POTENTIAL PROBLEM: Carplan de-ionised water

[websnail]

@stratman: Thanks for the lube info...

Yes websnail/martin i thought i was clear in saying it was only "suspicion" and "tentative" from you that it may be the water.

Understood but if you perhaps take a little step back and view the thread title you chose you can probably see why things got a little mixed up.

I actually posted this more see others are aware of a potential problem. Perhaps i should had labelled the thread POTENTIAL PROBLEM rather than warning. I can see how that sounds more alarmist

Nothing wrong with your intentions, the road to hell n'all that But perhaps what we can all take away from this is it's best to perhaps pose a question "Could this be an issue" before ringing the klaxon.

After all, in the inkjet arena, it's not quite the same as seeing a potential shark fin and wondering if you should call a specialist before you tell the swimmers in the water.

 

[George in Georgia]

I wonder if in flushing you might do as I do in washing film. I use our tap water for the wash, and then for the final rinse with wetting agent (to prevent water spotting) I use distilled water to avoid any mineral content in our very tasty tap water from depositing on the film. So, flush and flush with tap water, and give a final quick flush with distilled water. Might do the job and save money.

 

[pharmacist]

Sorry, as a chemist/pharmacist: deionised and destilled water are mostly interchangeable. The most probable answer to your question is just wear and tear, as all syringes must be replaced after some time. You can check the purity of this water by just evaporating some of this water by heating it over a stove and see if there are some residue after complete evaporation. It should be completely absent.

 

[Grandad35]

As was mentioned earlier, the rubber on the plunger is coated with a lubricant which is more than adequate for the intended use (disposable). Before switching to squeeze bottles, I had the same problem with my syringes after a short time. Pop the plunger out of the barrel and lightly lubricate the rubber with some vegetable oil when it becomes hard to move and you'll be good to go (at least until the oil wears off).

 

[stratman]

You can check the purity of this water by just evaporating some of this water by heating it over a stove and see if there are some residue after complete evaporation. It should be completely absent.

A double distillation!

Add some mash to that and there will be a party in no time.

I use Bar Keepers Friend to clean up stainless steel pots and pans of residue, including the minerals left after boiling water in a pan.

 

[pharmacist]

I sometimes use "Aqua ad usum parenterale". Double destillated water and pyrogenic free, quite expensive indeed and only for making eyedrops.

 

[The Hat]

A double distillation!

Add some mash to that and there will be a party in no time.

Your place or mine….

 

[stratman]

Your place or mine….

A chance to see you in your natural habitat? Let's say yours! Kind of like Ireland's Colin Stafford Johnson's TV show "Living The Wildlife".

 

[Emulator]

All interesting stuff in these side topics, sometimes more so than the main stream.

I found flushing a set of 8 cartridges resulted in the 50mL syringe becoming very stiff and I resorted to a thin coating of silicone grease, rather than oil, on the plunger and it solved the problem, glad I made roughly the right choice.

The other thing I learned from pharmacist (I think) was that a "drop" (of water??) has a specific volume. This must be related to mass and surface tension.

Thirdly, I am glad to hear Bar Keepers Friend has spread worldwide.

 

[CakeHole]

Have gone ahead and altered the topic title to something less alarmist. I hope it is more acceptable to longer serving members I would had done it sooner but i missed the rather obvious placed option that allows a user to alter the topic title... DOH!

If the title is still too strong and everyone would prefer something different and agrees on a better title im hapy to also re-alter it. I am the newbie so am happy to listen to longer serving members.

Personally i still think like websnail it is "POSSIBLE" (not saying for certain, experts please do not hang me) the water may be responsible or at least it or something in it to a degree interacting with the ink and/or rubber plunger or any lubricant the manufacturer uses on the syringe rubber.

My main reason for thinking that now is the warning i mention which is on the bottle. Unless something is in the water or was in the water apart from tiny microbes i can not think of anything which would be in it that would harm a person if they ingested it. At least not to the degree the warning on the bottle goes to. I am not going to be any hurry to put that guessing/theory to the test though. There is no odur from the water that i can discern (i hope taking a second strong whiff of the stuff will not melt my nose ) but im assuming though i do not know enough or own a white coat there is plenty of stuff/chemicals they could had used to purify it that would not leave a smell behind which could be harmful to people and/or innocent syringes. Pharmacist may know but i warn him now ill probably be lost with his expertise on the matter. The table of elements to me just looks like the alphabet in another language

Either way thanks to all for their opinions on the matter. I guess this will just be one of those mysteries where the actual finger of blame be it the water, combo of water and other stuff (IE old ink, syringe lube or something in the water) or just the syringe to blame will never be known for certain. Everyone at least knows of the "potential" for trouble now though which was my aim rather than to worry anyone beyond that so sorry if the original thread title did.