Battery Maintenance! Tap, Distilled or Purified Water? ?

[savatreatabvr]

I live in sunny Phoenix Arizona where the temperatures can reach 118 degrees, well you can imagine the heat out here destroys car batteries! I've even had motorcycle batteries boil over! My entire life I've used tap water to maintain the cell levels in all my batteries with some batteries living longer than others but is it true distilled or purified water is best to extend battery life?

[motornut]

distilled water has the impurities in the tap water removed
tap water may work short term but it's a bad fix,will shorten it's life

[kelsfine69]

I always used Distilled water in my RV Baterries..Got 10+ years out of them. But I also live in Canada where its cooler.

[1bad87]

Originally Posted by kelsfine69

I always used Distilled water in my RV Baterries..Got 10+ years out of them. But I also live in Canada where its cooler.

wow 10+ years i get a battery every year

[old Rusty C10]

ive alweays been told distilled is the way to go

[cory d]

in a pinch i have used bottled water in a pinch but i have been told to use distilled. my batter was put in, in 2009 i believe.

[donut]

Distilled for your battery.

[boatpuller]

Distilled was what i was taught back in the day..No offense....Iv'e been to Phoenix a few times and your tap water isn"t fit for human consumption.It may work in battery.

[savatreatabvr]

I agree! You have to chew the water in some area's of Phx!

Originally Posted by boatpuller

Distilled was what i was taught back in the day..No offense....Iv'e been to Phoenix a few times and your tap water isn"t fit for human consumption.It may work in battery.

[savatreatabvr]

How about just boiling a pot of water, allowing to cool and using it to level the battery cells, will that work? Isen't that purified water?

[Dunenutt]

Originally Posted by savatreatabvr

How about just boiling a pot of water, allowing to cool and using it to level the battery cells, will that work? Isen't that purified water?

Nope, distilled water is the steam that comes off of the water. Plus, it would be more work than a trip to the store to pick up a gallon.

[wilkin250r]

Originally Posted by savatreatabvr

How about just boiling a pot of water, allowing to cool and using it to level the battery cells, will that work? Isen't that purified water?

Boiling water will kill bacteria, it will often make water safe to drink, but it doesn't remove the mineral dissolved in the water, mainly magnesium and calcium, and it's those minerals that cause problems.

That's why the distillation process works, because you're capturing the steam that comes off the boiling water. Those minerals are still in the pot. In fact, boiling will actually make it WORSE, because the boiling will remove some of the water, and will make the minerals that much more concentrated.

[silvereagle07]

[Dunenutt]

I get around 6 years out of duralast gold batteries, and I just use bottled or RO water. Distilled is better, but bottled water has very few impurities in it.

[wilkin250r]

The distillation process, by definition, is to heat the water up to boiling, and capture the resulting steam. That steam is then cooled back down, and that is your distilled water.

Tap water has lots of impurities in it, you can see the results as hard water stains. Since those impurities don't boil or evaporate, they don't become steam. All that steam is 100% pure water, so when you capture it and cool it back to liquid form, the result is 100% water with no impurities.

Even bottled water has impurities, some of them added on purpose. That's because distilled water tastes horrible. Go ahead, give it a try, it won't hurt you, but I wouldn't drink it all the time. Your body actually craves those minerals that are normally present in "regular" water.

[csb#356]

Regular water has minerals in it that conduct electricity and can theoretically short a cell. Knowing this though, I still put regular tap water in there. Probly shouldn't though.

[tucsonjwt]

Distilled water, although I have never had to put water in my batteries - they always go dead with water still full in about 3 years. Of course, I live in a lot cooler climate than PHX.

[misternash2]

csb is correct. conductivity is a measure of the resistance to electrical flow. distilled water has less total dissolved solids(minerals, etc), therefore a higher resistance to electrical flow. electrical flow across the cell is a bad thing. similar to leaving the dome light on, granted on a much lower scale.

[ChevyMutt]

I've always been told rain water is best.
Distilled is 2nd best.
Purified (tap water) will work.
And if it's bad enough, whatever you have in your bladder is better than nothing.

[84_chevy]

we use beer in canada!!!

sorry, just had too

[terryj]

Allot will depend on just how low your battery cells get, if they get over half then you would use some electrolite to re-energize your battery, that is if their not full of corrosion from contaminates in the water.