Distilled Water

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Buzz

Buzz

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 26, 2007
Messages
303
Location
Wakefield, England
Looking around locally for some distilled water, i can't believe how difficult a time i am having
locating some.
I can buy it online but the postage costs more than the water!

I can find plenty of De-Ionised water locally but will this be OK for working with Silver?

Regards
Buzz
 
I wouldn't be using enough distilled water to justify the expense of
getting equipped to make my own.

I'll find some eventually but still want to know if De-Ionised would do the same job?

Regards
Buzz
 
Here's a cheap trick for cleaning up tap water for working with silver. Because the culprit in tap water is chlorine, remove the chlorine by adding silver nitrate to tap water. The silver nitrate will cloud the water and form silver chloride which will settle in a day or two. Any excess of silver won't matter because you're working with silver anyway. Just use a little, until there is no longer a white cloud when a few drops are added, don't over do it. Carefully decant the clear top water and save the chlorides in your residues. This is a trick I picked up from an old British assayer whom I met while in the jungles of Ecuador there were no stills or deionizing columns available so he used a technique he said he got from an old assaying textbook.
If you use a tall deep container you can make quite a bit at once and let it settle for a week and bottle it.
 
I get all of my distilled water from my dehumidifier that otherwise would be thrown away. I do not know if it is humid to the point they are used in the UK but in the Eastern US it is often a necessity if you have a basement. This water is free of chlorides per 4metals silver nitrate test.
 
Buzz
Sorry I didn't answer your original question, yes deionized water will work but at a buck a gallon if you buy it bottled, water collected as Oz suggested is perfect as is water with the silver chloride settled out.
 
Thanks 4 metals and Oz.

I can get de-ionized really cheap around here, so i'm going shopping tomorrow.

Thanks Oldtimmer, already checked my local stores. Never heard of Vons, don't think they are in the UK.

regards
Buzz
 
The chlorine can also be removed by boiling or letting the water sit for 24-30 hours...I believe :?:

Maybe invest in a Brita filter?
 
Hey, now there's a thought, Brita filters! :idea:

I've got one kicking around here somewhere, just neds new filters.

I've bought some de-ionised water but will try the filters out of curiosity.

Thanks for the heads up Fournines !

Regards
Buzz
 
Brita filters are good, we tested them in the lab.

Here is one trick that worked for me:

I had some HNO3 with Cl- contamination. In order to ''remove'' the Cl ion, I added some Ca(NO3)2 (Calcium Nitrate) to it.

The Ca2+ goes with 2 Cl- thus forming CaCl2 (soluble). Now, if you dissolve silver, you won't obtain silver chloride. :p
 
I have been tempted for a long time to buy a condenser apparatus, but they are awfully expensive, and I have yet to find a source of lab glassware in Canada. But now that I have started reading more and more info on this forum, my interest in chemistry has been renewed.

I think that if I can find a science/hobby store in my area, i'll probably invest in one of those. Whether it's just to distill water or for more elaborate separation processes, that will certainly pay for itself in time and resources quickly.

They do sell 1 gal. jugs of distilled water at my corner drugstorefor something like $1.99, but why pay when you can make it yourself! :mrgreen:
Robert
 
If you freeze water without allowing all of it to solidify you get water that is fairly pure. This is not expensive and is easy to do.
Also if you boil first, that will drive out the chlorine and CO2 lowering the solubility of most of the minerals in the water since it will no longer be acidic.
This is how I make my bottled water.
I boil 20 quart pan then allow to cool to room temp.
Fill washed out 2lt pop bottles.
place in freezer.
after a hour or two dump out unfrozen water.
place cap on bottles and let sit out to thaw.
Not technically pure water, but takes a lot less energy
than distillation.

Jim
 

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