Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Can you use Halfords top up battery water to make colloidal silver
Could you please answer the following question; we have bought some " battery top up water" from Halfords. I have been told that it is distilled water but on the label it also states de-inionised water. We have our own colloial silver generator and the instructions tell us to use distilled water but not demineralised water. We will be taking this colliodal siver internally. Reading your answers to previous questions I believe de-ionised water is the same as de-mineralised water. Is this the case? and if so am I right to assume that we cannot use the Halfords top up water to make the colloidal silver? Also would you be able to tell me where to buy just distilled water that is not de-ionised? Thank you so much ifor taking the time to read and answer my questions....
Warmest regards
Dawn Gillies- Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
2004
I would never even consider drinking bottled water that was not intended for drinking. If I couldn't find it, and needed only tiny quantities for taking with medicine, I'd distill my own by rigging up some kind of tubing to the spout of a tea kettle and cooling the steam back to water.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2004
As replied above I wouldn't drink water not designed for such. The simplest way to get your own distilled water is to buy a cheap coffee maker, the type that boil water from a reservoir you fill up and then drip it slowly out of a spout into a glass pot. Fill a clean plastic bottle with tap water and leave it for 24 hours to let any chlorine escape then run this water through your coffee machine (without the coffee obviously!). Use the first couple of batches to rinse the reservoir and throw them away.
As for the wisdom of drinking a colloidal silver solution I would recommend you are very cautious. Not everything you read is medically proven or wise. I work with colloids every day and I certainly wouldn't recommend drinking them!
Dan- Bristol, UK
2004
Ed. note: thanks for the help, Dan; full name next time please.
2006
Dan, Please explain your suggestion for producing distilled water using a drip coffee maker.
Drip coffee makers only boil the water. Whereas to distil water you have to boil it and then condense it, nevertheless you did not mention any modification to the coffee maker.
Also, specifically what is it about colloidal silver that makes you recommend not drinking it?
- Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England
2006
Here are three solutions to the problem of obtaining water in the United Kingdom (UK) that is suitable for making colloidal silver.
(While battery top up water per se should be suitable, nevertheless, battery top up water such as that available from Halfords stores in the UK is not suitable due to reasons including the following: The bottles are not sealed appropriately for internal use, such as drinking; and the time "sitting on the shelf" is not controlled.)
1)
Most chemists shops (pharmacies) either have bottled "purified"** water, or will quickly obtain it for you. Cost for a 5-litre plastic bottle of it is approximately 4 to 5 (pounds sterling), currently, i.e. August 2006.
** Purification variously involves filtration, de-ionisation, demineralisation, reverse osmosis, ozonation, etc.
"Purified" water is generally good for producing colloidal silver.
I will not write much here about indications of goodness of your home made colloidal silver. To my own (limited) knowledge, indications of good colloidal silver include:
- between clear and very slightly opalescent;
- between colourless and golden yellow;
- a narrow, parallel beam of light (for example from an electric torch) becomes conical as it passes through the colloidal silver. The beam is visible due to light scattered by the colloidal particles. For a horizontal beam, the conical shape is visible whether the beam is viewed from a side or from above/below;
Also, light that is scattered along directions at 90-degrees to the main beam is linearly polarised.
To check for linear polarization of the scattered light, look at the beam through a polarising filter along a direction at 90-degrees to the main beam, and rotate the filter around your line of sight.
(Commonly available polarising filters include the lenses of polarising sunglasses, and polarising filters for camera lenses.) With good colloidal silver, for one orientation (i.e. angle of rotation) of the polarising filter, the beam of light that is passing through the colloidal silver is invisible as viewed through the filter, because the scattered (polarised) light is then blocked by the filter.
2)
I have not found commercially-available steam distilled water locally in the UK.
However, I have found one vendor on the www at: sortlifeout.co.uk
Unfortunately, it is very expensive - due partly to the cost of postage. Currently, the price of a 5-litre plastic bottle of it, including cost of delivery in the UK, is 24.95.
3)
You can make your own distilled water.
Electrically powered domestic water distillers are available - for example via the www.
You can also readily construct a less efficient home made still. For example: Fill a large pot or pan about halfway with water. Tie a cup to the handle on the pot's lid so that the cup will hang right-side-up when the lid is upside-down (make sure the cup is not dangling into the water) and boil the water for 20 minutes. The water that drips from the lid into the cup is distilled. You could experiment with ice cubes in the lid, to make the lid cooler. You could also stand the cup on top of something else inside the pot, for example a brick, instead of hanging it from the handle of the pot's lid - again the cup should be clear of the boiling water.
(This description is based on instructions for home distilling of water that are available at:
http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/self/293
and
http://www.redcross.org/general/0,1082,0_91_4440,00.html ).
- Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England
Try getting a reverse osmosis unit like easyH2O. Cost about £150. Produces 1500 gallons between membrane changes. We've used ours for over a year on our barge, utilising grotty canal water. No ill effects so far. We have had the water analysed and it is totally pure.
Peter Lancaster- Capestange, France
July 10, 2010
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