BioCide...

[MiseryQ]

What kind do you use in an evaporative system and where do you get it from?!?

I tried a pool and spa store... Went back to where I bought my pump and the guy said a tablespoon per gallon should work...

One small cap full and I'm being gassed...

Arg ICk... http://www.theunholytrinity.org/cracks_smileys/cwm/cwm/puke.gif

Gotta change my water...

[MiseryQ]

Sorry, a tablespoon of bleach per gallon...

[J37X]

you could try a treatment solution for humidifiers, not sure how they would affect cooling ability tho. just an idea, i work at lowes and i noticed we have this brand http://rpsproducts.bizhosting.com/humidifier_solutions.html
if i remember correctly a bottle treats a very large amount of water, i have the 1-800 number here to request msds sheets for it if you need.

[MiseryQ]

Thanks... There's a Loew's close to where I work...

[Christoph]

Originally posted by J37X
you could try a treatment solution for humidifiers, not sure how they would affect cooling ability tho. just an idea, i work at lowes and i noticed we have this brand http://rpsproducts.bizhosting.com/humidifier_solutions.html
if i remember correctly a bottle treats a very large amount of water, i have the 1-800 number here to request msds sheets for it if you need.

Nice link. Which of those would we want?
Here's what I've found:
Humiditreat prevents lime and iron build-up
Humidiclean rapidly dissolves lime/iron build-up
Bacteriostatic (duh) kills bacteria/algae

My guess is that those of us with evaporative coolers should get the Bacteriostatic stuff and Humiditreat. I didn't see anything about the Humiditreat preventing the battery effect (water + two metals = bad), though, and I want to make sure that I'm getting the right stuff before I dive in.

[Crash893]

try a camping store ( they have pills you can put in your water that kills everything)

it tastes nasty but i dont think your going to drink your bong water anytime soon

i think there iodine or something ( spell check that one)

[Diggrr]

I've always wondered if some Listerine or Listermint would work. A bong with minty fresh breath, kills germs and bacteria too.:D

[pudgy-duck]

Go down to good ol SEARS. Get Sears part number 32 14900 which is their "Quiet comfort Evaporative HUMIDIFIER BACTERIOSTAT". Have been using it in my bong, works great.
Use 1 ounce per 6 gallons. It creates a little bit of suds, must have detergent in it, which is good, because detergent is a wetting agent. Like Water Wetter for a bong.

Remember, the key word here is evaporative, which means that whatever you put in the bong will eventually end up in the air, and therefore in your lungs. This stuff is designed for evaporative humidifiers, which is basically what a bong is. Best to use a product designed for this purpose.

Pudge

[phiber]

wat if i used evaporative cooling in the sense of a Fishtank you think that stuff will work?>

[Portishead]

I'm just starting out...and don't even have a watercooler yet. But since Biocides is what I do every day I may have some input....

1) Bleach as a biocide. Bleach is a very good biocide, but can have some problems including corrosion at high concentrations. Assuming you used the Clorox variety of household bleach it was probably 5% free chlorine. 1T to 1 gallon would equate to a concentration of 19 mg/L. Putting this in perspective chlorinated drinking usually has no more that 0.5 mg/L of chlorine. And recommendations for disinfecting water distribution systems usually only required 4 mg/L at a max, before corrosion, taste, and odors become a problem. If you want to use bleach try about 0.5 teaspoon per gallon water (3 mg/L chlorine).

2) Humidifier descaller solutions. By others experience these may work well...but a bit of overkill. If you are running distilled or de-ionized water in your system...technically the water will be pH=7 and have minimal mineral content. People usually put straight tap water in humidifiers which requires the descalling solutions. I am unsure of the biocides in these chemicals, but think about this you drink chlorine in water would you drink humidifier biocide in water?

[phiber]

Originally posted by Portishead
I'm just starting out...and don't even have a watercooler yet. But since Biocides is what I do every day I may have some input....

1) Bleach as a biocide. Bleach is a very good biocide, but can have some problems including corrosion at high concentrations. Assuming you used the Clorox variety of household bleach it was probably 5% free chlorine. 1T to 1 gallon would equate to a concentration of 19 mg/L. Putting this in perspective chlorinated drinking usually has no more that 0.5 mg/L of chlorine. And recommendations for disinfecting water distribution systems usually only required 4 mg/L at a max, before corrosion, taste, and odors become a problem. If you want to use bleach try about 0.5 teaspoon per gallon water (3 mg/L chlorine).

2) Humidifier descaller solutions. By others experience these may work well...but a bit of overkill. If you are running distilled or de-ionized water in your system...technically the water will be pH=7 and have minimal mineral content. People usually put straight tap water in humidifiers which requires the descalling solutions. I am unsure of the biocides in these chemicals, but think about this you drink chlorine in water would you drink humidifier biocide in water?
i use tap water.....cuz its too much to get distilled water all the time and stuff

[MiseryQ]

Has anybody had problems with deposits in evaporative systems?!?

Would that 1/2 teaspoon/gallon bleach still cause that smell?!?
I'm assuming it won't... I'll try it later this evening...

[pudgy-duck]

Originally posted by Portishead
I'm just starting out...and don't even have a watercooler yet. But since Biocides is what I do every day I may have some input....

Humidifier descaller solutions. By others experience these may work well...but a bit of overkill. If you are running distilled or de-ionized water in your system...technically the water will be pH=7 and have minimal mineral content. People usually put straight tap water in humidifiers which requires the descalling solutions. I am unsure of the biocides in these chemicals, but think about this you drink chlorine in water would you drink humidifier biocide in water?

