Distilled water

BMbikerider · Nov 15, 2012

This may sound like a stupid tip. However here goes.

The water supply where I live has quite a high lime content so will leave marks on any film that I process if I am not careful. I do have access to a regular supply of 'distilled water' but from an unusual source - namely the condensing clothes tumble drier. This water is condensed out of the drying clothes and is collected in a storage container fitted to the drier. When full it holds about 6-7 pints. Up until now has been simply poured away but last night I saved some and checked it for content of any particles, hairs fibres etc and then filtered it and - nothing. I processed a B&W film this morning and did a final rinse in the saved water and it dried perfectly with virtually no marks at all.

markbarendt · Nov 15, 2012

That's handy.

landscapepics · Nov 15, 2012

I do the same thing with the tumble dryer. However I haven't been filtering the water and, on the last film processing run, there were a few particles in the water so I didn't use it. What do you use to filter the water ?

iulian · Nov 15, 2012

A coffee filter works nice. Also, you can cut the curved upper part of a ~2 liter PET bottle to use as a funnel. I've used this for filtering since I was in high-school and I didn't have access to "proper" chemical equipment for my experiments.
Hope that helps.

Also, does anyone have experience with those home filters (with reverse osmosis, carbon, silver,etc stages)? My aunt has one and uses it for drinking water. The conductivity is really low, but I was wondering if anyone tried using that water for darkroom work.

chriscrawfordphoto · Nov 15, 2012

The chances of that water being full of lint and dust is very high. Distilled water costs less than $1 a gallon at the grocery store or Walmart; it is not worth the risk to save so little money.

bobwysiwyg · Nov 15, 2012

BMbikerider said:
This may sound like a stupid tip. However here goes.

The water supply where I live has quite a high lime content so will leave marks on any film that I process if I am not careful. I do have access to a regular supply of 'distilled water' but from an unusual source - namely the condensing clothes tumble drier. This water is condensed out of the drying clothes and is collected in a storage container fitted to the drier. When full it holds about 6-7 pints. Up until now has been simply poured away but last night I saved some and checked it for content of any particles, hairs fibres etc and then filtered it and - nothing. I processed a B&W film this morning and did a final rinse in the saved water and it dried perfectly with virtually no marks at all.

Just curious, why is the moisture condensate collected by these dryers rather than just vented outside?

georg16nik · Nov 15, 2012

iulian said:
.....
Also, does anyone have experience with those home filters (with reverse osmosis, carbon, silver,etc stages)? My aunt has one and uses it for drinking water. The conductivity is really low, but I was wondering if anyone tried using that water for darkroom work.

I got a distiller and I am using single pass distilled water in the darkroom.
Reverse osmosis does not provide clean enough water.

georg16nik · Nov 15, 2012

chriscrawfordphoto said:
..Distilled water costs less than $1 a gallon at the grocery store or Walmart...

This is reverse osmosis product, a filtered water.
Boiled distilled water is completely different story, it takes lots of time and energy for the vapors to pass thru a serpent turbine, then the inorganic solvents are filtered thru charcoal.
With consumer grade distiller 600W, it takes around 5 hours to distill 1 gallon.
If You got a military grade distiller, like the ones used in submarines, You might do it in less time but it wont cost less.
There is no chance in hell 1 gallon distilled water to cost 1$ unless You live on Mars or Jupiter

pentaxuser · Nov 15, 2012

chriscrawfordphoto said:
The chances of that water being full of lint and dust is very high. Distilled water costs less than $1 a gallon at the grocery store or Walmart; it is not worth the risk to save so little money.

Remember the OP is in the U.K. I have certainly never seen distilled water here at the equivalent of $1(about 62p) a gallon or anything even near that very cheap price

pentaxuser

Bill Burk · Nov 15, 2012

georg16nik said:
I got a distiller and I am using single pass distilled water in the darkroom.
Reverse osmosis does not provide clean enough water.

I don't understand this statement, I would think it is too clean.

I use a reverse osmosis unit for drinking water, it's part of the water wall for my darkroom. But since it only has a 2 1/2 gallon tank, I only use it for mixing stock chems. I also use for the final rinse (with a bit of Photo-Flo). I use tap water through a single filter for running water in the sink, washing film and prints.

Bob-D659 · Nov 15, 2012

georg16nik said:
There is no chance in hell 1 gallon distilled water to cost 1$ unless You live on Mars or Jupiter

You haven't visited a Walmart in the USA have you. Yes triple distilled water is only $1 us dollar a gallon, and the commercial stills recover the heat from condensing to preheat the incoming cold water.

fotch · Nov 15, 2012

georg16nik said:
This is reverse osmosis product, a filtered water.
Boiled distilled water is completely different story, it takes lots of time and energy for the vapors to pass thru a serpent turbine, then the inorganic solvents are filtered thru charcoal.
With consumer grade distiller 600W, it takes around 5 hours to distill 1 gallon.
If You got a military grade distiller, like the ones used in submarines, You might do it in less time but it wont cost less.
There is no chance in hell 1 gallon distilled water to cost 1$ unless You live on Mars or Jupiter

Many stores in my area, Chicago, Milwaukee suburbs sell Distilled water for $1 or less. RA water, if doing a refill your own container, is 30 to 40 cents.

