D.I. water

homerramirez
homerramirez Solar Expert Posts: 102 ✭✭
Is it ok to add D.I water to forklift batteries?

:confused:

thanks for any reply.

Comments

  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: D.I. water

    Is "D.I" water "de-ionized" water? If so I believe that it should be fine. I don't know the difference between distilled and de-ionized water.

    Tony
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: D.I. water

    most battery manufacturers specify distilled and it is the best way imho to get pure water. this link goes into several methods and note that for de-ionized water that removing some minerals does not take out all chemicals and impurities.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deionized_water
  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: D.I. water

    Aside from fluoride, not much gets past REAL DI water. Grocery store vending machine water is unreliable if you have a thousand dollar bank of batteries you are pouring it into. I use it in my radiator (50/50 mix)
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • homerramirez
    homerramirez Solar Expert Posts: 102 ✭✭
    Re: D.I. water

    Well I work as maint. supervisor on a chem. co. , the D.I. water is used on some of the products are fab. it does consist of 3 diferent forms of filtration, the filter tanks used are, Anion, Cation and 2 filter tanks called polished beads, since (as explained to me) the process remove impurities on water also the positive and negative Ions? and the last one (mixed beads) polish the water, I rather use D.I. than tap water for the forklift batteries ....I just wasn't sure.....thanks again;)
  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: D.I. water

    It sounds like you DO have real DI water, and if you are confident that it's laboratory clean, it should be OK in the batteries.

    But a filter system, 3 years old, under a kitchen sink, is not going to give you clean, DI water. They need a fair amount of maintainance, checking the output stream, changing pre-filters and filters......
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • Dabbler
    Dabbler Registered Users Posts: 22
    Re: D.I. water

    I've been using a TDS meter (total dissolved solids) to verify the water I use. It costs about $38 depending on where you get it. My belief is that the "proof is in the pudding". The key is to know what is coming out of your filters, and what is acceptable to your fork lift batteries.

    I got mine here: http://www.waterfiltersonline.com/detail.asp?product_id=TDS-Meter-4-HMD

    I keep a few batteries, and also maintain R.O. filters for friends and relatives that can't do the maintenance. They all have different input water quality and usage rates, so monitoring the actual output water quality is a more reliable way to decide when the filters need to be changed.

    For reference, my tap water runs about 180 ppm, and my RO filter output is down around 4 ppm. I've been using that water in a stainless steel boiler of a steam room for about 2 years, and it shows no sign of any mineral deposits.

    I would think that if your DI water is down around there in ppm, the batteries would be fine for their expected life. Mine are. Just my opinion.

    If anyone is interested, I'd be happy to go get a jug of "distilled" water at the store and take a reading.
  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: D.I. water

    "If anyone is interested, I'd be happy to go get a jug of "distilled" water at the store and take a reading."

    I would find that interesting,
    Tony
  • Lefty Wright
    Lefty Wright Solar Expert Posts: 111 ✭✭
    Re: D.I. water

    I've worked on systems using water cooled conductors using DI water.

    Also a system that used DI water in water cooled power tetrodes.

    Both of these also had pretty elaborate de-ionizers. I guess it depends on how good and how well maintained the DI equipment is.

    The water cooled conductors used 500MCM Locomotive cable to pass 1200A. That is almost twice the ampacity of that size in free air.
  • Dabbler
    Dabbler Registered Users Posts: 22
    Re: D.I. water

    Tony, here are some readings. I don't know how variable these water products might be, so mileage may vary from jug to jug. That's part of why I got the meter. I'm more confident checking the water, than the label.;)

    water.jpg

    Company, product, advertized purification method, ppm, cost:

    Zephyrhills "Drinking Water"
    Reverse Osmosis
    0 ppm
    $1.23/gal

    Zephyrhills "Distilled Water"
    Steam distillation, carbon filtration, microfiltration, ozonation
    0 ppm
    $1.23/gal

    Publix "Purified Water"
    Reverse osmosis, ozonation
    1 ppm
    $.85/gal

    Nursery "Purified Water"
    Steam distilled, filtered and ozonated. Selected minerals added for taste
    ( potassium bicarbonate, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride,
    sodium fluoride)
    25 ppm
    $1.49/gal

    Publix "Drinking Water"
    Carbon filtered, ozonated, from a fluoridated municipal source
    95 ppm
    $.85/gal

    Publix "Spring Water"
    Filtered, ozonated
    216 ppm
    $.85/gal
  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: D.I. water

    Interesting that the Z-hills RO drinking water is as good as the distilled! And that the other steam distilled is 25ppm. I wonder (I'm sure someone will tell us) what is the threshold for batteries? I assume that 0ppm is great,,, is 25 ppm OK?

    Tony
  • homerramirez
    homerramirez Solar Expert Posts: 102 ✭✭
    Re: D.I. water

    I forgot to add that on the polished beads tanks there are sensors (one on ea. tank), when LED ligth on sensor goes one red and one green we still have D.I water , 2 sensors on red= no D.I. water.....the tanks are serviced by Simmens as I request..... Thanks for your advice....

    H.R. ;)
  • creakndale
    creakndale Solar Expert Posts: 27 ✭✭
    Re: D.I. water

    Dabbler,
    Thanks for running and nicely documenting the various bottled water total dissolved solids experiment! Very informative.
    creakndale
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: D.I. water

    Cruzin' around the Innertubes--using the electrical resistivity method, the approximate maximum TDS for battery water should be around 20 ppm (one paper that I did not want to pay $31 to read) and from this deionizer filter company (download product lititure) they set their tester to 50 ppm as the "filter" exhausted point.

    TDS for tap water seems to run from 50 ppm (very good, soft) to 250ppm (very poor or hard).

    The lower the ppm, the longer your batteries will last. The more you equalize (consume more water)--I would guess, the lower you would want your TDS to be (cumulative effect of electrolysis gassing away water, and leaving solids behind).

    As always, your mileage will vary.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • Mangas
    Mangas Solar Expert Posts: 547 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: D.I. water

    I wonder what ppm the various under sink kitchen purifiers give you from tap water?

    That would be an interesting test too compared to the store bought water test.
    Ranch Off Grid System & Custom Home: 2 x pair stacked Schneider XW 5548+ Plus inverters (4), 2 x Schneider MPPT 80-600 Charge Controllers, 2 Xanbus AGS Generator Start and Air Extraction System Controllers, 64 Trojan L16 REB 6v 375 AH Flooded Cel Batteries w/Water Miser Caps, 44 x 185 Sharp Solar Panels, Cummins Onan RS20 KW Propane Water Cooled Genset, ICF Custom House Construction, all appliances, Central A/C, 2 x High Efficiency Variable Speed three ton Central A/C 220v compressors, 2 x Propane furnaces, 2 x Variable Speed Air Handlers, 2 x HD WiFi HVAC Zoned System Controllers
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: D.I. water

    In researching for another post/question, ran across this detailed chart of what PPM levels are problems for various contaminants (page 11 in the English guide) from the Trojan Literature Page:

    Trojan Battery User's Guide (English)
    Trojan Battery User's Guide (Spanish)

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    Re: D.I. water

    What is the value of having a water storage like that in the image.

  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: D.I. water

    CalPrince,

    What water storage image?

    By the way, commercial links are not allowed in signature lines.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset