Comments on: Why doesn’t distilled water cost more?

By: ER

ER — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:39:28 +0000

I have a refractor, and once I even had to take the objective apart, there was a fungus growing between the crown and flint elements, but I do have high quality mirrors in my right-angle diagonals and there are erecting prisms. Distilled water cleans and lubricates gentle wiping so that anti-reflection coatings are not damaged. When I owned an 8″ reflector, the whole mirror could be submerged in water to remove grit and condensed dew grunge without scratching the metal. And then you just leave it out to dry to get rid of the excess water.

As for the yuppy water, the distilled water is bottled by the same manufacturers and stocked on the same shelves as the “pure drinking spring water”, even the packaging is very similar. I think the major determinant in what it costs is what yuppies are willing to pay for it.

By: bowser

bowser — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 09:28:18 +0000

And a vacuum. One site I don’t feel like researching again says it takes about 20 watts of power to distill one gallon of water.

By: RobVG

RobVG — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:25:19 +0000

Corrector plates, oculars and primaries I assume.

Distilled is usually sold in larger quantities and bottled water has the added costs of bottling and marketing. That’s probably what makes the yuppy water so expensive.