# Any issues using tap water with dilutable screen wash?



## King Mustard (Apr 28, 2019)

Was reading the following forum topic: Screenwash

It appears most of the recommended screen washes are dilutable ones.

I remember hearing a while back that tap water is a bad idea for some car components and that distilled water only should be used with screen wash.

Is there any truth to this?

I ask, because whilst you save money by buying dilutable screenwash, it'll be more expensive overall if you also have to buy distilled water.


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## v_r_s (Nov 4, 2018)

Perfectly fine for screen wash


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

I've never used anything else.
Just because some people over think things doesn't mean you should 

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk


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## \Rian (Aug 23, 2017)

No issues at all.

Tap water is fine,

It does tend to leave more deposits outside the wiper arm area than Di water but is fine to use


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

Never used anything else other than tap water to dilute down. No issues at all.


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## MagpieRH (May 27, 2014)

Distilled for the radiator (which is surprisingly hard to get hold of, plenty of "deionised" but that's not the same thing!), tap water in the screenwash. Never used anything else, never had an issue. Distilled will have much less crap in it, so technically will be a bit better but factor in that a new washer pump will cost you maybe £20 for most cars and distilled water will run through that in a year easily and you can start to see why most wouldn't bother.


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## Mac- (Apr 9, 2019)

De-ionised is purer than distilled, both are a bit overkill for screen-wash. tap water is fine, if you're in a hard water area then use cooled boiled water from the kettle.


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## \Rian (Aug 23, 2017)

Mac- said:


> De-ionised is purer than distilled, both are a bit overkill for screen-wash. tap water is fine, if you're in a hard water area then use cooled boiled water from the kettle.


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

How exactly does boiling water make it softer, its actually the opposite, what you've just said is a bad myth!

Think about 1L of hard water, if you boil it your evaporating water but not removing other compounds so you've actually made the water harder by concentrating the stuff in it.

And DI or Distilled are not over kill and are the best option however tap water can work in soft water areas.


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## Itstony (Jan 19, 2018)

Rian said:


> NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
> 
> How exactly does boiling water make it softer, its actually the opposite, what you've just said is a bad myth!
> 
> ...


Correct Rian, it's the steam that is needed after it's condensed. 
Give him a squeeze though, easy misunderstanding and mistake. He might have meant the water from the kettle, not out of the kettle :thumb:


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## \Rian (Aug 23, 2017)

Itstony said:


> Correct Rian, it's the steam that is needed after it's condensed.
> Give him a squeeze though, easy misunderstanding and mistake. He might have meant the water from the kettle, not out of the kettle :thumb:


Fair point mate, indeed the condensed steam would be a good solution, not one I had considered as I'm not sure how viable it would be to collect 1-2l of water that way, but definitely would be a better option to kettle water.

Condensed tubmble dry water would also work.

Not the first time ive seen the kettle water myth propagated so wanted to let others know ASAP

Thanks for being the voice of reason Tony


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## GeeWhizRS (Nov 1, 2019)

I only ever use concentrated screen wash undiluted in my washers. The blurb says you can use it neat so I just do that all year round. It's only cheap and never freezes.


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## \Rian (Aug 23, 2017)

GeeWhizRS said:


> I only ever use concentrated screen wash undiluted in my washers. The blurb says you can use it neat so I just do that all year round. It's only cheap and never freezes.


It will work but the damage to paint, rubber, plastic scuttle and LSP is what I worry about


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## Fatboy40 (Apr 15, 2013)

GeeWhizRS said:


> I only ever use concentrated screen wash undiluted in my washers.


Hmm, I'd be 50/50 on this.

With a cheap(ish) screenwash we're talking 10% ethanol / other 'ols so not too bad, but I'd not run something like Prestone Extreme neat with its 30%+ 'ols :doublesho


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## GeeWhizRS (Nov 1, 2019)

I only use cheap stuff. Works out about £1 a litre. Been doing that for years, no one died and neither the paint nor trim melted.


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## Mac- (Apr 9, 2019)

Rian said:


> NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
> 
> How exactly does boiling water make it softer, its actually the opposite, what you've just said is a bad myth!
> 
> ...


Cooled coiled water is actually softer than what went into the kettle, that's why your kettle furs up and gets limescale attached to it. I've never known a kettle actually boil off water as they never actually reach 100°c. Then again what do I know, I'm only responsible for the chemical that makes 80% of the drinking water in the country.


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## GeeWhizRS (Nov 1, 2019)

Occupying a role does not by default make someone expert. Plenty of people have jobs that they are useless at. Not saying you're right or wrong by the way.


