Demineralised vs distilled water for mirror cleaning

BC · #1 11-03-2009, 01:31 PM

Hi,

I’m not exactly sure which group to post this in….

I’ve read the articles on mirror cleaning and decided it’s time after 3 years to give it a go. It seems that distilled water is the right thing to use, rather than demineralised water. The problem is, Woolies and Bunnings don’t have it, so I’m wondering where you folk purchase it? It also makes me wonder just how bad demineralised water is?

Bruce

darrellx (Darrell) · #2 11-03-2009, 01:43 PM

Bruce

I get mine from the local garage - Caltex. They have one and two litre bottles. Yep, you are right, Bunnings, Wollies, Coles don't have it.

Darrell

Starkler (Geoff) · #3 11-03-2009, 03:19 PM

Does it really matter?

The day after you wash your mirror it wont look spotless anymore, distilled or demineralised, not much difference.

Water saving tip: Do your main rinsing with tap water, then flush that away with the distilled/demineralised.

erick (Eric) · #4 11-03-2009, 03:20 PM

Yep, I only found demineralised and have been using that.

rmcpb (Rob) · #5 11-03-2009, 04:14 PM

Demineralised is fine. I often only use tap water if I really need to clean the mirror but don't have any demineralised but then we have really nice tap water here

ngcles · #6 11-03-2009, 06:35 PM

Hi Bruce & All,

Quote:

Originally Posted by BC

Hi,
It also makes me wonder just how bad demineralised water is?

The difference between the two for this purpose is 2/3rds of 5/8th of ...

... not a lot

Best,

Les D

GeoffW1 (Geoff) · #7 11-03-2009, 07:11 PM

Hi,

From an earlier thread:

"Distilled water is evaporated to steam and then condensed again and therefore should have no minerals or dissolved materials in it, but unless also filtered it could have a little dust in it.

Demineralised water is passed through a series of resins which remove dissolved materials, and then a membrane which filters out solids, even down to bacteria depending on the standard used.

I don't believe there is any effective difference for mirror rinsing"

So - I believe Starkler is quite right.

Cheers

pgc hunter · #8 11-03-2009, 08:34 PM

The difference between the two is like the difference between an alligator and a crocodile.... i.e. not much.

marki · #9 11-03-2009, 10:02 PM

The problem with distillation process is that some ionic salts will always make their way into the distilate. You would have to repeat the process a number of times to be sure that you have removed most of the salts. Same goes when distiling alcohol. If you want to get rid of most the water it takes a few runs to get it out. De-mineralised means just that, no ionic salts although there will be some small traces. We used to use "pure water" when running PCR's on genetic material when I was at uni. This stuff had been run through reverse osmosis, resins, distilation and god knows what else. Costly stuff. IF I owned an open tube scope I would use de-mineralised over distilled because its the salts that leave marks.

Ciao Mark

BC · #10 12-03-2009, 08:23 AM

Thanks everyone. That's excellent. I'll begin with our tank water (out of town) and finish with the demineralised I'd previously bought.

Bruce

Kal (Andrew) · #11 12-03-2009, 11:35 AM

Franklins sell 'No Frills' brand Distilled water. Although I agree with previous posts - for all intents and purposes it is the same thing.

Robert9 (Robert) · #12 14-03-2009, 11:15 AM

Sunbeam appliances retail a cannister of water treatment resin to demineralise water for use in their steam irons. They say that each cannister will treat up to 30 litres of water. You fill the cannister from the tap, shake for 30 secs. then drain off the water. Works very well - my wife's iron no longer suffers from a crusty build up around the steam-holes. I use the water in my car batteries, one of which is now 9 y.o. and the other 4. Never had a problem. The cannisters sell for about $6.
Robert

marki · #13 14-03-2009, 01:37 PM

That sounds great Robert. You could buy one of those 20L water containersfrom bunnings, use the first 10L to give it a wash then store the other 20L to use on your mirror and still save money over buying the same amount in small bottles. You would only need to use a small amount of the de-ionised water for the final rinse so it would last for ages. Interesting comment about your wife's iron. Was she using distilled water when the salts were depositing on the plate? The extra heat would certainly accelerate the process.

Ciao Mark

Robert9 (Robert) · #14 15-03-2009, 09:04 PM

No Mark. The salts that deposited around the iron's steam jets came from tap water - even though 'twas Melbourne water, supposedly the purest of pure

.
In using the canister, you just make it up as required, 1 litre at a time. You just fill the canister with tap water, shake it (not yourself) for 30 secs. then pour out the water through the top nozzle which has a filter behind it to prevent the resin from coming out. No need to make the full 30 litres, and store it. Check it out http://www.sunbeam.com.au/Pages/Brow....aspx?pid=1471
Robert

erick (Eric) · #15 15-03-2009, 11:16 PM

I remember Mum having one of these back in the 60s - from Sunbeam specifically for steam irons.

JD2439975 (Justin) · #16 17-03-2009, 03:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pgc hunter

The difference between the two is like the difference between an alligator and a crocodile.... i.e. not much.

Sorry PGC but that's a bad analogue.
OK they're both "Sabre-tooth Geckos" & alligators are mean, but crocs are just down right EVIL!!

Just ask the 11 YO girl that was taken today just down the road from where I live...these things scare the bejesus out of me & I stay well away from waterways, never know where they'll turn up.

But away from nightmares & back to the water, if you're too stingy to buy some & you have a local analytical laboratory in the area just explain it's to clean a scientific instrument & they'll probably give you a litre for naught, they always have an RO unit handy.

Calibos (Keith) · #17 17-03-2009, 05:42 AM

You can get one or the other in a Chemist/Pharmacy/Apothecary/whatever you call the medicine shop down there

Or you could try a Alternative healthcare shop. Any homeopathy remedy will do. Gauranteed distilled and diluted and sucussed till there i not one atom of active ingredient left. Sounds like pure water to me

Starkler (Geoff) · #18 17-03-2009, 01:07 PM

A 2litre bottle of demineralised water is only a few bucks from the supermarket and will do a few mirror rinses. Why muck around?

marki · #19 19-03-2009, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calibos

You can get one or the other in a Chemist/Pharmacy/Apothecary/whatever you call the medicine shop down there

Or you could try a Alternative healthcare shop. Any homeopathy remedy will do. Gauranteed distilled and diluted and sucussed till there i not one atom of active ingredient left. Sounds like pure water to me

Another true believer

saturn c (Leo) · #20 25-03-2009, 03:18 PM

I WOULDNT CLEAN IT ! wont ever be the same again! a little dust is normal .