water vs. air

[Nitestick]

distilled water will conduct electricity. truly de-ionised water should not. anyone who has taken chemistry or physics should know why. something must carry the electrical charge whether it be the actual transfer of electrons in a metal or it can be carried by an ion. the thing is what is generally accepted as de-ionised water means it only has dissolved ions removed. water auto-ionises (self ionises) to some extent.

 

[Trifid]

It is the additives that is added to my de ionised water that re ionised it as the de ionised water is always looking for more ions.

Why didn't the distilled water conduct electricity then?

 

[Nitestick]

probably not enough dissolved ions. it probably does conduct electricity just not a significant amount

 

[MrCoffee]

yes the resistance was fairly high, in the region of a few Mohms but none the less definate current.

 

[Nitestick]

i think the definition of a conductive material is one with a resistivity of less than 100Kohms per cm^2

 

[MrCoffee]

definition or no i still wouldn't be happy with distilled water on my components... you're welcome to try it if you want to prove its safe

 

[Trifid]

Well as I said, I have conductive fluid running through my PC and I am not that bothered. My graphics card will probally be the one to go if for some un known reason there was a leak, and that has a life time warranty, hopefully that will cause the PC to shut down due to the short circuit before it runs onto the motherboard.

 

[Baez]

but the lifetime warranty is limited. using watercooling would void it

 

[Trifid]

If I had watercooled my graphics card, or even changed the heatsink all I would have to do is put the old one back on. But I haven;t. I was just saying if there was a leak it would probally hit that first.

The warranty states I would get the equivelent so if they give me like a 8200 to replace mine and it was no where near as good I will continue to complain until they give me a refund

 

[gaara]

Guess what, I just got some distilled water and a multimeter... you're wrong.

I've had a leak mate...my coolant was blatantly all over my motherboard PCB while the PC was running but luckily I caught it quickly before it could have caused some damage

One would assume that a conductive fluid + a PCB would lead to a short circuit and a dead board yet here I am with the same board almost a year later