On Sun, 12 Sep 1999, Beth and Ken wrote:
> Somebody suggested that I'd raise my boiling point by putting coolant in.
> I'm running pure water in my VERY hot GT6+ right now because I am
> overheating and don't want to put the coolant into the environment. I always
> thought the car woulkd run a few degrees cooler on pure water? What's the
> deal?
What I understand is:
+ Pure water transfers heat better than a 50-50 mix of antifreeze
(coolant) and water
+ antifreeze lowers the freezing point (duh) and raises the boiling point
of water- ergo, you can put the coolant under more pressure and get it
hotter and it won't vaporize- it may also increase the heat latency of the
water but I won't get into that, as it will bring bad flashbacks from
physics class
+ A product called Water Wetter is reputed to do something magical to the
water molecules and make it "better" for cooling. You should probably try
using this stuff before trying the glycol mix. I don't use it (doesn't
get very hot around here), but I think what it does is reduce the surface
tension of the water so it can conduct more heat away from the engine and
shed it faster into the radiator.
(PLEASE NOTE: This is not an invitation to debate the pros and cons of
water, air, and heat transfer velocities with relation to air speed, flow
rates, thermostats, water pumps (electric, mechanical, and nuclear),
heater cores, apple cores, and dumped cores. Just in case anyone wanted
to start that thread again.)
-Malcolm
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