antifreez vs water

[blksleepr]

i talk to a guy who said he drained his antifreez and just put water with water weter (the pink stuff )50 50 mix and ran 20 degrees cooler is this correct he had a point we in so cal dont hit sub artic temps like u canadians on this forum has anyone else done this ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????

[carchitect]

what does the boiling point of water raise to with water wetter added?

The stock thermostats on these cars are what 210"? That's about 2* from the boiling point of water. Not sure I would feel comfortable with that, unless the water wetter significantly upped the boiling point.

[Super T]

Water has a higher thermal capacity than glycol... the more antifreeze in a system, the less efficient it is. If you want to gamble on never hitting sub-freezing temperatures, then you could go all water w/ an additive. It's gonna suck if you lose that gamble though!!!

The additives are important b/c they contain chemicals for corrosion resistance and lubrication - water alone would be harder on the system. Also, if you really want to spoil your car, use purified water, keep some of the stuff found in tap water (high iron concentrations, etc.) out of the system.

[Super T]

what does the boiling point of water raise to with water wetter added?

The stock thermostats on these cars are what 210"? That's about 2* from the boiling point of water. Not sure I would feel comfortable with that, unless the water wetter significantly upped the boiling point.

Remember it's a pressurized system. The radiator cap tests at (I believe) 15 psi... that's about 250 degrees for pure water. Antifreeze does help raise the boiling point of the water, sooo..... The question is, how hot does the fluid actually get after it picks up all the engine heat, before it gets to dump any off through the heater core or radiator?

[metgo]

Water wetter doesn't work anyways, I've tried it.

[mrjoecool]

if you want to use something get the waterless coolant
works better than plain water or antifreeze. just google waterless coolant you
should be able to find it if not pm me and i will send you the info

[Hemi31]

Water wetter doesn't work anyways, I've tried it.

Guess thats means it's fact then huh?

The reason to run water wetter in water is corrosion resistance and pump lubrication..........the heat transfer benefits are minimal.And on a monster cooling system like we have you would never see the difference anyway.On a 32 Ford with a Big Block Chevy it makes a BIIIG difference.

[Mag Dr]

mrjoecool, checked out the product online, thanks for the info here is the link http://www.evanscooling.com/catalog/C_npg1.htm

Dave

[FloridaRT]

Water Wetter works by ridding the system of tension air bubbles, those tiny little bubbles that cling to the side walls of your cooling system and engine block. No bubbles allows more contact for the water/antifreeze to help the cooling system do it's job.

That's how Water Wetter works and help keeps your engine cooler, the thermostat sets the temperature of where your engine will operate..........................

Bob

[carchitect]

Remember it's a pressurized system. The radiator cap tests at (I believe) 15 psi... that's about 250 degrees for pure water. Antifreeze does help raise the boiling point of the water, sooo..... The question is, how hot does the fluid actually get after it picks up all the engine heat, before it gets to dump any off through the heater core or radiator?

Good point... I forgot that pressure does funny things (well not really funny, but I don't remember high school/college chemistry so it's funny to me) to vapor pressure and boiling points.

And x100 on using distilled (pure) water.

There's gotta be diminishing returns with doing something like this, won't a 180* thermo coupled with more fan from a predator do the job? You don't want the car running too cool, right? Also, doesn't coolant provide some kind of lubrication for certain parts whereas water may not offer that same lubricity?

I don't think this is an issue in the OP's case but I've read (i think it was here actually) of people buying automobile crate engines and dropping them in speed boats and using the abundant water around them as coolant. They ended up destroying the engines due to them being designed for high temps and had tolerances that reflected the expansion of metal associated with those design parameters. Or something like that.

/engineering
//it's serious business
///seriously

[Bagged Mag]

Directly from the FSM:

COOLANT PERFORMANCE

The required ethylene-glycol (antifreeze) and distilled water mixture depends upon climate and vehicle operating
conditions. The coolant performance of various mixtures follows:

Pure Distilled Water -

Distilled water can absorb more heat than a mixture of water and ethylene-glycol. This is for
purpose of heat transfer only. Water also freezes at a higher temperature and allows corrosion.

100 percent Ethylene-Glycol -

The corrosion inhibiting additives in ethylene-glycol need the presence of distilled
water to dissolve. Without water, additives form deposits in system. These act as insulation causing temperature to
rise to as high as 149°C (300°F). This temperature is hot enough to melt plastic and soften solder. The increased
temperature can result in engine detonation. In addition, 100 percent ethylene-glycol freezes at -22°C (-8°F).

50/50 Ethylene-Glycol and Distilled Water -

Is the recommended mixture, it provides protection against freezing to
-37°C (-34°F). The antifreeze concentration must always be a minimum of 44 percent, year-round in all climates. If
percentage is lower, engine parts may be eroded by cavitation. Maximum protection against freezing is provided
with a 68 percent antifreeze concentration, which prevents freezing down to -67.7°C (-90°F). A higher percentage
will freeze at a warmer temperature. Also, a higher percentage of antifreeze can cause the engine to overheat
because specific heat of antifreeze is lower than that of water.

CAUTION: Richer antifreeze mixtures cannot be measured with normal field equipment and can cause problems associated with 100 percent ethylene-glycol.