I figured I'd keep it all in one place instead of having to search over several comment threads...

I just spoke with Steve at the water lab and the area I live in has the "best water in the world."  My area is snow melt (he called it pristine) from the mountains and it is very soft.  Just north of me and further south there are issues with some hardness.  Atmel (chip maker) is south and they don't like to use the water down there - they prefer to use ours further north.

 

Comments

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 22:38

Karren K. Brito

Cathie uses water taken from the Ohio River, runs from Pittsburg to Cinncy, past many factories and farms in the industrial heartand.  Go figure!

pH meters are notriously difficult to keep working.  The membranes dry out.  The junctions get plugged up.  The batteries get weak. They just stop working.  Touchy little devils.

What can go wrong with a little dip-stick?  Worst I've done is dump the whole box out.  The whole box can get wet -- but then the starting color is usually off.  I repeat that they are single use dipsticks.  To remeasure you need to use a new dipstick.

The point of the 3 dyeings is to get the same color 3 times (internal consistancy), not necessarrily the same color as someone else.  If you did, time to move on.