would be a pain to keep putting in more water wetter.

KEvin

[flounder43]

Well, remember, whatever you put in that water will be evaporated and you will breath it...

[_Will_]

I've always wondered that myself. Wouldn't using tap water in your bong system lead to minerals collecting inside the pumps? Algae? Personally I would think using distilled water would be a bit safer. Though maybe a bit more expensive?

[AgEnT0140]

yeah. i don't wanna be brething in water wetter.... distilled water is about $1 for a gallon so it wouldn't be too expensive. Thanks for your help.

Kevin

[Warlord2]

distilled water would still make build up inside your block and pump but it would take longer...

how long does it take for build up and corrosion to take place just with tap water?

[William]

you can get rid of build up if you run something like diluted Vinger or diluted HCL/Muriatic Acid(if you have copper, if you have aluminum, make sure it is DILUTE!!!!). That should clean it cup rather nicely. I wouldn't use tap water at all, not worth it, Distilled is better.

[AgEnT0140]

what about filtered water? like with the brita tap filter?

[Spartacus51]

If you're going to use distilled I suggest getting it in a big water cooler jug, much cheaper that way. I think tap will be OK as long as you clean your system out every once in awhile, but you may want to check it to see what is all in there. Copper will react with chlorides under acidic conditions.

[Ottoman]

u can use algicide attaditives they sell them at pet stores...
there are non toxic ones

[Ploaf]

If you just happen to have a reverse osmosis system at home you should be able to use that as well. Most(90-95% for salts) minerals/salts should be removed and it's cheaper and easier than running to the store for distilled water. It usually tastes better too. :) Distilled water here is only 50cents/gallon max so either way it won't be too terribly expensive.
Brita's remove very little of what you want to remove and deposits can still occur although some minerals, oddly enough, are removed through a brita (the pitcher and not a pressurized tap filter). I wouldn't trust it for this application though.

[William]

there is a difference between de-ionized water and distilled water. There is still non-water stuff in de-ionized water(not sure what) and it tatstes a lot better. Distilled Water will be like 99.98% water. If you are in a school that has a distillation apparatus you could suck up to the chem teacher for free water.

[Yodums]

Originally posted by William
there is a difference between de-ionized water and distilled water. There is still non-water stuff in de-ionized water(not sure what) and it tatstes a lot better. Distilled Water will be like 99.98% water. If you are in a school that has a distillation apparatus you could suck up to the chem teacher for free water.


"Hello can I take some water from the school."

Hehe, just sounds funny :)

[Ploaf]

Originally posted by William
there is a difference between de-ionized water and distilled water. There is still non-water stuff in de-ionized water(not sure what) and it tatstes a lot better. Distilled Water will be like 99.98% water. If you are in a school that has a distillation apparatus you could suck up to the chem teacher for free water.

There is a very big difference between the two and even RO water. Deionized water is created by running the water through cation and anion exchange beds. It is usually useful for things such as electroplating, pharmaceutical industry, etc. The deionization process is much less expensive than alternatives and is very effective in making water useful for the afformentioned industries. Distillation does not remove 100% of impurities(this is almost not even possible given the scavenging nature of water) either, although it comes close and it is extremely useful in small high temperature situations. It is a very expensive and difficult to implement process of treating large volumes of water which is why it isn't always used. Reverse Osmosis involves the forcing of the water through a semi permeable membrane. Like distillation, no exchange of minerals takes place. The process is much different than deionization and distillation and was conceived over a century ago although it wasn't until more recently that we were able to create such equipment. Multi stage RO systems can make water electrically nonconductive and it can be easier and cheaper to implement than distillation although it is also very expensive. It is also used in pharmaceutical and other industries and is a popular method of treating drinking water as well since it removes salts, nitrates and when combined with a solid carbon block will remove just about anything that distillation will or more. It tastes much better because of it's higher oxygen content. Distilled water will not taste as good either due to the lower oxygen levels. Oxygen plays an important role in the taste of the water but it can also cause pitting and an acceleration in the degradation of the equipment that uses water with high oxygen levels. If you are really worried about pitting of the copper block then distilled or deionized water may be the way to go.

[Colin]

DON'T use Water Wetter in a bong cooler! It smells terrible and will make you sick.

Anyone using a bong cooler should drain the system monthly to remove concentrated disloved minerals. Do this and tap or distilled water won't matter.

[Silver]

Opened up my dd maze 2/1 block last week and there was zero buildup in it. Now this may have a lot to do with the tap water mineral content. This was after six months of usage.