open W/C setup

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone has tried waterbed conditioner in their open w/c setup to stop the water from going bad or algae formation. Also what about windshield washer fluid, with the alcohol content would it still go bad it can sit in the resevoir or your car for years and still be good. Any Ideas??..

Whoa man! Don't use the windshield washer fluid in your bong!
Methanol (30% mix in many brands) will make you blind and/or turn your liver to stone. Since a bong is an evaporative cooler, it won't take long for all the Methanol (alcohol) to leave the water and coloring behind. Also since the vapors will contain mostly alcohol for a short time, those vapors may well be flammable.

You can try looking into the local hardware and look for humidfier additive. That should be safe to breath, and shouldn't kill ya.
I used bleach all winter in mine, 1~2cc per gallon of water. Didn't have any green goobies growing at all. If you can smell it, then chances are you added too much. Chlorine is a great killer, and doesn't take much to be effective. However don't use it if you have any galvanised pipe in your system...bleach and zinc don't play nice together, and will grow crystals to the point of choking off the waterflow. It worked fine with my copper block and brass hose barbs.

Have a good one bro, and don't kill yourself for cooler temps, eh?

open w/c

hey diggrr,

thanks for the info man, its not a bong setup I just have like a 10 gal plastic tub with the pump in it. I was just wondering on how the bleach reacts with all the hose and the pump but 1-2 cc per gal isnt much at all. Thanks again man, do you also run water wetter in with your cooling system?

rad fluid in small amounts should solve your problem.

Nah, I haven't used water wetter in a year of two.
It's not a good idea in a bong or evap setup because it smeeeellls! Basically, if you'd fear driking your bong water, you have the wrong ingredients in it, because you're breathing it anyway (and bleach that weak won't hurt you...city water is often the same). If your system is closed, and not evaporating, then water wetter or washerfluid is no problem.

This past Tuesday, I returned to my closed system for the summer. The heatercore hanging in the nice cool basement keeps my processor cooler than my bong did (30C full load baby!), but I wanted to fart around with a bong for a while.
Right now I'm experimenting with windshield washer fluid in my system, to see what the effects are. I'm using 2/3 water to 1/3 washerfluid, and the washerfluid is 33% methanol to begin with, so its pretty weak but should kill any critters anyway. It's also made my reservior a purty blue!

Since I plumbed the radiator lines using 1/2" copper tubing, it's also a passive system too. With no fan, it only goes up 6 more degrees.

Anyway, the reason for all this, is that I found radiator fluid can turn either acidic or alkyline over time, so I'm testing out an alternative. Washerfluid is staying pH neutral so far, but the final result is still a month away.

Have a good one!