Hi Linda,
Actually the pH isn't that unusual.  After a lot of the minerals are
removed, CO2 gets dissolved in the water forming weak carbonic acid that
cause PH meters to read slightly acid.  It usually doesn't cause a problem
and even occurs in water purified by other methods.  The concept that pure
water should have a PH of 7 is hypothetical and I've never seen it happen.
That's why all PH critical procedures use buffers.
Lauren
-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Jenkins <jlinda@ces.clemson.edu>
To: histonet@Pathology.swmed.edu <histonet@Pathology.swmed.edu>
Date: Tuesday, November 17, 1998 1:33 PM
Subject: pH of distilled water


>Histonetters,
> Even though I'm from the "Hills of Tennessee" the workings of
>"stills" continue to elude me.  Checked the pH of  our building's distilled
>water as it came out of the tank - it was 5.1 and the regular tap water
>going into the distiller was 6.3.  Last spring I cleaned the distiller's
>500gal Nalgene holding tank with a procedure that used Chlorox, lots of
>rinsing, hydrogen peroxide, lots more rinsing.  This cleaning procedure
>came straight from Nalgene headquarters and took about two weeks to
>complete.  In the meantime, the 20+yr old distiller was left sitting idle.
>I know most appliances do not appreciate being left idle for great lenghts
>of time.  Any thoughts on what could be happening to cause such a low pH?
> Thanks,
> Linda
>
>*********************************
>Linda Jenkins, HT
>Clemson University
>Department of Bioengineering
>Clemson, SC
>**********************************
>
>
>
>