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Yes, I did say that. I don't recall the brand but I did look at the label on a 55 gallon drum of premix at my local auto shop and it indicated the water used was either distilled or mixed-bed deionized which for our purposes can be considered about the same. I think it's reasonably safe to assume that all the majors do that route. Do you live in a hard water area?

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This is true. Brings to mind the people who buy that 50/50 coolant at the auto supply store for almost as much money as a gallon of straight antifreeze. I have a friend who will only buy the 50/50 stuff because his owners manual says a 50/50 solution is recommended. It means nothing to him when I tell him he should buy the undiluted stuff and put in half. He just can't figure it out. He says I'm the one that doesn't know what I'm talking about. Yes I know that the 50/50 stuff makes it easier when adding to or topping off the cooling system but why pay so much for someone to dump a 1/2 gallon of water into a 1/2 gallon of antifreeze? Use the old bottle from the last time and mix your own. Much cheeper.


NOTE: Just read Owen's post regarding hard water. Have to agree with him. I an on some of the best water around (pretty much melted snow) and forget other people have water so full of minerals you can hardly stand to drink it.

I buy reverse osmosis water for drinking, cooking, making coffee and tea.

It costs $3 for a 5 gallon jug if I bring my own jug.

Is this the same thing as distilled water? I think it should be pretty close but not exactly sure what the difference is.

The 50/50 mixture is a convenient way to mix. I think 58% ethylene glycol (or something close to that) gives the maximum boiling point elevation/freezing point depression. More glycol than that is not a question of waste - it doesn't work as well.

Deionized water and distilled water are not the same (distilled is condensed from vapor, deionized is usually treated), but I think both are completely fine for cooling systems.

Distilled water is boiled and the steam/vapor is condensed and collected into another container. So the collected water is pretty pure as it leaves as the sediment and minerals behind in the boiling vessel.

Reverse osmosis is a filter where water through a membrane but produces near perfect water also. But I think it does not as good of a job a the distilling process does. But then again the osmosis filtering doesn't require the elaborate heating and collection of the water so it faster and cheaper to operate.

I have a reserve osmosis setup under my kitchen sink for drinking/cooking water. But it has a small 1 gallon tank under there for reserve as it doesnt work instantly. The downside is that it may use 3 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of drinkable water. The rest gets discarded down the drain with the contaminants. But for $150 for the entire unit, it was a hell of a lot cheaper than what we were spending annually on bottled water. I just bought everyone in the family their own reusable water bottle.

I installed one of those for my friend in LA. A pita to plumb and hookup as it also supplied the water for the tap in the refrigerator on the other side of the kitchen. They seem to be common in Southern Cal. I never heard of them here in Pa. Of course we don't live in a desert like L.A. and have plenty of fresh water.

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Dave, water in our area seems to be free of vitamins and minerals; although, people say the water in Austin is full of lime. We get our water from the Colorado River (Texas version) that has a series of dams to form lakes for recreation, irrigation, and water supply. This area was under a sea and bare hillsides reveal strata of deposits laid down during those times.

I guess I could get the unmixed antifreeze and mix my own with "purified" water from a super market. Probably less expensive than the premixed. A 25% mixture would provide enough freeze protection while maintaining the other advantages of modern antifreeze.

(o {I} o)

I guess I could get the unmixed antifreeze and mix my own with "purified" water from a super market. Probably less expensive than the premixed. A 25% mixture would provide enough freeze protection while maintaining the other advantages of modern antifreeze.

John, why not? Seems a good plan to me, just check and make sure a 25% is adequate for your lowest expected temperature. Using distilled, RO or deionized water may be a case of over-precaution, it's just so damn cheap I can't see why not to do it.

Around here premix is $13.95 for 4 liters (gallon) and pure antifreeze is $14.95. In other words they charge practically as much for water as antifreeze.

The last time I needed antifreeze while on the road I bought a jug of straight antifreeze and a liter (quart) of bottled water for 79 cents.

Beats paying $3.25 a liter for them to mix it in.

I'm with you Rusty. Why anyone would buy a 50/50 mix for almost the same price as pure antifreeze is beyond ny understanding. If they do that I'll give them $13.50 for $15.00 several times a day.
Buy a gallon of distilled water for a buck and mix your own. Then you would have TWO gal of premix antifreeze for a little more than they charge for a gallon.