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## \Rian (Aug 23, 2017)

Mac- said:


> Cooled coiled water is actually softer than what went into the kettle, that's why your kettle furs up and gets limescale attached to it. I've never known a kettle actually boil off water as they never actually reach 100°c. Then again what do I know, I'm only responsible for the chemical that makes 80% of the drinking water in the country.


So the process of boiling causes limescale, calcium, and other compounds to attach to the inside of the kettle?

When you say "I've never known a kettle actually boil off water" I must have imagined the steam from my kettle this morning then :lol::lol: Granted not much but it has lost some liquid


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## Cookeh (Apr 27, 2017)

Rian said:


> So the process of boiling causes limescale, calcium, and other compounds to attach to the inside of the kettle?
> 
> When you say "I've never known a kettle actually boil off water" I must have imagined the steam from my kettle this morning then :lol::lol: Granted not much but it has lost some liquid


Given the kettle is not a sealed environment some gaseous water (steam) will escape. Just because something steams does not mean it's boiling.

I don't know to what level you studied chemistry, so you may not be aware of this, but if you Google the Boltzman distribution you'll understand why some steam is produced from water that's not actually boiling. Most kettles do not boil, with the exception of some very high powered, very expensive or temperature controllable ones.

On topic, tap water is perfectly fine for washer jets.


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## \Rian (Aug 23, 2017)

Cookeh said:


> Given the kettle is not a sealed environment some gaseous water (steam) will escape. Just because something steams does not mean it's boiling.
> 
> I don't know to what level you studied chemistry, so you may not be aware of this, but if you Google the Boltzman distribution you'll understand why some steam is produced from water that's not actually boiling. Most kettles do not boil, with the exception of some very high powered, very expensive or temperature controllable ones.
> 
> On topic, tap water is perfectly fine for washer jets.


You may have miss read.

I never claimed to have studdied chemistery, and im not sure what your referring to as you are saying "just because something steams does not mean it's steams does not mean it's boiling" well done! but I never said water has to be boiling to steam, what I said was steam is water escaping

My kettle boils its see-through and I've seen the water bubbling away but thats also not the point, my point is that steam is water being "boiled" off, I use the term "boiled off" as a general term for water being evaporated, and it certainly does.

90% of the public would consider boiling water as water bubbling or boiling and my kettle certainly does. but thats not my point at all. im not disagreeing that steam doesnt allway mean water if boiling what I did point out was steem is water leaving the kettle their for concentrating the copounds like lime scale etc


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## DTB (Dec 20, 2017)

Rian said:


> So the process of boiling causes limescale, calcium, and other compounds to attach to the inside of the kettle?


Yes, that's correct. Some things will precipitate, that is to take solid form. The heat causes soluble ions to combine to create something insoluble, which is your calcium carbonate.


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## \Rian (Aug 23, 2017)

DTB said:


> Yes, that's correct. Some things will precipitate, that is to take solid form. The heat causes soluble ions to combine to create something insoluble, which is your calcium carbonate.


Thank you, appreciate the answer, however I doubt it would solubilize all organic content so the real question is how much does it remove vs how much water is lost


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## Fordbunny (May 15, 2019)

Hi All, Just to add to the mix of replies I use the water collected by our dehumidifier in the conservatory. It creates about 5 litres of water each week during the winter which I store in a 25 litre drum. I then use it with Autoglym screen wash concentrate. Works for me. Nice clean screen!


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## GeeWhizRS (Nov 1, 2019)

Think we might be over-thinking the whole kettle thing. We're talking about squirting water over a windscreen here.


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## Mikesphotaes (Jul 24, 2016)

Tap water is fine, no idea what the kettle debate is though!


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## Cookeh (Apr 27, 2017)

Rian said:


> snip


There was nothing personal in my message, I'm not questioning your intelligence. I'm pointing you at a phenomenon that explains the concept you questioned, that steam can be produced without the kettle or the water reaching the 100'c boiling point.

Just trying to clear up some apparent confusion. This is getting immensely off topic now, though, so I'll leave it at that.


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## Tykebike (Mar 27, 2016)

If you buy a ready to use screenwash i.e. not concentrated, do you think the manufacturer dilutes it with anything other than tap water or any other water that is cheaply available to them?
If you are worried about tap water getting on your car what do you use to wash and rinse it?


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

Mikesphotaes said:


> Tap water is fine, no idea what the kettle debate is though!


From what I can gather, someone sh&&t in someones kettle..



FWIW - I use normal tap water and the cheapest screenwash I can get.

