Baby, it's cold outside... (antifreeze advice?)

[Frank]

Hi guys! First time posting here - Picked up an LS3040 a couple of months ago, and have been using it every few days to get my head around how it all works. Due to space constraints, it currently lives in the garage, which has a tendency to get quite cold in the winter, and I'm getting rather paranoid about leaving regular water in the laser and having it freeze and blow it up. Was just hoping for a bit of advice on what everyone else here does with their water cooling systems?

I've been reading back through the forum about a few similar situations, and I've noticed that HPC sell antifreeze on their site, but I've been changing the water in my system every few weeks to try and keep it fresh (after a few days it tends to get a bit slimy) - Would the HPC antifreeze stop me from having to do that? (or do I actually not need to replace it so often anyway?)

I'm currently just filling it with water from the hose, so should I also not do that in the long term to keep the laser in the best condition? I've seen a couple of mentions of distilled water on here as well, so if I refilled the tank with distilled water and the HPC antifreeze, would I be able to just leave the water in there and not have to change it so frequently?

I've been debating picking up a rabbit hutch heating pad to keep the temperature up in there, but obviously if I can get away with not having to have something left on during the cold season then that'd be the preferred route!

[Daven]

You should really use deionised water - less conductivity and salts.

Use chlorine (sold in DIY store for hot tubs) to keep water fresh.

Use HPC anti freeze - do not use normal car anti freeze or keep the pump running 24/7 which may help depending how cold it gets

I change about once a year - local petrol station sells 5 liter containers.

Best
Dave

[Frank]

Woah, thanks for the quick (and very informative) reply, Dave! Good to hear that the water doesn't need changing as often as I've been doing. It's a bit of a nightmare draining the tank with just me!

Will check out B&Q for some chlorine, too! With the chlorine, is it a case of checking the water every few weeks and topping it up with more chlorine if necessary, or can you just leave that for a few months as well?

[Daven]

I put a small amount in (about a tablespoon) to around 20lts and then top up every few months. I do use the lasers every day for at least a couple of hours so this may help as it does not get a chance to stand for long

Best
Dave