how can i tell if my radiator bottle has anti-freeze?

[grober]

I did not know it could turn your hair green, what colour are your sheep?



Copper.org: Plumbing: TechCorner - Why Do I Have Blue/Green Staining Of My Bathroom Fixtures

Patina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Bellow]

The saga continues...
Bought appropriate MB325.0 AF concentrate (no pre-mix available) - and accidentally, de-ionisesd water. So, returned the de-ionisesd water, and went looking for distilled water - none available. Which I now realise was good fortune.
My tap water is the soft, acidic (pH4.7) so not going to use it.
So, latest plan is to blag some normal, treated by the water authority, tap water - even if I have steal it from the toilet in Tesco!
More likely I'll go to the local water authority where I know people there, and fill a container of their tap water - if only for the poignancy!
Palava...

 

[Bellow]

I did not know it could turn your hair green, what colour are your sheep? - I shall have to stop drinking whisky.

Continue with the whisky - but avoid bathing in it!

If sheep took a bath, they would be green!
As far as I know, no harm comes from drinking the water. It is so pure and clear - like water should be. I hate when I have to drink treated tap water now. A rarity thankfully.

 

[tagnut]

Distilled water exhibits both acid and alkaline properties simultaneously whilst pH7. It exists as H30+ and OH-. It is very corrosive and harmful to drink.

De-ionised water, what you put into your steam iron, is not distilled water, and not quite so corrosive. Whilst you can put de-ionised water into your car battery, the correct stuff is distilled water, to top up the sulphuric acid without poisoning it with the odd minerals that are left in de-ionised water.

Fed into a brand new stainless steel industrial cooling system to test it, distilled water ate all the welds out and corroded the pipework, requiring the whole lot be replaced at vast expense. It is a common fallacy to believe that distilled water, being pure water, is benign: it is not called the universal solvent without reason.

Once water has some minerals dissolved in it, it is less prone to corrode other materials. The water companies actually add minerals (forgotten which) to water to stop it corroding their distribution pipes. Hardness exists in two flavours, permanent hardness and semi-permanent hardness (it's a long time since schoolboy chemistry and I've forgotten which salts and oxides are which). The permanent hardness cannot be removed (precipitated) by boiling and in fact acts as a buffer preventing the water from dissolving more metals and minerals. The semi-permanent hardness is precipitated by boiling, this is what furs up our kettles, and the cooling system of the vehicle.

Therefore if you use boiled water, which has had the semi-permanent hardness precipitated out of it into your kettle as fur, then it will not clog up your car engine. Plus most anti-freeze have buffering agents to prevent corrosion.

Sorry Jefrs but the above is nonsense

Yes distilled water contains hydronium (H3O) and hydroxide (OH) but so does all water including de-ionised water. Hydronium on it's own is corrosive but not in distilled water as it is neutralised by the Hydroxide hence the PH7.

Dissolving other minerals in water does not make it less corrosive. It is not corrosive to start with. Corrosion on metal is usually caused by oxidation even in stainless steel.

Oxidation resistance depends mainly on temperature, gas composition and moisture level and steel grade (mainly chromium level).

People all over the world drink distilled water with no ill effects and some beverage companies even use it

 

[jefrs]

Sorry Jefrs but the above is nonsense

Yes distilled water contains hydronium (H3O) and hydroxide (OH) but so does all water including de-ionised water. Hydronium on it's own is corrosive but not in distilled water as it is neutralised by the Hydroxide hence the PH7.

Dissolving other minerals in water does not make it less corrosive. It is not corrosive to start with. Corrosion on metal is usually caused by oxidation even in stainless steel.

Oxidation resistance depends mainly on temperature, gas composition and moisture level and steel grade (mainly chromium level).

People all over the world drink distilled water with no ill effects and some beverage companies even use it

Sorry but my post was not nonsense at all.

You need to revise on redox potentials and buffering. Distilled water ions exist at full potential and are unbuffered (because there's nothing in it to buffer them). The H30+ is the hydroxonium ion and is the basis of acids: most acids oxidise metals. Papers have been written e.g. "In distilled water, which cannot form a protective scale to reduce the access of oxygen to the zinc surface, the attack is more severe than in most types of domestic or river water, which do contain some scale-forming salts." Ok, that one's for zinc but you get the idea.

In most cases metal corrosion will be accelerated by electricity, the potential of a bi-metal junction is sufficient, see sacrificial anode.