Distilled water battery top up.

[wiff2110]

My 2008 fiat ducato has a large connection block fitted to the positive terminal of engine battery, I want to check the water level and top up if necessary but this terminal block covers 2 of the screw top caps, will I encounter any problems by undoing and lifting this block to one side. Comments would be appreciated.

 

[tonyandcarol]

Hi had to remove my starter battery recently and this connection comes off OK if access is easy there are 4 fuses in the positive connection block so be careful and don't blow the any of the bolt on fuses while accessing the battery to top up the distilled water.

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

I did mine recently, and just carefully removed it, and replaced once I'd topped up the cells. I was surprised at how much they needed to bring them back to correct level. No issues so far.
Mike.

 

[Spriddler]

Good Lord, I didn't realise that unsealed batteries were still being used. For at least the past 10 or 15 years all of my vehicles have a had sealed no-maintenance lead acid batteries.

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

Good Lord, I didn't realise that unsealed batteries were still being used. For at least the past 10 or 15 years all of my vehicles have a had sealed no-maintenance lead acid batteries.

Your probably not alone, I wonder how often a low water wet cell cab battery has been the reason for ECU failures?
Mike

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[dunnah01]

Pedant alert but I think you should be using deionised rather than distilled water if you need to top up your 1970's battery

 

[autorouter]

Pedant alert but I think you should be using deionised rather than distilled water if you need to top up your 1970's battery

Distilled water is better than deionised water, but more expensive to produce. Deionised water is fine for batteries.

 

[wiff2110]

Pedant alert but I think you should be using deionised rather than distilled water if you need to top up your 1970's battery

Thanks for your info but I’ve always understood distilled water is deionised, so the water I’ve used says for batteries or irons, and using a glass utensil.

 

[autorouter]

Distilled water is water that has been heated to turn into vapour (steam) and then re-condensed back into water. Any ions, salts, solids etc are left behind in the unevaporated water.

Deionised water is water that has been passed through a de-ionising filter to remove positive and negative ions. The process doesn't require lots of heat like distillation. Some substances are not removed from water by a deionising filter. Batteries and irons require the ions to be removed, which both distillation and deionisation do very well.

 

[Lenny HB]

Good Lord, I didn't realise that unsealed batteries were still being used. For at least the past 10 or 15 years all of my vehicles have a had sealed no-maintenance lead acid batteries.

Me too can't remember the last time I saw one must be over 25 years ago.
Some batteries have screw in plugs but they are not meant to be removed as they are a sealed battery.

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[scotjimland]

Distilled and deionised water are both forms of purified water. The main difference is that in distilled water, most bacteria and viruses have been removed while some minerals are left behind.

The deionisation process, in contrast, completely removes minerals from the water but doesn't remove most bacteria or viruses.

Steam generators, (boilers) only use deionised water.. every powerstaion with boiler and steam turbines have a deionising water treatment plant ... they don't use distilled water as it still has minerals present that could damage the boiler water tubes.

Water that has been purified of dissolved minerals and salts through a process called deionization is recognized as the best choice for maintaining lead-acid batteries. Deionization eliminates more impurities from water than distillation or conventional filters.

deionized-water-for-maintaining-your-lead-acid-batteries.html

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[autorouter]

Distilled and deionised water are both forms of purified water. The main difference is that in distilled water, most bacteria and viruses have been removed while some minerals are left behind.

The deionisation process, in contrast, completely removes minerals from the water but doesn't remove most bacteria or viruses.

In distilled water, there are no minerals 'left behind'. The water is boiled, and turns into steam. The steam condenses into a separate container. That is the distilled water. The minerals are left behind in the boiling water, and gradually become more concentrated. But they don't move to the condensed distilled water, which is about the purest form of water commonly available.