Water Cooler

Date 08-23-2004 20:53

Tap water would be fine, PROVIDED it has a low hardness content. When heated, hard waters precipitate calcium and magnesium carbonate, which is scale very hard to remove. In this case, soft water would be advisable.
Deionized water, on the other hand, would be perfect, but is very expensive. Unless you have it readily available, replace it with soft water.
Just to give you a preliminary idea, do you know what's the hardness content of your tap water?
Giovanni S. Crisi
Sao Paulo - Brazil

By Diesel

Date 08-24-2004 16:11

I'm looking at buying a torch and right now if I shelled out the bucks for a whole h2o system I would at least spend the buck a gallon for distilled. You BURN 2 dollar a gallon gas every day. m2cw
byron

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 08-24-2004 17:54

Lots of folks do just fine running tap water or even a reducer from the ol garden hose into a water cooled tig torch. It's not the best way to go obviously but its way less expensive than a closed system. Poor quality water will cause clogs in the torch head sooner as prof Crisi says, but it still takes a long time for even that to occur.

Most closed systems nowadays use glycol (anti-freeze) which offers better corrosion resistance. Most of the big vendors sell their own glycol recipies (expensive) which brag of longer lasting deionization capabilities.

By - Date 08-26-2004 03:30

I've run 1 cooler for over 20 years with automotive antifreeze and demineralized water 50/50, and the second cooler with Dexcool & Demin water for over 5 years, with absolutely no problems.
Dexcool offers superior performence if the cooler contains aluminum components.
Demineralized or distilled water is key to the effectiveness of the system and prevents clogging. Most tap water is so filthy you're just asking for problems using it.

By phred Date 08-29-2004 07:45

I use propylene glycol (enviromentally safe auto antifreeze) and distilled water. It keeps the cooler from freezing and lubes the pump.