Guess the Chemical?

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Whilst the statement appears ridiculous, Robin ... I believe that there is a safety risk associated with deionised water, due to the use of Sodium Hydroxide in its production.

MichaelG.

Not sure what Neil's is, but beware of Palmolive Shaving Foam !

Shaving Cream

If it's whisky - or indeed any other alcoholic beverage - I shall continue to use it in the manner to which I am accustomed, DIRE WARNINGS notwithstanding.

Dave, small amounts of water added to red hot coke = Producer Gas? Some railway locos were designed to generate and use it.

It's water...

I think the clue was " If breathed in, move person into fresh air. If not breathing, give artificial respiration. "

Clearly after that initial insight the person filling it in just went with the default low-hazard answers.

Neil

I had thought water but had ruled it out due to the above!

Regards.

David.

I believe it’s also called di-hydrogen monoxide which sounds very nasty.

I am very puzzled about extinguishing burning water (can it catch fire) using water perhaps somebody can explain that one?

Very naughty of them. This excerpt from an MSDS for Water may be more typical:

Even though it fails to mention that asbestos burns in the nasty stuff, this MSDS is more exciting.

Dave

Well, OK, maybe! I picked that at random because of its apparent absurdity which seemed to match Neil's example.

I'd be quite unhappy if I found harmful levels of NaOH in the deionised water I use though - it wouldn't really be deionised! The MSDS I quoted from gives a maximum pH of 9.0 which isn't too corrosive - the upper limit for potable water is 8.5 I think.

Apologies if I've got it wrong - I'll wash my mouth, or at least my typing fingers with soap (pH around 10) if so

Robin

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Pedant that I am, Robin ... I did carefully use the term 'safety risk' rather than 'safety hazard'

... my logic being that although the product should be within spec. there is a specific risk associated with the process by which it is [presumably] manufactured. This appears to be recognised by the inclusion of reference to Sodium Hydroxide in that MSDS.

For what it's worth [admittedly not much in the present context], there is an outline of the production process here: **LINK**

http://www.tmasc.com/di%20water%20specs.htm

MichaelG.

A bigger risk with distilled or DI water is mixing containers. Many years ago I worked for a small airline on an island and we did frequent compressor washes of the turboprop engines but were still having sulphidation issues on the blades. The washes used distilled water bought in large containers from a local supplier. Turned out that their main market was the motor trade and they were not fussy about cross contamination between battery acid and water.
I found out when asked to pick up an order from Boots as I was going into town. My little car was totally filled with 2l bottles of distilled water. When I found out what was going on I suggested an Elgastat deioniser. It took a bit of convincing (DI could strip ions from the blades but as we added a detergent to the wash this was moot) but they changed to DI and had no further issues. It also cured the high failure rate we were getting with the "wet" NICAD aircraft batteries.

Robert G8RPI.

Curious 'fact' I picked up somewhere is that drinking nothing but de-ionised water for too long is unhealthy. Something to do with kidneys requiring trace ions to function properly. I also believe drinking water made by bulk de-ionising sea-water has salts added back before being piped to customers.

Can de-ionised water damage kidneys? Now I've read my own post again I have doubts...

Dave

One’s blood electrolytes would come under severe strain in that scenario. Only true if the person was not eating anything else at all, I would suggest, as there are loads of ions in most foods (too much salt in many!)?

Hi NDIY, might be worth looking at this **LINK** scroll down to Health effects of drinking purified water, also this **LINK** I think the main concerns are that the deionised water may strip your body of important minerals over time.

Regards Nick.

Toxic in large quantities if ingested (Brain swelling, fits, coma, death)

**LINK**

regards Martin

Hi Nick,

This bit from the first link really sums it up, I think.

Quote ”This results in demineralized water, which has not been proven to be healthier than drinking water. The World Health Organization investigated the health effects of demineralized water in 1980, and its experiments in humans found that demineralized water increased diuresis and the elimination of electrolytes, with decreased serum potassium concentration. Magnesium, calcium and other nutrients in water can help to protect against nutritional deficiency.” Unquote

Not proven (either way?) and as I indicated, there are plenty of minerals in a proper, balanced diet. I’m most certainly not “nutritionally deficient”. Are you? Somehow I doubt that would be the case for the vast majority on here.

Some Scots must be quaking in their shoes - well at least those that live at altitude and drink run-off from granite rocks - long before it has chance to collect lots of minerals.

De-ionised water might be classed as a ‘junk’ drink. Perhaps like a lot of the ultra-processed junk some people eat?

I would suspect that the ‘five-a-day’ would likely counteract any mineral loss without needing extra protection via the water one drinks.

But it seems clear that you must be agreeing with me - that it is blood electrolytes that are the problem, not the kidneys directly?

Regards, NDIY

Edited By not done it yet on 29/07/2019 11:56:13

Is drowning a health risk?

A weird one is "Smartwater" from Coke where they distil perfectly good British spring water and then add Calcium Chloride, Magnesium Chloride and Potassium Bicarbonate back in! For starts if you are going to distil it why use spring water rather than tap water?

Bizarrely (to me anyway) people buy the stuff. I guess they are the same people who pay 3 to 4 times as much for the same painkiller or other medication with a fancy name and packet as the generic version. I just checked Boots website Neurofen 200mg tablets 14p each, generic 3p each. Neurofen is more than 4.5 times the price).

Many moons ago the New York health authority tested various brands of bottled water for purity. The best was the stuff that comes out of the tap at very little cost. Just shows the power of advertising