distilled water

[Whitaker]

I see that some people are using distilled water in their processors. Why would you use distilled water instead of tap water? Just wondering, maybe we could benefit from that too. We have a Fuji Saber plate system.
Thanks for your input.

 

[G_Town]

Re: distilled water

Most likely to avoid mineral build ups in the processor would be my guess, or perhaps the chemistry dictates the need for distilled over tap, I recall a plate we used some time back that required deionized water in the processor.

 

[Ryobi Man]

Re: distilled water

Hi ,

Not an expert on Plate Systems but from a Press point if you live in an area where the water supply is Hard ( high levels of calcium and other minerals ) this can cause a build up of scale in the pipes creating flow problems and Distilled water has gone through Reverse Osmosis which filters out the Mineral contact creating a softer water.
Hope this helps.
Regards Ryobi Man

 

[GinSu]

Re: distilled water

With our Fuji processor, we need to use distilled water because the measure of the developers' usefulness is determined by is conductivity. Tap water has a number of minerals that would increase the conductivity reading but not actually be "good" developer.

 

[Whitaker]

Re: distilled water

Thanks for the responses!

Mike

 

[jlind]

Re: distilled water

GinSu:
What is the initial conductivity of fresh developer, and what is the final conductivity when the developer is considered "spent"?

John Lind
Cranberry Township, PA
724-776-4718

 

[GinSu]

Re: distilled water

Looks as like we keep our conductivity between 43.0 and 45.0

 

[Cory Smith]

Re: distilled water

we are about the same...setpoint is usually 44 when we re-batch, then go +- 2

 

[chknlegs]

Re: distilled water

We bought a Reverse Osmosis + DI unit instead of buying distilled water from a company. It costs cheaper in the long run and it takes up less space. It's a very inexpensive unit to purchase and to maintain. They have a whole bunch on ebay.

 

[jlind]

Re: distilled water

GinSu:
So you start with conductivity at 45, when fresh. At what point of conductivity do you dump? On a mixed fountain solution, it might be 1800 when fresh, and the dump is recommended at 2400. What range for the plate developer?
John Lind
Cranberry Township, PA
724-776-4718

 

[GinSu]

Re: distilled water

Ideally we start with a conductivity of 44. To be honest, I'm not the individual that maintains our plate processor.

However, after reviewing logs, it appears that we refresh the chemistry around 1800 square feet regardless of the developer conductivity. We use a manual counter (or clicker) to track square footage processed, adding four for small plates and nine for large plates.

I'd like to add that in the five years we've been using the processor, developer conductivity has been an issue only twice. The gentleman that maintains the processor does a top notch job.

 

[jlind]

Re: distilled water

GinSu:
I guess the conductivity isn't a process control metric, maybe just for mixing up the right original strength. A value of 40 something is quite low, meaning there isn't much water there anyway. The real control metric is square footage. Thanks for your answers.
John Lind
Cranberry Township, PA
724-776-4718