I also believe there are cases of a main dealers refusing to fix washers under warranty due to "wrong screenwash" being used..

BMW, Merc, Volvo, Bentley, Dacia are all at it apparently. 

:thumb:


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## DTB (Dec 20, 2017)

Rian said:


> Thank you, appreciate the answer, however I doubt it would solubilize all organic content so the real question is how much does it remove vs how much water is lost


No idea Rian, but water doesn't actually have to boil for calcium cabonate to precipitate. You could just heat it up to 70 odd degrees and it would soften.

The water around my part of the world is nice and soft so I don't have to worry.

Of course, everyone knows the best thing to dilute screenwash with is unicorn urine, which is all I ever use. It is pH neutral, stays a steady 37 degrees C, and it smells of vanilla and magnolia. Tasty too.


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## tosh (Dec 30, 2005)

King Mustard said:


> Was reading the following forum topic: Screenwash
> 
> I remember hearing a while back that tap water is a bad idea for some car components and that distilled water only should be used with screen wash.
> 
> Is there any truth to this?


No, and I've never heard that before.
The reason you use deionised water, is if you have hard water coming out of your tap. Hard water screenwash drying on the paint will leave mineral deposits.
Most diluteable screenwash concentrates (Sonax, 1Z, Dr Wack) have components to deal with hard water, up to a point.

Try it yourself - get some of your screenwash mix, spray it on your windscreen in the blazing sun and let it dry - if it leaves water spots - you should use deionised water. It's only £1 for 2.5L from Tesco.


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## tosh (Dec 30, 2005)

Fordbunny said:


> Hi All, Just to add to the mix of replies I use the water collected by our dehumidifier in the conservatory. It creates about 5 litres of water each week during the winter which I store in a 25 litre drum. I then use it with Autoglym screen wash concentrate. Works for me. Nice clean screen!


Nice.

I used to use water from my condensing dryer - until one day I found extremely fine fluff floating in the water and gave up on that idea. Not worth the risk of blocking anything.


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## King Mustard (Apr 28, 2019)

Tykebike said:


> If you buy a ready to use screenwash i.e. not concentrated, do you think the manufacturer dilutes it with anything other than tap water or any other water that is cheaply available to them?
> If you are worried about tap water getting on your car what do you use to wash and rinse it?


I never said I was worried.

It was only a general question caused by my confusion regarding avoiding using tap water in a radiator 

Tap water it is 👍


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## stealthwolf (Sep 24, 2008)

The Cueball said:


> I also believe there are cases of a main dealers refusing to fix washers under warranty due to "wrong screenwash" being used..
> 
> BMW, Merc, Volvo, Bentley, Dacia are all at it apparently.


It was out of the warranty period but the missus' BMW 1-series had a problem. Caused my me. She'd normally take it to BMW whenever the screenwash was empty and they'd top it up free of charge. I decided to buy new screenwash when I realised she needed new wiper blades and bought the BMW oem stuff. I diluted it with tap water. Within days the whole system had clogged up with some white manky mess. The car needed a new washer pump and tank. I can't remember the cost but along with other stuff she needed to get done, she spent close to £2000. After that, I switched her to what I use - VW screenwash which has never had issues with tap water.

The BMW screenwash does advise to use destilled or deionised water (can't recall which).


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## garage_dweller (Apr 10, 2018)

stealthwolf said:


> It was out of the warranty period but the missus' BMW 1-series had a problem. Caused my me. She'd normally take it to BMW whenever the screenwash was empty and they'd top it up free of charge. I decided to buy new screenwash when I realised she needed new wiper blades and bought the BMW oem stuff. I diluted it with tap water. Within days the whole system had clogged up with some white manky mess. The car needed a new washer pump and tank. I can't remember the cost but along with other stuff she needed to get done, she spent close to £2000. After that, I switched her to what I use - VW screenwash which has never had issues with tap water.
> 
> The BMW screenwash does advise to use destilled or deionised water (can't recall which).


I'd say that was more to do with mixing two different screen washes and nothing to do with tap water.

Some screen washes when mixed together can form a gel.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## tosh (Dec 30, 2005)

May be useful

https://www.spotlesswater.co.uk/

Turn up with your debit card if there is one near you.


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## stealthwolf (Sep 24, 2008)

garage_dweller said:


> I'd say that was more to do with mixing two different screen washes and nothing to do with tap water.


SWMBO had only used whatever BMW filled the washer tank with. I'd used only BMW washer fluid from their parts department. So it'd only be mixing two different washer fluids if what BMW used and what BMW had supplied me with were two different products.


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