Thanks Ben, that's good to know.

Where would  I find out if the Vancouver BC water supply has these
polyphosphates?  I think they use chloramine as an anti-bacterial....

On Jan 31, 2008 7:59 AM, Ben Cichowski <aquasheck@hotmail.com> wrote:

> I'm only a shade-tree mechanic, but my full time profession is as a water
> quality engineer. I personally used distilled. If your tap is supplied by a
> municipal system in a town larger than 3,300 people, chances are your tap
> water will be sufficiently free of minerals that may precipitate out in your
> system (but also read my last line).
>
> The big 4 to worry about are Calcium, Magnesium, Iron and Manganese. When
> you used to see a lot of antifreezes containing phosphates, these were put
> in for corrosion control, as well as to sequester minerals like Iron
> (surround the molecule so it doesn't precipitate out). But, then they
> started to find that phosphates destabilize under high temps and actually
> precipitate out of solution themselves...thus adding to the problem.
>
> One thing to keep in mind is that, even if you are using tap water, your
> municipal system may be using polyphosphates to sequester iron (if your area
> has high iron concentrations), or for corrosion control of distribution
> lines. If you use tap water in this situation, it is essentially like using
> an antifreeze that contains phosphates - not good.
>
> In short, go with distilled and live on the safe side.
>
> -Ben
>
> > Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:31:53 -0500
> > From: d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM
> > Subject: Re: Distilled Water
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> >
> > Yes, arouand that time as many new coolant formulations were being
> > introduced,many cooling system issues were found to be related to
> minerals,
> > ions and other stuff in tap water that reduced the effectiveness of
> coolant
> > and cuase precipatation, (deposits that clogged) and abrasion of cooling
> > system parts. Most large diesel engines reqiure distilled water fill and
> > many antifreeze suppiers now sell pre mixed with distilled or deionized
> > water. If you have hard water, you want to use distilled. If you think
> there
> > is a lot of confusion with automotive antfreezes, try the truck and
> > industrial engine world.
> >
> > Dennis
> >
> >
> > >From: Vdub Guy <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
> > >Reply-To: Vdub Guy <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
> > >To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > >Subject: Distilled Water
> > >Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:26:04 +0000
> > >
> > >OK, I knew  I wasn't dreaming, a search of the archives brought up many
> > >hits about how distilled water should be used with coolant. I only went
> > >back as far as 2003, and don't have time to sort through them all, but
> has
> > >opinion on this changed?     Jeff
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser!
> http://biggestloser.msn.com/
>

--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL
1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
Crescent Beach, BC
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
http://subyjake.googlepages.com/