Talk:Deionized water

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Discussion page initiated ~~

1 DI water as a dielectric
2 Consumption
3 Ohmmeter
4 Fire Suppressant Systems
5 HF Pure Water link spam?

[edit] DI water as a dielectric

"Z-Machine"..."you keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means". Comment in edit summary from Daelin, 19:37, 11 April 2006

I'm not sure I understand your comment. Degassed DI water is often used as a temporary dielectric for high power pulses lasting microseconds or less. DI water's combination of short term dielectric strength and high dielectric constant allow it to briefly store huge amounts of energy - a function critical in the design of the Z-Machine, which uses 600,000 gallons of the stuff... Bert 02:04, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

Z machine

[edit] Consumption

Its safe to drink or any difference from normal water?

There is not a lot of info about this. Some call it crazy to drink, others say it is fine since your body will add plenty of ions prior to the water reaching the kidney. I think this breaks down into two questions. Is it safe to drink, due to possible leeching ions out of the body, and the probably more important question, how much can one drink prior to seeing negative side effects? It may take several gallons a day to leech enough to cause harm, but I don't know. I will ask a renal professor soon, but anybody else with info should say something. After a conclusion, we should post something on the main page. Rjkd12 00:12, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

YES, it is safe to drink. I do not have hard data, but I did talk to a renal professor. Compare the salt content of RO water or regular tap water and then compare that to DI. Considering there is not enough electrolytes or ions in regular water, we obviously get the majority of our ions from food. So, the minute lack of ions in DI water won't be enough to effect our ion/electrolyte balance at all. You'd have to only drink DI and not eat anything before you would die. Rjkd12 21:05, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ohmmeter

While the article indicates that electric pH meters are not commonly used, I don't know about this. However, for our ultra pure DI system at my work we use a mega ohmmeter to measure the purity of the water. Maybe this should be expounded on? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 131.216.32.243 (talk) 16:21, 19 January 2007 (UTC).

A pH meter would be a very unsuitable instrument for checking de-ionised water. Firstly, DI water's great affinity for ions actually destroys the pH probe by 'sucking' the ions out of it. Secondly, the probe (even if it did work) won't actually indicate anything useful, because DI water doesn't contain any ions and therefore has no pH value as such. Thirdly, since DI water is non conductive, there is nothing to complete the circuit for the pH probe to work. In any event, if DI water actually did have a pH value of 7.0, the pH meter would not distinguish it from any other substance that has a pH of 7.0. Electrical conductivity really is the only way to check the purity of DI water. Although it can be measured in Megohms, it is more common to use the reciprocal measurement of conductivity and express it in microSiemens. The measuring system rarely uses the high voltages normally associated with Megohmeters. 86.140.81.22 16:01, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fire Suppressant Systems

Clearly the companies who make them and install them know more than the anonymous contributor who removed this important part of the article. I suggest you have a look at http://www.hi-fog.com/index_EN.shtml for information on such a system that is widely installed on both sea going and land environments. It has been demonstrated in several trials that the fine water fog spray from these systems remains non conductive even in high voltage environments.

DI water will only become conductive when it contacts something else if there is something on or in that surface that will disolve into the water in sufficient quantities to create ions to conduct. I B Wright 17:57, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

The use of deionised water is a little hard to find on that site, but we have just had a system installed protecting our HVAC room, Computer room and some other areas containing much aerospace support equipment (That's how I know about it). The system is fed by a sealed tank holding 2000 gallons of Di-ionised water (One of the fault condidtions is that the conductivity of the water has risen too high). This water has to replaced annually. I B Wright 18:06, 22 February 2007 (UTC)