Water: Distilled or Tap?

[Tony-S]

Any preferences for B&W chemistry?

 

[Joe Mace]

Distilled -- small price to pay to eliminate one uncontrollable variable.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Depends on the source. I have municipal tap that is, by and large, well maintained. So I roll like that. Well water can be a nightmare, depending on neighboring industry, farming, et al. Also the make up of the earth in your region (minerals). Distilled is by far the most optimum/safest route to take. But it might be completely unnecessary.

 

[ann]

distilled for toners, tap for standard stuff, but i live in a city that controls the content of the water.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

Distilled for developers, selenium toner, and the final negative rinse. Tap otherwise. But my tap is pretty good. YMMV...

Ken

 

[Photo Engineer]

I have used tap water for all solutions for over 50 years and have had no problem with color or B&W.

Most photo manufacturers design their processing chemistry to work with tap water. Distilled is just extra icing on the cake. It is good as a final rinse for B&W, but even then, a wetting agent may be needed.

PE

 

[Curt]

My Dentist ask me if I drink bottled water, I said yes, he gave me a prescription toothpaste and said if I drank tap water I wouldn't need it. I have always found the tap water great here, I use distilled water for some things but tap for most. I live in Northwest Washington like Ken.

Curt

 

[Vaughn]

Curt -- that was probably for the floride.

Tap water here -- good stuff. Distilled for exotic stuff (my dichromate stock solution, for example).

Vaughn

 

[WGibsonPhotography]

I use water filtered through a PUR water filter. Seems to work fine

 

[michaelbsc]

I have mediocre municipal water, so I installed two filters in series I bought at a home supply store. (Home Depot for us Americans, I don't know what in other places.)

I have the string based particulate filter in the first housing, and a carbon filter in the second housing. This has completely cleaned up my water supply, and since the filters are only used for my darkroom stuff they appear to be lasting forever. I put them in months ago, and every time I check them or the water quality everything seems great. (I'm sure if I ran the dishwasher, bath, and laundry room through them they would probably need replacement at about the package suggested interval.)

 

[BradS]

tap water (municipal supply). No need to spend $1 per gallon on water.

 

[thebdt]

Distilled for everything but washing...

 

[geek]

Tap water is excellent here (usually at least, my first lab was different), but due some problems with my first lab at university (no one used it for years, and the water there was a bit brown the first half hour), i started to use distilled water for all chemicals and final rinse. in the new, self-made lab, I could use tap water without problems (I think), but since I work with a rotation processor and want to keep exact track of times and temperature, why take the risk of adding some uncertain variables with tap water?

 

[Dan Henderson]

based on manufacturer's recommendations, I use distilled water to mix up film developer and TF4 fixer, and for my final film rinse. Everything else is municipal water out of Lake Michigan.

 

[Ian Grant]

Tap water for almost everything. I use de-ionised water for making up stock solutions of developers like Pyrocat HD, but tap water for print developers.

Ian

 

[BobNewYork]

I've always used tap water, (filtered through the string-type filters) for everything except the final rinse. For that I use either distilled from the local drug store, or the water collected from a de-humidifier. No issues....so far!

Bob H

 

[AshenLight]

I use distilled water for all my chemistry since I mix from scratch and eliminate sequestering agent whenever possible. The water quality in my area is generally good but it can vary depending on the time of year. I prefer not to gamble on what comes out of the tap except during the final wash and even that is filtered.

Ash

 

[steven_e007]

When you guys talk about distilled water, do you actually mean distilled? As in pure water from a still? Or demineralized water?

Where I live, in the UK, genuine distilled water is very expensive and very hard to get. Demineralized water, the stuff you put into car batteries and steam irons, was much cheaper and easier to get.

I say was... because car batteries are now all 'sealed for life' things - so garages and filling stations don't stock it any more and the marketing people have decided they can charge more for steam iron water if they dye it mauve and add rose petal scent to it ^_^

It is actually quite hard to find unadulterated demin water, now.

My tap water is very hard and throws a white chalky deposit in the bottom of every solution I mix, so now I boil it first and then decant off the water, leaving the last two inches behind with the sediment in it. An inline filter is on my shopping list, but it really isn't a problem other than for the final rinse of the negatives.

 

[BetterSense]

I get free ultrapure water from work; I use that for mixing film developer and final rinsing, but I use tap water for paper chemicals, film washing, and so on.

 

[shotgun1a]

...My tap water is very hard and throws a white chalky deposit in the bottom of every solution I mix, so now I boil it first and then decant off the water, leaving the last two inches behind with the sediment in it. An inline filter is on my shopping list, but it really isn't a problem other than for the final rinse of the negatives.

Why would you boil water just to decant off the top of it? Wouldn't just letting it sit be as effective? If you're going to boil it, you might as well go ahead and collect the steam and let it condense back into pure water.

 

[DLawson]

When you guys talk about distilled water, do you actually mean distilled? As in pure water from a still? Or demineralized water?

Where I live, in the UK, genuine distilled water is very expensive and very hard to get. Demineralized water, the stuff you put into car batteries and steam irons, was much cheaper and easier to get.

What I use is labeled "steam distilled" on the bottle. It is very common in the US, though not so much as "spring water." I get it in the supermarket. I forget the price, but it is under $1/gallon.

I mix with distilled, wash with tap and do a final rinse with distilled. I doubt that I NEED to be using distilled. But it isn't a financial burden and it removes one variable from a process that I'm trying to get reliable.

All my prior swings through darkroom work were with tap water.

 

[steven_e007]

Why would you boil water just to decant off the top of it? Wouldn't just letting it sit be as effective? If you're going to boil it, you might as well go ahead and collect the steam and let it condense back into pure water.

If I boil it (or add concentrated chemical to it!) it throws a sediment. It furs up the kettle, puts scale in the central heating, even leaves a ring of limescale around the mouth of the taps. But leave it to settle in a jug at room temperature... and the lime would stay in suspension indefinately. Don't know why, you'd think it would be maybe more soluble in hot water - but boil it, let it settle and you'll get 1/2" of cloudy water at the bottom... :confused:

 

[steven_e007]

What I use is labeled "steam distilled" on the bottle. It is very common in the US, though not so much as "spring water." I get it in the supermarket. I forget the price, but it is under $1/gallon..

Under $1?!!!

Last time I tried to get some from a pharmacist they told me it would be special order, would take a week or more and they quoted £7.50, that is about $12 a gallon!

I think there might be a legal loophole problem over here, the same laws that govern distilling alcohol mean that stills have to be licenced, even for water. Don't know if that is the full story but it might have something to do with it?

If I could get distilled at $1 a gallon I'd use a lot more of it

 

[2F/2F]

I use distilled water for mixing up my stock and working solutions for film processing, and anything else that I mix in small quantities (1 gallon or under). I am not so picky with anything else. I use tap water for paper chemicals and for all washing. When I get my distilled water, I try to get a bunch of the same kind all at once, and I shoot a basic speed/contrast test on 35mm film every time I get a new batch. There is rarely any difference. My last batch of five five-gallon bottles lasted me for AT LEAST a year. I put them upside down on a simple dispenser with a spout.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Depends on your local water.

My water is very hard and I use the tap water for all processing without a problem.

Steve