car battery - really necessary to use distilled water??

sassy_one

ariba10 wrote: »

How will boiling the water change the mineral content?

It is perfectly acceptable to use water from the tap, in a car battery that is not a sealed one.

Although boiling the water will not remove the mineral content, it will make the water softer if you are in a hard water area.
This may not be needed if you water area is soft.

More information on boiling water and mineral content here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_water

ariba10

It maybe acceptable to you, but I would not use it or advise others to.

sassy_one

ariba10 wrote: »

It maybe acceptable to you, but I would not use it or advise others to.

Then you are one of the very few who advises against it in this thread, as others have said, it is perfectly acceptable too use tap water in a unsealed car battery

bigjl

You will ruin the battery eventually using tap water, it will cause a build up on the metal plates inside the battery, they may even start to deform, note that it is a long time since I was at school, and can'r remember the technical terms.

If it is a dire emergency then you can use it, but the battery is on the way out from then on.

goldspanners

bigjl wrote: »

You will ruin the battery eventually using tap water, it will cause a build up on the metal plates inside the battery, they may even start to deform, note that it is a long time since I was at school, and can'r remember the technical terms.

If it is a dire emergency then you can use it, but the battery is on the way out from then on.

the battery is on its way out when it first gets made.

seriously, ive topped up thousands more batteries since my last post on this thread and i only use normal water from the mains.
we also use specialised battery maintenance companies on some of our larger sites,and even they use normal tap water.

its more important the right amount of water is put in.

sassy_one

goldspanners wrote: »

the battery is on its way out when it first gets made.

seriously, ive topped up thousands more batteries since my last post on this thread and i only use normal water from the mains.
we also use specialised battery maintenance companies on some of our larger sites,and even they use normal tap water.

its more important the right amount of water is put in.

Agreed goldspanners


Some people just don't want to be helped :whistle:

bigjl

You can say anything is on the way out from the day you buy it, but by adding tap water then you are increasing this, though it will depend on how hard the water is that you add, I seem to remember that is might be calcification, but not really sure. At the end of the day, if you put the wrong knid of oil into and engine it is also unlikely to kill the engine straightaway, but it certainly doesn't help, though in the case of the Zetec engines fitted to fords it causes serious problems with the valves in a relatively short period of time.

Nice post sassyone, which of the large battery manufacturers do you work for. Just because it doesn't kill it straight away doesn't mean that it doesn't knock months or years off the service life of the battery.

The fitters at work use distilled water to top up the batteries on all our old LDVs, standard operating procedure, do exactly as the manufacturer suggests.

As I have stated it may depend on how hard the tap water is, some may not cause much damage, some may cause serious reduction in life. Not all tap water is the same, the tap water in my mum and dads house is so hard that it kills kettles in a few years, some cheap plastic ones in a few months.

At the end of the day you make your own choice what you want to do, though my dad just got rid of his old car, he always used distilled water to top up the battery, result, the original battery was still on there 12 years later.

sassy_one

bigjl wrote: »

You can say anything is on the way out from the day you buy it, but by adding tap water then you are increasing this, though it will depend on how hard the water is that you add, I seem to remember that is might be calcification, but not really sure. At the end of the day, if you put the wrong knid of oil into and engine it is also unlikely to kill the engine straightaway, but it certainly doesn't help, though in the case of the Zetec engines fitted to fords it causes serious problems with the valves in a relatively short period of time.

Nice post sassyone, which of the large battery manufacturers do you work for. Just because it doesn't kill it straight away doesn't mean that it doesn't knock months or years off the service life of the battery.

The fitters at work use distilled water to top up the batteries on all our old LDVs, standard operating procedure, do exactly as the manufacturer suggests.

As I have stated it may depend on how hard the tap water is, some may not cause much damage, some may cause serious reduction in life. Not all tap water is the same, the tap water in my mum and dads house is so hard that it kills kettles in a few years, some cheap plastic ones in a few months.

At the end of the day you make your own choice what you want to do, though my dad just got rid of his old car, he always used distilled water to top up the battery, result, the original battery was still on there 12 years later.

Absolute rubbish.


I don't work for any battery company, I haven't ever nor have I ever fancied doing such - get your facts correct before claiming


You can easily use tap water in a unsealed car battery, without any problems whatsoever.
The battery will have no real effect, I know for a fact that most older unsealed car batteries can survive on tap water as I used it in a car I had back 15 years ago and the battery lasted 8-9 years without being changed nor ever going flat, even through winter.

wealdroam

sassy-one wrote: »

You are perfectly okay using tap water in a car battery that can be topped one, and if you really wanted to you could boil some tap water in a kettle

What a load of....

Sassy, why have you posted on this nearly two years old thread?

You have averaged over eighty posts a day over the last couple of days. Get a life!

Anyway, back on topic...

Hardness from the water will build up on the plates if tap water is used. Obviously, in a soft water area that build up will be slower.

You are nearly there with the boiling water idea.
If you boil water, then condense the steam, then that condensate is perfect for topping up batteries, etc. After all, it is distilled water.

In fact, boiling the water only produces a water with more 'hardness' than before. Steam is water without impurities, so the longer you boil it, the harder the water you are left with.

Hope that helps.

bigjl

Do you not understand sarcasm then sassyone?

Research what distilled water is, the above post will help.

But please don't mistake your opinion for fact.

Though one part of your post was relevant ""get your facts correct "