Filtered vs distilled water in lead acid battery

[gildasd]

On the ship i’m on, we have a water plant.
It produces fresh water from sea water with waste heat and vaccum.
It is effectively distilled water that must go through a couple of processes to be human drinkable.
The raw untreated water is called “technical water” and is used for many critical ends such as engine cooling or oily water detector flushing.
But that is not sufficient for battery top up, we have a 25L container of distilled water for that.

[tautech]

Some people live in areas with soft water, with barely any dissolved minerals at all. I always notice this when vacationing in such places as the soap becomes so slippery it won't rinse off at all no matter how hard you try. Basically what comes out of the taps (faucets) is rainwater (aka distilled water)...

It is, but mostly stored on concrete tanks, passed through metal housing pumps, through various metal fittings in the plumbing network, maybe through a hot water cylinder and then finally through a metal tap after which it's gained a good selection of metal ions and salts, not to mention some organic matters from the guttering along with a possible splattering of guano.
All mainly harmless. 

Must be why visitors say the tea and coffee tastes different here. 

[gildasd]

Some people live in areas with soft water, with barely any dissolved minerals at all. I always notice this when vacationing in such places as the soap becomes so slippery it won't rinse off at all no matter how hard you try. Basically what comes out of the taps (faucets) is rainwater (aka distilled water)...

It is, but mostly stored on concrete tanks, passed through metal housing pumps, through various metal fittings in the plumbing network, maybe through a hot water cylinder and then finally through a metal tap after which it's gained a good selection of metal ions and salts, not to mention some organic matters from the guttering along with a possible splattering of guano.
All mainly harmless. 

Must be why visitors say the tea and coffee tastes different here. 

Nonono, the taste is due to it being upside down.

[Red Squirrel]

Actually without using a special meter suppose you can just do an ohm test to check too.  I'll have to check the distilled water I buy and see how good it really is.

We actually have a distiller system here at work they use for the batteries in the battery room, so I can always take some water from there too.

[SeanB]

I have a ion exchange bed at home, removed from service, and it is capable of producing really low dissolved ion water at low flow rates, abut does not remove any particulates ( the 0.3micrometer filter before it does that) or chlorine or other dissolved gases, which is done with activated charcoal filters after it. Good enough to use in batteries, I use it for the fish instead as it solves the needing to decholrinate the water. It gets down to around 0.1uS on the conductivity meter or better.

Soft water area, though with the kilometers of old asbestos cement pipe, old Victorian era cast iron, half century old concrete and steel tankage at the water treatment plants, along with the copper pipe and then the HDPE and polypropylene pipe in the ground and leading to the tap, along with the obligatory soldered connections and brass and cast fittings used, means there is a pretty high amount of ferric chloride added in plant to keep corrosion down.

The sediment filters go brown after around a day of regular water use, so just putting them in your water would be a good idea, especially if you live in NY, with the water treatment being essentially a big screen to remove pebbles, and there being a viable ecosystem living in the whole system, including small cocepod shrimp.  Resin is expensive, but the filters are cheap. Buy industrial housings and filters instead of the overpriced ones sold for home use. The filters and housings, while unbranded, are the same ones sold in the big box store, and a lot cheaper, plus the store ones are 10micron only, while off the shelf industrial ones go down to 0.3 micron

[rdl]

Two years ago when I was experimenting in hydroponics I tested a lot of the different brands and types of water from the grocery store. As I recall there was a fairly large range in TDS, basically between nearly zero and close to 100ppm. The distilled water I use says steam distilled on the label. It even identifies the source. I'd definitely use actual distilled in a battery. It's not that expensive. I keep a gallon or so around at all times mostly for cleaning purposes.

[JohnnyMalaria]

I have this:

https://mypurewater.com/shop/mini-classic-ct-distiller/

I've probably generated about 500 gallons so far. I use deionized water as the input which I get for 39 cents a gallon. It's used for drinking and for my lab.

I started with one of those cheap POS off eBay that look like coffee jugs. I used it twice. The output water stank of toluene.

[Fungus]

Put a bucket outside on a wet night and decant it into some storage bottles marked, you guessed it; battery water !

So what was all that acid rain worry about then?

I'm sure acid won't affect a battery but I also heard that water might contain dissolved CO2? I might even I have a can of some high-CO2 water somewhere in the fridge.

[Electro Detective]

The first downpour of rain will have loads of local airborne crap coming down with it

If you want the real deal distilled water from Heaven Breweries, start catching it later, preferably with no wind

Drink and be merry, and your car battery won't complain,

unless you fill it to the top 

[T3sl4co1l]

Acid rain is sulfuric actually, not a problem. CO2 dissolved is at saturation, same as any other water exposed to air for a while.  Even if it bubbles up later, batteries are vented for obvious(?) reasons.

As mentioned, the salts, dirt, minerals and organics floating around fresh rainwater make it not the most pure resource, but the middles (a proper distillation term!) will be better, yes.

Tim