Water distiller for lead acid battery?
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Bluedog225
Texas
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your batteries seem to have a drinking problem…?
One of my batteries also needs a lot of water. Guessing because it is old - 15yrs and at the end of its useable life. Normally (years 1 -13 or so) I'd top it off every month of so with 1 gal distilled water. Now I seem to be doing 2x as much water 2x as often. I think older batteries bubble more and need more water to keep them topped off. My other (2 yr old) battery uses 1/2 gal maybe every 4-6 months (a guess, its a very small amount).
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42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
No TDS tester, at least none that have been used in the past 5 years that I would trust plus all the calibration fluid is expired.
I'll order one of those cheap ones next time I place an order. I'm curious as well.
Each of the zero filters I got off amazon came with a digital tester. Ive got a drawer full of them now. Having about 2000 gallons worth of fish tanks to keep topped off we bought a BUNCH of the zero filters 
It takes about 30 minutes for it to fill on each filter so it was required so to speak.
I eventually bought a reverse osmosis filter system and put it under one of the sinks in the house with a 100 foot hose on it to fill the tanks with. Much easier. That might actually be the ideal thing to use if you have enough batteries to keep up with.
It claims Ultra fine (RO) filter to remove contaminants down to 0. 0001 microns.
It takes about 30 minutes for it to fill on each filter so it was required so to speak.I eventually bought a reverse osmosis filter system and put it under one of the sinks in the house with a 100 foot hose on it to fill the tanks with. Much easier. That might actually be the ideal thing to use if you have enough batteries to keep up with.
It claims Ultra fine (RO) filter to remove contaminants down to 0. 0001 microns.
At $4.99, you can't really go wrong. Even $15 seems like a good deal. Mine are coming tonight and I can at least test them and several water types and report back.
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Right. See pg 1. My RO system can only bring TDS down to 85 mg/l = 85ppm. Battery max is 5ppm. So still too high to use for batteries.Each of the zero filters I got off amazon came with a digital tester. Ive got a drawer full of them now. Having about 2000 gallons worth of fish tanks to keep topped off we bought a BUNCH of the zero filters
I eventually bought a reverse osmosis filter system and put it under one of the sinks in the house with a 100 foot hose on it to fill the tanks with. Much easier. That might actually be the ideal thing to use if you have enough batteries to keep up with.
It claims Ultra fine (RO) filter to remove contaminants down to 0. 0001 microns.
I will test it in any case. RO sounds like it is ok for fish, but maybe not lead acid batteries.
SupraSPL
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The rain water coming off my roof is 5ppm. If you run that through a 75 gallon per day R/O filter you will have some pretty pure water.
You can even collect that rejection water and run that through the system several times and get below 5PPM output each time.
You can even collect that rejection water and run that through the system several times and get below 5PPM output each time.
If I can think of it tonight after I get done setting up my new victron ip22 charger I'll grab one of the digital tds meters and see what is coming out of the RO filtering stuff.
I know the zero filter pitchers ones read 0.
Just got the meters. Numbers look good! Both meters read about the same numbers. At the high end they are a little different. Good enough for this application anyway.
I like the $12.97 meter a bit more. Has a backlight that makes it easy to read. Also displays temp in C and F and has a nice case. On the other hand, The $4.99 works just fine also. Interesting thing is that it may be a lot of worry about nothing. Parents Choice Distilled water does not had any solids added per the meter. Both show 0 ppm TDS. Both show consistent readings. My RO water is way too high to use for batteries. A lot better than the manual says though. I'm at 18 not 85.
The $12.97 meter is on the top, $4.99 on the bottom.
$12.97 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079DN9DRS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
$4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079DN9DRS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
I like the $12.97 meter a bit more. Has a backlight that makes it easy to read. Also displays temp in C and F and has a nice case. On the other hand, The $4.99 works just fine also. Interesting thing is that it may be a lot of worry about nothing. Parents Choice Distilled water does not had any solids added per the meter. Both show 0 ppm TDS. Both show consistent readings. My RO water is way too high to use for batteries. A lot better than the manual says though. I'm at 18 not 85.
The $12.97 meter is on the top, $4.99 on the bottom.
$12.97 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079DN9DRS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
$4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079DN9DRS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
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Jim in Florida
My Hero is still J. B. Goodenough
Amazon carries several countertop water distilling machines from $50-150 each.
They take 4-5 hours to distill a gallon of water.
Be aware some States like Florida see distilling tied to alcohol and have trouble seeing past it.
They take 4-5 hours to distill a gallon of water.
Be aware some States like Florida see distilling tied to alcohol and have trouble seeing past it.
SupraSPL
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For whatever reason the filter sizes above 75 gpd are more focused on speed than performance. But if you fed rainwater or melted snow into that system you would get below 5ppm from it
I will collect some rain water and see if it is worth it. If TDS is low or 0, then it is only a matter of filtering organics out.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
All this talk about meters got me to go dig through my hydroponic stuff, I had a good meter the entire time (I thought it was a pH meter).
Fresh water from the kitchen faucet (well water that goes through a spin down sediment filter, pH buffer tank, softener tank, and 5um SimPure CTO 10"x4.5" filter) and fresh fill from the distiller pitcher.
Plus the inside of the distiller I haven't cleaned in a while.
Fresh water from the kitchen faucet (well water that goes through a spin down sediment filter, pH buffer tank, softener tank, and 5um SimPure CTO 10"x4.5" filter) and fresh fill from the distiller pitcher.
Plus the inside of the distiller I haven't cleaned in a while.
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Thank You!
I have been using the Walmart distilled water in all my FLA's.
Will continue to do so, but also "trust but verify", am ordering a tester.
You're Welcome. Any time. Yes. Now I know also. Cheap insurance.
Why do they have to publish info like this?
"Parent's Choice 1-Gallon Distilled Water.....With minerals added for taste......"
- Distilled water
- With minerals added for taste
So fresh water is 15.9 TDS and your distiller makes O TDS water?
If it really is 0, then a distiller is something to look at. Just hauled 8 gal home from Walmart.
Good to know.
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