Live steam locomotive WATER

[400Parker]

Tap water may be fine for you Johnnie, but unless you live in an area with exceptionally soft water, the boiler on your loco will eventually fur up like a kettle - except it won's be as easy to clean. Have a search on the forum about water, because this topic comes up fairly regularly.
However the quick answer is either filtered rain water, or distilled water obtained from a de-humidifier. You can buy a de-humidifier cheaply and it can be used to dry out rooms or the washing while it makes distilled water for your loco!
There's been a lot of discussion on the forum and others about the whys and wherefores of de-ionized water, but in the end buying 'distilled' water rather than making it yourself is usually a costly exercise.
Try here http://www.gscalecentral.net/tm?m=61152 or here http://www.gscalecentral.net/tm?m=2477
Steve

 

[railwayman198]

This question usually leads to a dozen pages of debate, so the definitive answer may be a long time coming

If you live in a hard water area you would be better off using filtered rainwater than tap water. Better still, if you know anyone with a dehumidifier, these produce distilled water by the bucketload which they will be glad to get rid of in your direction.

Recently some knowledgeable sounding people have claimed that the prohibition on deionised water is bunkum - however I personally still avoid using it.
Edit: 400 Parker beat me to it

 

[Old Tom]

Water from a condensing tumble drier is also safe to use. If you haven't got one, perhaps you know someone who has. A weeks worth of washing will nearly fill a bucket!

 

[Casey's mate]

Water from a condensing tumble drier is also safe to use. If you haven't got one, perhaps you know someone who has. A weeks worth of washing will nearly fill a bucket!

I've got one of those and that is where we get all our water for the CFR fleet from. We get about 2 gallons on a good week!

 

[tagorton]

Hello folks,
Some of you may know Ive just bought an Accucraft Lawley and very pleased I am with it. :love:
I'm looking for a definative answer to a question.
What sort of water can I safely use in it? I know I cant use De-Ionised, but, reading around t'net the rest seems up for discussion. I've steamed it a couple of times using tap water through a filter, is this good enough?
Or can I just use tap water (I've been drinking tap water for 50+ years and it hasnt killed me yet so what harm can it do to a loco)?
I've looked for distilled water all over the place and no one seems to do it. They all do De Ionised though even flippin Tesco.
Just wondered if anyone knew.

See the other posts on this ? but as a short term measure you can buy 5litre containers of the stuff from your local chemist. Funny lot though. I once went into Boots and asked for Meths BP (obviously for a spirit fired locomotive) and the biggest syringe they had. The girl behind the counter squeaked and rushed off to get the pharmacist....

 

[garrymartin]

Dehumidifier
If the is limescale in your kettle I wouldn't put the water in your boiler, although there are some folks who put descaling tabets in their boilers to get rid of it.

 

[Elmtree Line]

Dehumidifier from Argos - around £49.99

 

[bobg]

I think the definative answer has to be.......................................everyone does their own thing!

Water from a domestic filter is fine as long as you change the filter regularly. I'm still using the 'still' water I made the year before last. I ran a thread on building it, but can't find it (no doubt someone else will trun it up)

Ah ha found it!

http://www.gscalecentral.net/tm?m=76930&high=solar+still

 

[Steven.T]

I just use tap water, then again I live in a soft water area, our kettles don't fur up, so my loco shouldn't!

 

[ZingyOrange]

Hi Johnnie
If you have soft tap water then this will be fine. I use tap water in most of my gas fired engines and distilled or deionised in my coal fired engines. There is little difference between commercially available distilled and deionised water athough I don't know anywhere in the UK that still sells distilled anymore (it's still easily obtainable in the US however). I'm perfectly happy to use deionised water but I wouldn't recommend you buy it as its a complete rip off. I get it free from work. A dehumidifier should be a far cheaper option in the long run if you don't have soft water

 

[Cyclone]

+1 for dehumidifier water. I have gallons, which im happy to supply to anyone with a bucket.
Personally think tap water is a total no, even soft water has calcium salts. Much worse than any oercieved problem with de-ionised.

Rain water is unfortunately plentiful at the moment and solute free (ish)

 

[dunnyrail]

Most people talk Gonads about water for your puffer. You will have spent a lot of money on that puffer so listen to someone who has had puffers since 1973.

No Tap Water.

No Deinnosed.

No Distilled

No Water from Water Butts unless you are sure hat it is free from polution or stuff.

Find someone who can give you water from a DEMUMIFIFIER, you will never get better. There are plenty of people out there with them, so if you may need to need to talk to neighbours, who knows what friends you make in this process.

Sorry but your puffer was not cheep, why risk it.

JonD

 

[LittleRedTrain]

I got the distilled water for use in my loco from this bunch:
http://www.thedistilledwatercompany.com/shop/
They'll do you a 20L container for £24 + VAT. (Shipping by courier is included).
It may not be the cheapest way of doing it, but it's certainly convenient, and one container will keep you going for a good long while!
As a non-driver, not having to worry about carting heavy containers of water on the train was a definite plus.
(The poor delivery driver was less enthused, as my front door is a fair way from the nearest road access!)

 

[funandtrains]

People do talk a lot of rubbish about what water to use and as long as there is no dirt, disolved salts or other chemicals that can disipate or crystalise out most types of purified water will be ok such as distilled, condensed or deionised water. Lumps of dirt, limescale, salt crystals or sediments if lose in the water will cause valves and pistons to where out faster but so will dirt in the steam oil. Silver soldered copper boilers if made well will not be noticably affected by any type of purified water for many years use by which time the rest of the loco will be well and truly worn out.
I would not use rainwater or so called soft water myself as there is no way to tell what dust and chemicals are in them even if they won't cause problems as quickly as hard water.

 

[dewintondave]

I'm a rainwater man myself. But I'd definitely draw the line at DEMUMIFIFIED water

I always drain my boilers fully at the end of the day, you never know what might happen to those brass boiler fittings otherwise...

Best wishes,
Dave.

 

[Steve]

Johnnie ,

Should you require any rain water and you are finding it difficult to source i have a little you can buy at a very competitive rate .

 

[Steve]

P.S. First come first served

 

[MRail]

I seem to remember lots of media grumblings about acid rain...

 

[funandtrains]

You shouldn't really trust looking in your kettle as this will only show non-perminant hardness or other chemicals which will appear when water is heated. Permanent hardness and other disolved chemicals will only show when the water is boiled away as steam. You would have to boil the kettle dry to see what is in the water - I still remember some "O" level chemistry!

 

[themole]

I have used tap water, but I live (UK) in a soft water area, had live steamies here for over 40 odd years, no problems. Alyn