DeHumidifier water..... Suitable for battery use?

Hamfast · October 2015

Just looking for input here. Just got done refilling the batteries and the thought jumped into my lil ol' head........:)

Aguarancher · October 2015

With the price of distilled water being what it is, why take the risk of getting any funky contaminates in your batteries?

Hamfast · October 2015

Not a matter of price, just convenience. As an aside, bottled distilled water may not always be available at Wally World...:)

706jim · October 2015

I used water right out of Lake Superior with good results.

BB. · October 2015

I would worry about contamination too... You can try measuring TDS with one of these (TDS Meter):

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=tds+meter

-Bill

waynefromnscanada · October 2015

And just the regular dust etc in the air being blown at and over the droplets of water forming on the cold aluminum tubes would worry me. It wouldn't kill the batteries short term, but could well degrade them and shorten their lives.
No, I wouldn't do it, but to each his own I guess.

Hamfast · October 2015

One TDS meter on the way....:)

Hamfast · October 2015

waynefromnscanada said:

And just the regular dust etc in the air being blown at and over the droplets of water forming on the cold aluminum tubes would worry me. It wouldn't kill the batteries short term, but could well degrade them and shorten their lives.
No, I wouldn't do it, but to each his own I guess.

My thoughts exactly Wayne, hence the question.....Thanks...:)

inetdog · November 2015

If you use a very fine pore filter you might be OK. As long as the water did not somehow pick up a high ion content from the condensing tubes.

Dave Angelini · November 2015

Use rainwater if you have any....

BB. · November 2015

Use a filter too for rain water. I would wait until you get a TDS meter to ensure that your water is "pure" (ionic contamination). A few years ago poster "Dabbler" got these readings:

Company, product, advertised 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

And from some old searches on the Web, I found:

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 literature) 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

And, as always, it does not hurt to ask the experts (Trojan in this case), their manual:

http://www.trojanbattery.com/pdf/TrojanBattery_UsersGuide.pdf (page 15, table 3):

Table 3
Recommended Maximum Allowable Impurities in Water for Battery Use
Impurity / Parts Per Million / Effects of Impurity
==================================================================
Organic and Volatile Matter 50.0 Corrosion of positive plate
Ammonia 8.0 Slight self-discharge of both plates
Antimony 5.0 Increased self-discharge, reduces life, lower on-charge voltage
Arsenic 0.5 Self-discharge, can form poisonous gas at negative plate
Calcium 40.0 Increase of positive plate shedding
Chloride 5.0 Loss of capacity in both plates, greater loss on the positive plate
Copper 5.0 Increased self-discharge, lower on-charge voltage
Iron 3.0 Increased self-discharge at both plates, lower on-charge voltage
Magnesium 40.0 Reduced life
Nickel None Allowed Intense lowering of on-charge voltage
Nitrates 10.0 Increased sulfation on the negative plate
Nitrites 5.0 Corrosion of both plates, loss of capacity, reduced life
Platinum None Allowed Increased self-discharge, lower on-charge voltage
Selenium 2.0 Positive plate shedding
Zinc 4.0 Slight self-discharge of negative plate

Note that Arsenic is very poisonous (to both humans and batteries--0.5 PPM in above chart). And Arsenic can be present in many wells:

http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/trace/arsenic/

From this link, 0.5 PPM is = 500 ugram per liter:

http://www.endmemo.com/sconvert/ug_lppm.php

EPA used to have 50 ugm/l as the safe limit, now dropped to 10 ugm/l.

In Minnesota (as an example) a few wells have ~300 ugm/l Arsenic... Other countries (overseas) have known Arsenic issues too.

Looks like not a common issue in the US... In other regions of the world, can be a problem--Especially in areas that have mining operations nearby.

-Bill

Hamfast · November 2015

Thanks for the info Bill.

Alas, my TDS meter is shipping via Royal Mail, so I won't see it till early Dec.....:)

Dave Angelini · November 2015

Just for reference, most rainwater and distilled water has a PH near 5 or 5.5. The rain tends to come up a little in a tank.
I would be careful of adding anything that is too alkaline.
And while Bill does trust the experts, I have alot more skepticism toward them as they mostly want you to buy batteries after the warranty. Some do not even care about the warranty.

softdown · November 2015

     For 23 years, I have owned a business with the name Aquatics in it. I would not do what you are thinking about. Minerals/TDS/Total Dissolved Solids are just one indicator of water quality. There may also be chemical impurities and organic impurities that the TDS meter will not recognize. In addition, the meter needs regular calibration and proper maintenance. They also have a life span of a couple years if you are very lucky. I've been through a bunch of them. The readings are literally all over the place.
     Distilled water is the best for batteries. Cost .88/gallon at Walmart. I think the storage period is years though the plastic container will likely leach some estrogens into the water...over time. A gallon lasts me a couple months. This expense isn't even on the radar.
     Damaged batteries? I would have to sell a rental unit to buy new batteries. Then be even poorer. Don't gamble with your batteries.

     This is likely not a good idea at all.

Hamfast · November 2015

Thanks for the comment Softdown..... Input is what I'm after...:)

JoshK · November 2015

I don't think it's worth the risk to your batteries.

DeHumidifier water..... Suitable for battery use?

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