can I put regular drinking water in a battery or is distilled a must?
 

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Re: can I put regular drinking water in a battery or is distilled a must? (piggydog)
 

i heard tap is fine.

Re: can I put regular drinking water in a battery or is distilled a must? (piggydog)
 

You can put old coffee if you wish, but seriously, can you not afford distilled water? You can get it at any grocery store for cheap.

The reason why distilled water should be used is because it is pure. Tap water contains chemicals and minerals which contaminate the battery, and alter the chemical composition of the electrolyte. This shortens the life span of your battery.

Re: can I put regular drinking water in a battery or is distilled a must? (maks)
 

LOL I can afford it but the battery won't start and I'm lazy about biking down the road and carrying a gallon of water back.

Re: can I put regular drinking water in a battery or is distilled a must? (piggydog)
 

Haha gotcha,

The battery is completely dry? That seems rather strange, perhaps all it needs is to be charged up.

I put hose water in my friend's battery a year ago and it still works https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...s/emsmilep.gif

Re: can I put regular drinking water in a battery or is distilled a must? (piggydog)
 

haha.. ya but how new is the battery.. generally speaking the battery's life will greatly decrease when you add non-distilled water..

maks is right....

Re: can I put regular drinking water in a battery or is distilled a must? (piggydog)
 

I've put regular water into my battery and it's still starting up my car just fine

Re: can I put regular drinking water in a battery or is distilled a must? (prelude1897)
 

just boil some water to make it distilled. just let it cool down b4 u use it.... https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emthup.gif

Re: can I put regular drinking water in a battery or is distilled a must? (hot_97_lude)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hot_97_lude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just boil some water to make it distilled. just let it cool down b4 u use it.... https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emthup.gif </TD></TR></TABLE>

Distilling water is more complicated than just boiling it.
If it stays in the same container, those contaminants just get back into the water. You need to collect the steam and move it to a clean container.

how do you put water into a battery? do you have to open up the battery?

Re: (khalal538)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by khalal538 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how do you put water into a battery? do you have to open up the battery?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes the top should have some caps of some sort

Re: (piggydog)
 

i never new they still made those lololol dude how old are u ...... https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...s/emsmilep.gif just get an optima its gell filled ...no more worries lol funny.i love honda tech https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emwink.gif

Why not use battery acid?

Re: (hu)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hu &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Why not use battery acid?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Under normal use, electrolyte is lost because water evaporates but the acid remains in the battery. Adding acid will change the chemical composition of the electrolyte... hence reducing battery life.

Chem. Eng. Class FTW! https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emwink.gif

edit: You only need to add acid if lets say... you drop the battery sideways, and it spills out.

Ok, to answer some of questions and complete errors in this thread.

First, boiling water will sanitize it, however all your electrolites in the tap water including any metalic ions from either the pan or your pipes, floride, chlorine, ect will remain and it higher concentrations.

Distilled water is "made" by normal water is heated in a closed container and the top of the container is cooled. As the water evaporates (and only the water evaporates) rises, then it condensates on the cold top. Then this is collected. If you have a distillerly for making some home brew could be used for this, but it is only a dollar a gallon at the store.

The electrolye will evaporte, however as the battery strength goes down, it evaporates much faster. If it gets to the point where its dry, your going to need a new battery pretty soon and adding DISTILLED water is just a quick fix.

As I noted above, tap water has several electrolytes. When you add salts or ions into an acidic solution, it will change the acidity level, and chances are it will nuetralize it.