Portishead;

Here's what's in the Sears Evaporative Humidifier Bacteriostat

Active Ingredients:

n-alkyl (60% C14, 30% C16, 5% C12, 5% C18) dimethyl Benzyl ammonium Chlorides..........2.25%

n-alkyl (68% C12, 32% C14) dimethyl ethylbenzyl ammonium chlorides...............2.25%

Inert ingrediants.....................................95 .50%

Is this good, bad, or ugly? Even though I've had no problems with this, maybe it would be better to go with the very dilute bleach? Your comment, "you drink chlorine in water would you drink humidifier biocide in water?", made a very good point.

How would this work? Your suggested ratio of 1/2 teaspoon chlorox, 1 or 2 drops of dish washing detergent as a wetting agent (to break down the surface tension of water), to one gallon of distilled/de-ionized water. Would the Clorox and the dish detergent interact in a bad way? I know you should NEVER mix chlorine bleach and ammonia, good way to kill yourself. Would there be any bad reaction between Chlorox and say Dawn dish soap?

Thanks
Pudge

[Portishead]

MiseryQ: I am not sure how bad (if any) odor you will get. It depends on your evaporative rate and your personal sensitivity to chlorine odors. Personally I have worked with this level of chlorine in model plumbing systems and have not noticed a revolting odor. Even if you go with 1/4 teaspoon per gallon you will still get 1.5 mg/L about 3x what is used to prevent bacteria in drinking water.


Pudgy: I don't have any experience with those particular ingredients...but a quick web-review and I find them fairly common for sanitizing. They are similar to chlorine in the way they disinfect...just more powerful, hence the smaller amount required (percentage wise). Just as long as you (or your dog) don't indulge in a drink from your evaporator I think your all good.

You won't have any problems mixing a dilute chlorine solution with dish soap. (Bad things happen only if you dump full strength Clorox with ammonia and hang out in the room).

You might even try some flowery smelling anti-bacterial soap. (If your into flowers, lol) Just go easy or else you might be flushing your system for a good long time to stop the bubbles.

[Crash893]

would a uv light work?

[MiseryQ]

My computer runs nonstop... I lose 1/2 gallon a day...
I think I'll start with a few drops and work up... All I have is Ultra Bleach...

[pudgy-duck]

Portishead;

Thanks, I appreciate you taking the time to share your expertise.

If you don't mind, I have one last question.
Scenario one: The bacteriostat evaporates along with the water and at the same rate. So, if you keep adding water with 1/6 ounce bacteriostat per gallon, after adding six gallons over time the water in the resevoir will still be the same concentration as the original solution. 1/6 ounce per gallon.
Scenario two: The bacteriostat doesn't evaporate, or evaporates at a slower rate than the water, so that after adding water/bacteriostat solution over time, the concentration of the solution will become slowly stronger.

Which is correct, Scenario One or Scenario Two?

I assume Scenario one is closest to being correct, but I am not sure. If Scenario two is correct, then I assume it would be a good idea to periodically empty the system and start over with the recommended strength solution.

How did you know I have a dog? Unless you've been reading Pepsi's acrylic cube thread.

Thanks again for your time.

Pudge

[Portishead]

For the chemicals in Bacteriostat, it looks like scenario one is correct. Bacteriostat will evaporate at the same rate as the water.

How do I know....every chemical produced (legally) requires a Materials Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). These MSDS's are great places to answer some questions. Doing a quick search for one of the ingredients in Bacteriostat I found this website: http://www.horizononline.com/MSDS_Sheets/455.txt among others. The chemical here is very similar to yours. (You should be able to request a MSDS for bacteriostat from the company).

On MSDS there is always a section on Physical Hazard Data of the chemical (in this case section IV). You chemical has the same boiling point and very nearly the same specific gravity as water, along with a low volitilization rate....so one can deduct that it will behave physically similar to water.

Hope this helps. Oh and by the by I didn't know you had a dog I just know cats are smart enough not to drink from a water bong :o) Just kidding.

[Portishead]

ahhh good old UV light.

UV is a great disinfectant, but a very specific one. You are not going to disinfect with your "black light", "grow light", or tanning bulb....all of which put out light toward the UV end of the spectrum. UV disinfection requires a pretty specific wavelength to work (usually 254 nm), this has to be a pure 254 nm output to be most effective.

Alright, so you have got a UV disinfecting chamber...well the second problem is that UV doesn't put a residual in the water....so you might have disinfected water coming out but the slime growing in your water block is unaffected and growing by the minute.

And finally, this isn't usually a big concern with drinking water but, UV light generates heat (probably around 80 F for the size system you would use for this application)...so you have one more heat source to try and cool.

Bottom line...UV probably isn't the solution for Water Cooling.

[MiseryQ]

It seems like all you need to do for a "biocide" is go to the kitchen...

A couple of drops of "antibacterial Ajax" has kept the smell away all week... It only took two days for the smell to become noticable in the whole room before...

[Portishead]

Ajax it is....I see you tried my advice...and found something that won't be flowery smelling. Instead Lemon Fresh! Keep an eye on your tubes over the next few weeks to see if you have any slime growing.


Do you have a filter on your system to trap dust and stuff that may fall in your cooler?

[MiseryQ]

What this about "slime growing"?!?

Like in Ghostbusters II?!?

I guess I'll Be getting a filter ASAP...

[Portishead]

I am not sure if you will get slime (biofilm) or not. I have heard others talk about slime growth in open systems. If you have a good disinfectant (Ajax or equal :D ) then you shouldn't have to worry.

A filter might be a good idea because it would stop dust and whatever else that falls in your system from being deposited in your water block or tubing.

I got a good one at Advanced Autoparts. It has replacable filters and a clear chamber so you can see the filter. Bonus was that 3/8" tubing fit nicely on the ends. The filter was made by Puralator for gas and was $10.

[MiseryQ]

I know the one your talking about, I have one on my volkswagen... But my lines 1/2", larger than the fuel line on my Baja :D...