Thread: Is store bought Distilled water adequate for pure water cleaning??

Originally Posted by yourwindowcleaner

The one thing you have to watch out for is that some of the distilled water in the stores has minerals added back in for taste. Make sure to buy water that has nothing added in.

Distilled water is not for drinking, so taste is not relevant.

Store bought "drinking" or "pure" water might have minerals added for taste...

Originally Posted by Dawn's husband

and is steam distilled. It will say so on the label.

Is water distilled by methods other than steam?

Originally Posted by tomc

I tried some pure water cleaning today and let's just say I'm on that error side of the trial and error. I bought distilled water for my first attempt at cleaning. I don't have a way to test the water right now so I'm assuming it is up to snuff as far as dissolved solids. Everything looked all good but when the water droplets started to dry they left behind spots. So, I'm wondering a few things here:

Maybe I'm not rinsing enough. I did a test when I got home on a single window pane. Brushed everything well and rinsed with pure water. Same thing. As it dried spots appeared. This is the same thing that happened on the job and I ended up just re-doing them traditionally. A lot of suds came out of the window from previous cleanings but thought I rinsed enough. Not sure now. But at home I really rinsed that one window with the same results.

Maybe the distilled water has too high TDS. Is this possible?? I thought distilled water was basically pure water with a TDS approaching 0.

Maybe the pure water became mixed with the soap and that's what left behind the spots.

Not sure what's happening here so thought I'd ask for your opinions. Little frustrating but I expected some frustration. Just not sure what to do from here.

I bought water from a pure water machine at a chain called King Soopers and it tested out at 000 tds. Another store with a similar machine tested out at 008 tds.