Water system
Save water.
There are three grades of water available to lab users. The purer the water you use the more energy, resources, and water required to produce it. For this reason we ask you to use water appropriate for your application.
Tap water
Both hot and cold tap water is available.
- Use for cleaning dirty glassware before acid washing, cleaning the laboratory and washing excess chemicals/samples down the sink.
- Do not use for making solutions, making acid baths or any other application that will directly impact your research.
Tap water is full of ions and has a resistivity of 0.002-0.02 megaohm.cm (conductance: 5-50 mS/m) for comparison sea water has a resistivity of 0.00002 megaohm.cm (5000 mS/m).
Deionised (DI) water - 5 megaohm.cm water (ASTM Type 2) (0.2 microsiemens/cm)
Available in 9.133, 9.134, 9.135, 9.136 and 9.138.
- If it’s not 90 degree tap, it’s not DI.
- There is no DI water in fume cupboards!
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- Use for cleaning reusable equipment and other general geochemistry based activities (e.g. making solutions, acid baths, rinsing filter papers etc.) where you are worried about impurities at the roughly ppm level. Please ensure that solutions are prepared in volumes which limit wastage.
- Do not use for general lab cleaning or for analytical chemistry procedures where you are worried about roughly ppb levels of impurities.
Milli-Q water - 18.2 megaohm water (ASTM Type 1) (0.056 microsiemens/cm)
Located in 9.135. Please ask for training before use. It is very important that this system is kept clean due to the levels of impurities in question.
Use for preparation of solution or other lab based activities which could be affected by water impurities at roughly ppb level. e.g. analytical chemistry procedures. Please ensure that solutions are prepared in volumes which limit wastage.
Do not use for any other application as it uses significant amount of energy, resources, and water for produce this product.
Written by Andy Connelly (2/9/2016)
Last updated by Andy Connelly (12/10/2016)