I was wondering the same thing...   Available at any grocery or drug store.

> In my neighborhood, distilled water is $0.99 / gallon.
> Considering how much money we all pour into these vans, is there any
> reason not to pour in a few dollars worth of pure water with our
> coolant???
>
> John Rodgers wrote:
>> In my area I am supplied by the city water supply. It is nasty! Smells
>> bad, tastes bad. So much so that I won't drink it unfiltered. There is
>> so much grunge in the water that my little filters I have to replace
>> every month because they have cleaned out so much sludge in theater.
>> They literally plug up with the garbage about every thirty days of use,
>> and the water stops glowing. This is with a city water supply running
>> through it. These filters have activated charcoal in them and I don't
>> know what else. Would this filtered water work for the cooling system in
>> lieu of distilled water?
>>
>> John Rodgers
>> 88 GL Driver
>>
>> Ben Cichowski wrote:
>>> Hi Jake and All,
>>>
>>> Question: "Where would I find out
>>> if the Vancouver BC water supply has these polyphosphates?  I think
>>> they use chloramine as an anti-bacterial...."
>>>
>>> You should be able to just put in a call to your city works and ask
>>> them if they are using any polyphosphates (zinc orthophosphate is one
>>> of the more common ones and may be a more familiar term to whatever
>>> city worker you happen to get on the phone). Also, Canada follows
>>> suit with EPA on just about everything, so I would bet that each
>>> year, every customer is shown a "consumer confidence report" either
>>> as a mailing or on the web. This CCR will give you all the
>>> information about the water coming in through the tap (test results,
>>> what chemicals they use, etc.)
>>>
>>> Again, I'm not sure if Canada does these CCRs, but I would bet that
>>> they do. If you're in the US, you get one for sure (but may not
>>> notice it).
>>>
>>> As for chlorine, I don't think it should be a problem for anything.
>>> By the time it reaches your tap, it is so unbelievably low in
>>> concentration (and continues to be used up over time).
>>> If you're worried about it, set it out in an open container for a day
>>> and it'll probably be gone.
>>>
>>> -Ben
>>>
>>> Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:14:18 -0800
>>> From: crescentbeachguitar@gmail.com
>>> To: aquasheck@hotmail.com
>>> Subject: Re: Distilled Water
>>> CC: vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
>>>
>>> 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
>>>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>
>