Why You Don't Use Tap Water for Golf Cart Batteries

One of the easiest things you can do to maintain your electric golf cart, is to maintain the proper water level in your batteries and charge them. Seems simple right. The batteries don’t need filled daily and you fill the with something you can get for free from your tap! How awesome is that, right? While it is easy to do, you will have to put a little thought on what you put in them. Not all water is created equally and you could actually be doing more harm than good by putting in the wrong water. 

On Tap

So it’s time to water the batteries and you grab the old flower jug and go to the utility sink in your garage. As you turn the water on you smile at the $4-8 you may save by using the tap. You fill the batteries and charge as usual. The next day you drive off happily thinking they were wrong about not using tap water. As the season goes on the charge seems to be used faster than before. You are sure you charge it and water it, so what is happening? 

Minerals, Man

The tap water or well water coming from your pipes is treated and cleaned. But the taste isn’t quite the same without some added minerals into it. It could be from the city or from your home equipped with a water softener. The chemical balance inside of a battery will become compromised by adding tap or well water into them. Overtime this lessens the effectiveness of the sulfuric acid inside of the battery cell. Some places that have water with higher iron or calcium may experience the performance decreasing even faster.

Distill Now, Save Later

You either own a golf cart, or have looked into one. You know the cost of new batteries. If you would like, we can measure the cost of distilled water over the lifetime of the batteries verse new batteries at half-life, but I think we both know the answer. Make it a habit of buying water in bulk and keeping it for the year to fill as needed. Distilled water doesn’t have those added minerals and impurities so the chemical balance of your batteries is safe. 

Reach out to one of our service reps if you have any questions about batteries or battery maintenance.