Distilled Water

Sylvian Tennant · Post by **Sylvian Tennant** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 3:35 pm

A specific and contentious subject but one which is most important. I.bought this today in preparation for my steam loco to arrive. Its from the Chemist which is where i was told you can get distilled water from but it only says sterile water. Would this be okay to use in my loco or would it not be of any use?

If not I came across a wine filter in boyes around the home brewer ailes would this be suitable to filtre rain water?

Keith S · Post by **Keith S** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 4:52 pm

I'm quite sure it will be fine. Some people believe that very pure water will actually have a corrosive effect, due to the water leaching ions from the metal. Most locomotives these days have copper boilers which are less prone to this than brass ones. I have heard that adding a little tap water to your distilled water will render it absolutely harmless.

Personally I believe the best thing you can do is just make sure you always empty the boiler after you are finished playing with the engine, and use water that has little dissolved mineral content. The water you got from the chemist will be perfectly fine.

Dannypenguin · Post by **Dannypenguin** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:28 pm

I don't know about your chemist bought water but I use rainwater which is filtered using kitchen roll through a funnel.

tom_tom_go · Post by **tom_tom_go** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:31 pm

I use rain water from my water butt which I boil and filter.

Its free after all!

Stuvon · Post by **Stuvon** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 6:00 pm

I use condensed water out of my works Air Con system - it usually runs to drain but I disconnect a pipe and use a hose to bottle it.

GTB · Post by **GTB** » Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:35 am

Sylvian Tennant:80917 wrote: Its from the Chemist which is where i was told you can get distilled water from but it only says sterile water. Would this be okay to use in my loco or would it not be of any use?

Sterile just means there is nothing alive in the bottle, but otherwise it is distilled water or equivalent quality.

Does the label on the bottle give you an analysis of the contents?

If water has a conductivity of <10uS/cm and dissolved solids of <10mg/l, then it is OK for boiler feedwater, although there are cheaper sources than a pharmacy.

A wine filter can remove suspended dirt, but it won't remove the dissolved salts which are what cause scale and corrosion in a boiler.

Regards,
Graeme

KjellAn · Post by **KjellAn** » Fri Mar 08, 2013 12:33 pm

Some good advices about water to livesteam-engines you will find on this web-site:
Andy's Garden Railway Guide

I'm using water from a dehumidifier who's standing in my basement. The water is free except from the cost of the dehumidifier - but that keeps my basement dry all year.

Sylvian Tennant · Post by **Sylvian Tennant** » Fri Mar 08, 2013 6:55 pm

Thanks for the advice guys

Unfortunately the bottle doesn't make any statement about the conductivity or dissolved solids at all. But have looked online and it's distilled water, distilled through boiling.

My partner's mum has a dehumidifier so I might invest in one in the near future but she's offered to pass me on some water from that.

Looking around the net I noticed that the Brita Filter may de-ionize the water. Would this be the same for cheaper filters?

As rain water main be quite plentiful over the next few days.

tom_tom_go · Post by **tom_tom_go** » Sat Mar 09, 2013 7:25 pm

I use a cheap supermarket filter for rain water filtering and it works fine (we live in a hard water area and use the same filter jug for our kettle and it is as clean as a whistle)

Spule 4 · Post by **Spule 4** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 5:09 am

The only catch with rain water is any pollution in the air.

Lucky for me, all the distilled water I could want at US $.80 (just over UK 50p) a gallon within three miles of the house.

...But back in the day I did use dehumidifer water.

Sylvian Tennant · Post by **Sylvian Tennant** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:56 pm

Cheers for the update chap

Good news, it's bl**dy freezing here in the UK... and that means...NOW STORM!

After plodding around the garden picking up a box which kept flying away and not doing it's job of storing the snow... I managed to finally get two boxes full. Once it's thawed I'll be filtering it out to use.

But please do keep suggesting.

Sylvian Tennant · Post by **Sylvian Tennant** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 9:27 pm

Sorry to be a pain in the rectum here chaps.

Okay, right, I've ran my Lady Anne today, first time and everything and was greatly impressed. I had used some water given to me by my girlfriend who had, in turn, gathered it from her dehumidifier.

Running posed no problems and was great fun but afterwards when I was cleaning my loco up there was some water residue left over. Dust like and easily removable.

As you can tell, I'm a little concerned that this may be limescale am I correct in this assumption or is this perfectly fine?

GTB · Post by **GTB** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 9:40 am

Sylvian Tennant:81777 wrote: Running posed no problems and was great fun but afterwards when I was cleaning my loco up there was some water residue left over.

More likely it is residual steam oil, if it is spattered over the cab front.

Scale is formed by solids dissolved/suspended in the feedwater. The solids don't evaporate with the steam, so stay in the boiler and build up over time.

If you want to check the water you use, a quick test for dissolved solids in water is to put a drop of the water on a small mirror and leave it in a warm dry place until the water has evporated. Any solids in the water will be left behind and will appear as a light coloured roughly circular patch. Use a drop of your Pharmacy distilled water as a control for comparison.

Graeme

andymctractor · Post by **andymctractor** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 10:06 pm

I have a condensing tumble drier and I run the water through some old coffee filter paper to remove fluff and similar.

Regards
Andrew McMahon

Sylvian Tennant · Post by **Sylvian Tennant** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 12:45 am

Ah okay, I did collect some snow which I'm planning to do the same thing to.

I did that test and compared tap water and the sterile(now non sterile) water and the stuff my girlfriend got me is pretty clear (phew!)

Sorry about this guys... I do feel a bit of a pain about it.

Steven.T · Post by **Steven.T** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 4:24 pm

Nipping in a bit late on this here, but do you still live in Stockton Area?
Reason I ask is I do, and just use tap water, doesn't have limescale so it should be ok!

Sylvian Tennant · Post by **Sylvian Tennant** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:29 am

I'm near (or actually in) the Billingham area which shows up as a hard water area. I actually thought we were soft water too!

Boustrophedon · Post by **Boustrophedon** » Sat May 25, 2013 3:16 pm

andymctractor:81827 wrote:I have a condensing tumble drier and I run the water through some old coffee filter paper to remove fluff and similar.

Regards
Andrew McMahon

Try drinking it, and then ask yourself whether you are happy putting it in a boiler!

I have tried this, it's disgusting, full of detergent residue and fabric softener.

I seem to remember a discussion during WW2 at Roll Royce about the purity of water used in Merlin cooling systems, they settled on "drinkable". Yes I know it's not a boiler...

My tap water doesn't fur up the kettle (much) but is not so soft it de zincs brass fittings. I am happy with that, in a cheapo Mamod anyhow.

boiled water will have the scale precipitated if you are worried.

GTB · Post by **GTB** » Sat May 25, 2013 4:55 pm

Boustrophedon:83871 wrote:
boiled water will have the scale precipitated if you are worried.

There are two types of water hardness, depending on what substances are dissolved in the water.

Temporary hardness can be reduced by boiling the water first and letting the precipitated solids settle out before use.

Permanent hardness is what it says and boiling the water doesn't remove it. It has to removed by methods such as distillation, reverse osmosis, etc.

Graeme

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