I have recently begun using a red and black Chinese laser 100w and have arriving an industrial water chilling cw-5000 links at the bottom of the post if it is important.
To this point I have been using distilled water and I know that down the road this has the potential for fungal/bacterial growth. So my question is what I should be using?
I have read that pink RV anti-freeze is a good option. If so, what should it be diluted to? Or is it even a good idea?
What are you using, and what additives if any do you add to prevent bacterial/fungal growth?
I use just distilled water, if you are concerned about algae growth, then ad a capful of bleach to the water. But I have run over a year with no growth on plain distilled water. It is a closed system so if it has only ever had distilled in it, there should be no algae present.
After reading up on the material provided by @Rick and @Grumpy_Old_Man just using straight distilled, I’m going to stick to straight distilled water. The negatives that come with additives seem to out-weight what a small amount of diligence in checking the water brings. With the chiller I am looking at less than three(more like two) gallons of water within the entire closed loop system, and at less than $1 a gallon it makes no sense playing the mad scientist with additives.
Nice, glad you find it useful. Our good friend @TechBravoTN put that site together. I point to his work all the time. There is a lot of really good laser stuff he continues to produce there. And he is a great guy…well most of the time.
Knock on wood for luck, distilled water has worked fine for me without any additives.
Be warned that is not a genuine S&A/Teyu chiller and that seller sells everything from tatoo tracing paper, to wheeled chairs, to tools. The chiller clones have been known to fail more often so you will want some assurance this seller is going to be around and provide support down the road.
Thanks @Doug I’ve already talked to the seller on the phone in the US and ordered it so I’m kind of in bed with the devil I guess. Hopefully it works out, if not it’ll be my own fault.
Just read through TechBravo’s article and it’s good info except for his assertion that DI water is more corrosive than distilled water. Both are high purity and can absorb a lot of contaminants. Neither will leach substances from the cooling system faster than the other and are only “corrosive” to some metals like iron. Even then, it’s not a strong reaction.
If you’re curious, go here and read the comments after the first two.
This was my question as well. I’m bellyaching by even asking, as DW is about a buck a gallon at the store, but at the same time, I’m only getting 2-3 months before the water gets murky. I don’t like to wait to see clumps of algae in the water. It’s kind of a hassle to change the water the way I have it set up. Maybe I’ll just find a better way of positioning the water tank and come up with an easier way of cleaning.
