Did any of you catch the Mythbuster episode with the "Exploding Water" myth?

Basically, they explained visually what happens when there are minerals or other contaminants in water.

Pure water (distilled) has a pretty high boiling point. The contaminants, ie. minerals, bring the boiling point down significantly.

The way it was shown on the show was this: They stuck two cups of water in the microwave; 1 was tap water and 1 was distilled water. When the tap water cup was boiling, they knew they'd reached proper temperature. At that point, there was no visible boiling of the distilled cup. They then put 1 sugar cube in the water and instantly the water began to violently boil and spill out of the cup.

Basically, this shows how contaminants really do affect the boiling point of water/coolant.

Something to consider the next time you do a coolant flush on your 3rdGen. I for one, always use a good mixture with distilled water and coolant. Especially after I build my engine and get a new radiator and hoses, you can bet that tap water will never enter!

Just an FYI. If you didn't see the show, you really should look for it.

 

huh, must have missed that one,

anyway, nice timing, I'm flushing the truck this weekend

 

i use tap water, 50/50 with the green stuff

 

It really depends on the tap water in your area. If you have well water(especially if its hardwater) you probably dont want to put it in your car. Here in Chicago we get Lake Michigan water which is some of the cleanest water in the world(at least after they filter out all the crap). Ive never had any problems using tap water.

 

just an interesting bit of information. GM specs dont' call for using Distilled water in the cooling system. Just good quality water. Im not saying you shouldn't use it, but just that unless your pumping water from a well you should be ok with tap water.

 

I've changed out a ton of water heaters out here in Idaho. After 5 years or so, theres about 50lbs of sediment at the bottom of most of the tanks...

Water here SUCKS!

 

Thats cool. I'm not sure what i used last time

 

What about the premixed stuff you can buy now?
Do you think it's good water? I would hope a company would
use the correct water, of course enron kept good books too.
I used it exclusively during my motor swap, even though they advertise as being a "top-off". I figured being 50/50 and the bad water in my area it couldn't hurt to try.

 

I'm not sure on the premix stuff, although i would assume that they'd use a quality water... but then again, who knows. They could just assume that the majority of people use tap and therefore thats what they use.

I wonder if its says anything on the bottle.

 

tap water is fine as long as it doesnt have excessive amounts of minerals in it.


and the higher boiling point thing doesnt apply to coolent for 2 reasons..
1. the metal, oil, ect dissolves in it, making it not 100% pure.. thereby keeping the boiling point. (on the show, remember the tossed in fork?)

2. you have COOLENT mixed in there anyway.




a great tip is to have some sarifical Zinc in there though.... esp if theres alum ANYTHING in the system

 

Another point is that water under pressure has a higher boiling point anyway due to the increased amount of energy it takes to make the vapor pressure of the water higher than that of it's surrounding atmosphere...So water at 10 or 15 pounds isn't going to boil until like 240....By then you've got a problem anyway...So yeah, I agree as long as you don't have enoughh calcium or iron in your water to start your own Gym, you should be straight!!

 

For me, the greatest factor is minerals. I used to work as a maintenance guy for about 100 apts and some of those pipes were so bad that the minerals were making "formations" hanging off the pipes where they were leaking. Lovely blue stalagtites!

 

if you're reverse flushing and takeing care of your coolent once a year like you should.. that isnt a issue.



some people dont realize this, but you WANT some stuff floating around in there. when you get a pinhole leak, the water flows out and the particals "grab" the edges of the hole, sealing it up. (like blood cots when you get cut)

GM adds sealing stuff from the factory (similar to Bars stop leak)

when you flush the system, you should re add some sealing stuff... not alot, just enough so small leaks are taken care of.

being 100% pure water isnt a issue.... excessive minerals can be... but only in extreme excess.

 

sounds like there are a lot of people who should install a sediment and mineral filter on there incoming water line...


we have one here at the house, we have a well and we would get a lot of sediment... works great nice clear water now!

 

Most premixed stuff has deionized water in it.