I was walking around my local supermarket the other day & just randomly looking at products in some of the aisles when I spotted this & had a thought about the discussions we’ve all shared here regarding algae build up in our coolants.
What I’m wondering is could we place some copper pipe into our coolant reservoirs to prevent the buildup of algae? Secondly, if so, does this increase/decrease the conductivity of the water?
I’m looking to @donkjr & @HP_Persson since you’ve both done extensive tests on this matter.
First thing i see on the bottle is the copper added, not something you want in a coolant. Does it say 30g per litre ?
Probably don´t need the whole bottle, and diluted with distilled it depends on the conductivity you get if it makes any problem or not
@HP_Persson I was thinking more along the lines of placing a piece of copper pipe in the liquid just for the biocidal effect. I have no idea the electrical concerns however, so was just curious if it’s a viable idea.
Yeah stay away from the copper based algaecide. I appreciate the thinking on the pipe, but I"m not sure it would really be a good idea either. @donkjr could always setup an experiment to see how much leaching occurs by monitoring the conductivity.
Are we talking about algae on the container? If yes, can we just cover it with blanket or something to block the light? I have a 5 gallon bucket and my whole laser system is by the window, but I don’t have algae issues? Maybe because of the bleached I put in? Just a tablespoon per 5 gallons of water.
@Nedman Thanks for the advice to stay away from it. Would be interesting to see if there are issues via an experiment, but I’ll take yours & HP’s advice regarding it.
@Cesar_Tolentino Yeah I was referring to algae buildup in the reservoir, on the pump, etc. I think the blackout to block the light is a viable option, as my K40 & the reservoir are in the garage (almost 0 light gets in there, except artificial light) & I just use regular rainwater with no additives and it takes a very long time before I see any sort of algae buildup in mine. Need to switch to distilled water though after seeing the results from conductivity tests run by HP & Don.
Can confirm the covering of the tank too, and keep it out of light. Keeping the return hose below water level also helps a bit. And keep a lid on the tank to prevent any spores or similar to get into it.
The laser cutter at our hackspace had a problem with the cooling system - the flow detection switch was stuck. Worse still, it was stuck ‘on’ so it detected flow even when there wasn’t any (it was a simple weighted switch, not an impeller).
On taking it apart, we discovered half a dead bumble bee in the switch.
