Posted by wentsworth (68.78.45.116) on October 19, 2008 at 16:01:09:
In Reply to: Deionized Water Seal posted by James Pesta on October 08, 2008 at 17:13:10:
: I've looked through the archived messages and tried to look up information on deionized water seal, but I'm not really finding everything I need on how to operate and maintain the seal.
: I understand the temperature and the fact it's deionized water, but the maintenance is where I'm stumped.
: Is there any special additives I need? Filtration? When am I supposed to dump? Anyone that can offer me help on any of this greatly appreciated.
It really isnt used much since the cost to keep it boiling really isnt cost effective when nickel acetates are such small concentrations. But Boiling DI water I believe needs have the ph kept between 6 and 7. I always had alot of calcium build up on coils and on the tank walls. Your main problem is dragging in rinse water. That usually raises the ph. I would just keep the ph down with acetic acid and any time the ph was too low, I would dump the water instead of adding anything to raise the ph. It seems to get cloudy with sodium hydroxide and its not the place you want to add a caustic to your finished parts. Its mostly your rinsing procedures prior to the DI that let you know how long before you dump. Mostly you start to get water marks or a haze over the clear parts. I guess like anything you can filter it when the tank is not running to make it last longer, I think most people were using reverse osmosis instead of filter media though.
So its not an official answer, its a basic seal that is pretty much not used much because the cost of heating to boiling is so expensive now and if its not boiling, you really arent properly sealing the pores.