On Saturday August 17 1996, Alec Cameron of (3:712/517.12) wrote to Chris 
Harper:
 AC> There's an operational penalty for using a condenser system- the water
 AC> tends to ionise and become increasingly corrosive.
First I have heard of this.
 AC>  Utility boilers
 AC> suffer dreadfully from the problem so these run on "distilled" water 
hat
 AC> is constantly being purified by a separate Demineralising plant
 AC> which automatically adds doses of corrective chemicals while also
 AC> monitoring the pH value of the water.
I guess I could set up a still for this. I don't know about adding chemicals 
though. I would think that there would be a limit to the amount of corrosives 
that could be generated as the agents that produce them get used up. Slow 
distillation can remove those as well. I would think the biggest problem in 
reguard to corrosion/wear would be the metal from the boiler "dissolving into 
the water/steam, adding friction. The demineralization will take care of 
that. As for ionization, why not just find out whether it's positive or 
negative ions, and run the water through a set of charged plates to remove 
?
 AC> You should therefore get advice on what inhibitor to best use [who 
nows-
 AC> an automotive product could be OK!]
I hope it's something cheap!
 AC>  and be prepared to run at the lowest practical temp and pressure.
Why?
 CH>> solar boiler generates enough heat, I might even use it as a furnace
 CH>> to melt lead and zinc, and well as distill the acid, and recycle
 CH>> batteries as well, "killing several birds with a single stone"!
 AC> Wear a mask! The vapours of lead and zinc are cumulative poisons. And
 AC> distilling acid seems a health hazard. Maybe take up serious Yoga and 
learn
 AC> to function without breathing! :-)
With 2/3 of my lungs scar tissue now, I live on anaerobics now ;-)
Disstillation of acids is simple, and need not produce dangerous fumes, if 
done correct. I don't intend to heat the lead or zinc hot enough to vaporise. 
A liquid state is good enough to purify them. I don't intend on doing a lot 
of battery recycling anyway. Just enough to take care of my own needs, and 
maybe just a little extra to cover the costs.
Hmmmmm. Now that I think of it, there are LOTS of things one can distill in 
the desert!  ;-)  Maybe I ought to talk to Jack Daniels, eh?
RYL,
    Chris
--- GoldED 2.40+
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