water for battery

[baza]

dunno if this is the right section , but can anyone tell me if its ok or not to use filtered tap or town water to top up our car batteries. yes, i know i`m a cheapskate but if it saves buying distilled water , why not. thanks if you can help.

[ephect]

its best to use distilled, but if none is available, then filtered tap water is fine.

[vpcommo]

yeah filtered is alright, some mechanics will use pura tap to fill up batteries, but best always if u can to use distilled

[Tom_1569]

Distilled water is cheaper then a new battery, or doing damage to your car.

[hako]

Filtered water does not have the impurities that damage the battery cells removed....you need either distilled or de-ionised water. You can gather rain water or boil the kettle and condense the steam. Bore water is worst of all for batteries and lots of places now have bore water mixed with dam water like Toowoomba.

[the collector]

distilled water isnt expensive
calling your mate for a jumpstart at 2am will cost you at least a carton,and a tow truck even more.
batteries are only reliable for a couple of years anyway imo
cheers

[baza]

well i think it will be safer if i keep useing distilled water . i just wanted to know if filtered water would remove the harmful minerals. but after reading your replies i wont use filtered water. cheers 2 you all.

[WhiteOx]

Just use tap water, I've used tap water for many,many years without any problems whatsoever.

[VT-565]

Demineralised water is the go.

If you're gonna pour filtered tap water in there, you might as well just top it up with the garden hose.

[OzJD]

Yeh I know people who've used normal tap water (from Warragamba damn) and had no issues in years (I have more issues than they do )

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Tap water contains dissolved impurities, so as the water in the battery evaporates the solids do not and sink to the bottom forming a sediment. As this sediment builds up it reduces the surface area of the plate and reduces the effectiveness of the battery, shortening it's life.

It would be OK to use tap water occasionally but I wouldn't use all the time.

Having said that, it also depends on the quality of the tap water. IMO, filtered tap water would be perfectly fine.

[VSIIBerlinaL67]

how about boiled water from the kettle that's been boiled a couple of times? is that ok?

[lyndon_breeze]

god distilled water ot that much, god you can even distill your own water

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

how about boiled water from the kettle that's been boiled a couple of times? is that ok?

No different than tap water because the dissolved solids don't evaporate.

[Vee-ard]

I wouldn't be shortening the life of a hundred dollar battery, just to save three dollars on four litres of distilled water

[ephect]

if you need 4ltrs of distilled water to top your battery up, i well and truelly think ur battery is cactus

[Vee-ard]

if you need 4ltrs of distilled water to top your battery up, i well and truelly think ur battery is cactus

Just bought a four litre bottle for my radiator.

[VrWagz1]

I know this thread is answered, but i'll just add i have been using tap water in my batteries for years. Not that they need topping up very often at all, maybe once in their life if at all. Some ive had dont even make it to the first top up. Yes its bad, but a once off top up of town water wont hurt it, especially if its filtered. But as above if you know your town water has lots of minerals in it then it may be best to avoid it.
BTW rain water is not that good it catches many minerals on its way down, especially if your like me and live next to the steel works, its even worse if your collecting it off the ground or off your roof.