de-ionized water and electric Do they mix?

This came up at work some time ago and I haven't been able to verify yet.

We had a de-ionized water pipe break and a 480 disconnect became ,well submersed. It was still energized ! There was obvious concern for shock so we de-energized the disconnect at the main.

Someone stated that there was no concern over shock because de-ionized water does not conduct electricity, Wanting to go home not to the mourge we took the time to de-energize. Which I will do again given the same situation.


Finally my Question

Does de-ionized water conduct electricity? Was this person's statement correct? It is now a personal info thing.

Thanks
Drewcrew6

It's true that deionized water is not a very good conductor, but it's also true that water is a pretty good solvent, so it will start dissolving whatever else may be in the enclosure with the disconnect, raising the concentration of ions and become a better conductor over time. In short, given the situation, your deionized water may not remain deionized.

I remember an experiment from high school chemistry class. Start with a beaker full of deionized water. Connect two wires to a light bulb. Connect two wires to a battery. Connect one of the wires from the battery to one of the wires from the light bulb. Dunk the remaining two free ends of the wires into the beaker of deionized water. The bulb won't light. Slowly add salt to the beaker. As you add the salt, the light will start to glow and get brighter as the concentration increases.

drewcrew6 said:

Someone stated that there was no concern over shock because de-ionized water does not conduct electricity, Wanting to go home not to the morgue we took the time to de-energize. Which I will do again given the same situation.

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You should have asked them to turn off the switch, if they were so confident.

Actually, I agree completely with Steve. In theory, no danger. No betting my life on it.

Thank you for the info Steve and Rick.

Like I said I will de-energize no matter what in a similar situation, it just got me curious because I never heard of that. And everyone I asked was not sure themselves.

I figured that if it was true then maybe some students and others could benefiet from the knowledge .



Drewcrew6

I think y'all forgot one important fact, water alone does not make a good conductor. It isnt water that ever conducts electricity, its the minerals or particles the water retains that make water a conductor. Thats why salt water is/was used as a conduction device, in my old carnival days we had rides called Himalaya's that used salt box drive speed control.

The point is that the second that deionized water left the pipe it became contaminated with "elements" that would probably make the water conductive.

Once that water is exposed, it is no longer de-ionized. De-ionized water is a VERY aggressive solvent, even more so than tap water.

in my old carnival days we had rides called Himalaya's that used salt box drive speed control.

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I recently came across a very old slip-ring motor speed controller that must have been the same as one of those Himalaya's. But this was filled with soda (washing powder and water)

I could hardly believe my eyes. This thing was at least 50 years old and the motor was as big as a car. It was used for a clay extruder and the thing nearly stalled when it had to extrude the clay.

The inside of this box was caked with soap and there was a handle to wind the connections blades in and out of the solution.

It was a sight to behold and in its day pretty ingenious.

While I was an Electrician in the Navy, we used to load-test our diesel-generators with a Brine-Box located on the dock.

We'd crank up the generator and start lowering the electrodes into the Brine-Box (Salt Water). Kept doing so until the diesel was on its knees.

The test was primarily for the diesel itself, and its controls. Once in a while, however... the generator part wasn't so good... made for one hell of a light show down in the Forward or After Generator Room.

Burning electrical stuff and oil made for an awful smell!

Hell of a test, but, it sure seemed like a better idea to have it fail at the pier in Pearl than under the gun in the Gulf of Tonkin!

Hi all, Just a quick note... My Dad designed the cooling system that ITT used in their LORAN C system transmitting tubes-BIG push-pull metal case tubes,25kw+, water cooled plates....also the main cb's for ECM on the F-16 are water cooled, both w/ deionized water.

David

Old timers will remember the old Peabody-FloMatcher variable speed drives. There are still hundreds, maybe thousands of these old systems still in operation in the water and wastewater industry. It was basically a variable speed drive that used a distilled water/sodium carbonate electrolyte of varying depth to change the resistance in the secondary windings of a wound rotor motor. I just visited a pumping station two weeks ago where one was still in use. Here's a link to the latest generation (no longer owned by Peabody).

http://www.flomatch.com/liquid.htm