Jim17x · Nov 15, 2012

Im just south of Chicago and have never paid more than $1 per gallon.. I always pick some up for between .88 & .99 cents per gallon..

georg16nik · Nov 15, 2012

The main question is: Did any of You guys checked it in a lab?

Bob-D659 · Nov 15, 2012

Yes, and it sure fails the tests for water for injection. But it is good distilled water.

georg16nik · Nov 15, 2012

Bob-D659 said:
Yes, and it sure fails the tests for water for injection. But it is good distilled water.

Yep, that's why in pharmacies is offered in glass ampules.

Роберт · Nov 15, 2012

Good question because the quality of destilled water can vary enormously. But this is the same with R.O. water. I am using Brita (TM) water which is enough filtered to get rid of all regular problems in photography and it is very suitable for use of "photo" water. One Maxtra filter can do about 80 ltrs. and it costs about Eur. 4,00. About Eur. 0,05 / ltr. and always available. The end quality also depends of the type of input water but here in Holland it is pretty good. In Ukraine it sometimes is a problem in a high amount of iron (rusty tubes).

bdial · Nov 15, 2012

bobwysiwyg said:
Just curious, why is the moisture condensate collected by these dryers rather than just vented outside?

It allows more flexibility in locating the dryer, no access to an exterior wall is needed. Also, they don't send air you've paid to heat out of the house's conditioned envelope. These dryers are also much smaller than the typical "American" dryer.
We have a condensing dryer, though ours is rigged to pump the water into the washing machine's drain. Given the gunky wet lint that accumulates in the condenser, I don't think the water from it is something I'd consider for my film, but "mileage may vary".

As for distilled from the grocery store, it's labeled as distilled, and the label further states "purified by steam distillation". Sells for right around 1 USD per gallon/3.7 L around here, FWIW.

georg16nik · Nov 15, 2012

Роберт said:
Good question because the quality of destilled water can vary enormously. But this is the same with R.O. water. I am using Brita (TM) water which is enough filtered to get rid of all regular problems in photography and it is very suitable for use of "photo" water. One Maxtra filter can do about 80 ltrs. and it costs about Eur. 4,00. About Eur. 0,05 / ltr. and always available. The end quality also depends of the type of input water but here in Holland it is pretty good. In Ukraine it sometimes is a problem in a high amount of iron (rusty tubes).

Sounds good to me!
Brita works ok but You still need to get rid of the dissolved oxygen.
The so called distilled water from Walmart should also be boiled to get rid of dissolved oxygen.

DWThomas · Nov 15, 2012

georg16nik said:
This is reverse osmosis product, a filtered water.
Boiled distilled water is completely different story, it takes lots of time and energy for the vapors to pass thru a serpent turbine, then the inorganic solvents are filtered thru charcoal. ...

The $1 stuff at my supermarket claims to be "steam distilled." Admittedly I don't have any handy way to truly verify that, but perhaps it's a byproduct of our typical (US) profligate energy use! It works for me.

Bob-D659 · Nov 15, 2012

Commercial steam distillers are over 90% efficient are recapturing the heat, water entering the first boiler is already at 100C. The plant that tested my distilled water produces water for injection by the tanker load, over 15,000 liters per day. They use a lot of water for the production of pharmaceuticals.

Photo Engineer · Nov 15, 2012

Water treated with reverse osmosis is often called deionized water. Distilled water, is by definition, water that is boiled, run through a condenser into a pot. The water from your dryer is distilled, but may contain oils and scents from the detergent, and will certainly contain lint and dust.

Don't use it.

PE

Jim17x · Nov 15, 2012

This is the .99 cent distilled water i get from my local grocery store.. It states Purified by steam distillation, filtered and ozonated.

paul_c5x4 · Nov 15, 2012

pentaxuser said:
Remember the OP is in the U.K. I have certainly never seen distilled water here at the equivalent of $1(about 62p) a gallon or anything even near that very cheap price

Try your local independent car parts store (not Halfords). Wilco in Norfolk do a 25l drum for around £10.

georg16nik · Nov 15, 2012

paul_c5x4 said:
Try your local independent car parts store (not Halfords). Wilco in Norfolk do a 25l drum for around £10.

For ~ £150 You can buy EU made distiller in Europe. Can be had at every dental supply store.
It will pay itself in a few months and will serve You at least 10 years before You service the rubber seal which cost £1.
In US such distillers cost ~ $150.

Distilled water

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