H2O: distilled vs deionized

Greg Schmitz ( gws1@columbia.edu)
Mon, 13 January 1997 8:42 PM

I have lost my source for distilled water. This summer The Biology
Department here decided to shut down the old still that supplied
distilled water throughout the building. They did this because
stills, especially big ones are a pain to keep clean and running; now
it's every lab for themselves. I have found that my processing
chemistry, film developers in particular, lasts much longer when mixed
using distilled water. I also gain a certain degree of portability
when I use distilled because my developing times are the same in one
place as they are in another.

I am torn between buying a small still or a demineralizer or a
deionizer (the kind of units that use resin cartridges-like the
Barnstead systems). Stills are very expensive and produce only small
volumes but somewhere I seem to recall reading that deionized water
could present problems with certain developers. I have searched high
and low for the reference but without success. Has anyone heard
anything like this about deionized water? Is anyone using deionized
or deminerlized water to mix their chemistry?

-greg

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