Distilled Water?

[fishman]

I ran in my brand new dart block.ionized water and water wetter..........the water wetter has a surfactant in it which makes it slippery and will adhere to the metal.....just my thoughts

[W. Tripp]

why do people not just want to run 50 -50 water and anti freeze? what is the advantages / disadvantages of runing anti freeze verses water?

If you drag race and dump anti-freeze on the track you are going to make lots of new friends!

Best to use plain water; it will evaporate off the track and not leave any slippery spots.

Anti-freeze does not cool (absorb heat) as well as water, but it does increase the boiling point of the coolant mix, keeps seals from drying out, and protects against electrolysis and galvanic corrosion. In a 50/50 mix, most anti-freezes provide freezing protection down to around -60 degrees F. However the ability to absorb and release heat is reduced compared to pure water. Pure water will boil at a much lower temp unless system pressure is increased. Using 15-25% antifreeze with distilled water as a coolant mix is a good alternative for many.

A surfactant (usually a detergent) breaks down water's surface tension and helps to reduce the size of the bubbles in hot pockets in the cooling system where boiling occurs, or where cavitation is happening in the pump (mechanical pump systems at high rpm). This can lead to improved cooling efficiency. Just don't use more than is required... more is not better.

Ethylene Glycol (EG) is the old standby anti-freeze - the toxic, slippery stuff. Propylene Glycol (PG) is the newer antifreeze that is recomended for those running on tracks. Pure water or water/PG mixes are mandated on many road tracks - some track rules even mention a recommended brand.

Despite many rumors to the contrary, electrolytic corrosion is not nearly as big of an issue in engines using aluminum block, heads, and radiator, as it is in engines using iron block with aluminum heads and a copper/brass radiator. Dissimilar metals tend to cause a slight electrical current to be formed if the coolant is in the least bit acidic - do not use tap water with minerals and chlorine.

A good coolant mix that takes into account all factors in the cooling system can last a long time, while giving optimum performance to the cooling system. Using a hydrometer to check the coolant on a regular basis will tell you when to replace it and keep it performing best.

Just my .02 (not corrected for inflation, nor the devaluing Dollar), but I hope it helps.

[SideWinder]

W. Tripp

It appears that the best thing to do (or at least one of them) is to run about a 80/20% mixture of distilled water and propylene glycol (20% gp) and add a bottle of water wetter. Which of the brands are propylend glycol? Can you buy it at the parts stores/wally world?

I want to make sure that the gp will not screw-up the racing surface if something breaks. I have enough new friends

Thanks

[Tod74]

Is the orange crap PG? DexCool or whatever? That is what I run..I mix it with tap water and I have iron block, aluminum heads and aluminum radiator. Should I start using distilled water with it? Is it better than the green?

[kirkwoodken]

Use of distilled water will help alleviate the electrolitic action between copper and aluminum parts in the cooling system. Distilled water is not a good conducter of electric. Also keeps calcium from depositing on the inside of the cooling system, which takes away from the effectiveness of the cooling medium. Distilled water will not cause rusting as quickly as plain tap water. The more impurities in the water, the faster it makes things rust.

To my knowledge, many dyno operators do not use distilled water in their cooling systems, so make sure you drain the dyno water from your blocks as soon as possible.

[jmarkaudio]

How about a radiator cap or plug with sacrificial metal to prevent corrosion? I see a couple companies selling them, just as boats use to prevent corrosion on the expensive parts.

No comments?

[Tuner]

A surfactant (usually a detergent) breaks down water's surface tension and helps to reduce the size of the bubbles in hot pockets in the cooling system where boiling occurs, or where cavitation is happening in the pump (mechanical pump systems at high rpm). This can lead to improved cooling efficiency. Just don't use more than is required... more is not better.

Two drops of New Dawn dish soap - no more = good cheap water wetter.

[Rommel Racing]

How about a radiator cap or plug with sacrificial metal to prevent corrosion? I see a couple companies selling them, just as boats use to prevent corrosion on the expensive parts.

No comments?

Well,I plan on using a zinc anode in place of my rad petcock,just for this reason.

I got mine from Jegs,it is a FLEX-A-LITE piece#32060.

[automotive breath]

Use of distilled water will help alleviate the electrolytic action between copper
and aluminum parts in the cooling system. Distilled water is not a good conductor of electric...

About a year back a customer started his race car after it sat for over a year
with tap water in the cooling system. Before it warmed up good he had
water in the oil from crevice corrosion in the heads around the head gaskets.

[hotrod]

I had very good luck with a mixture of 80% distilled water, 20% everyday yellow Prestone antifreeze and the normal dose of water wetter.

Car ran much cooler with the better heat transfer you get with lower levels of antifreeze and the water wetter reduced hot spotting in the heads so my detonation threshold went up. It was the equivalent of raising the fuel octane about 5 numbers.

My car has an aluminum block and heads.

Larry

[RL]

The car I drive is renowned for corrosion in the alum water pump over here, everybody complains about the pumps being trash, it usually happens about 2yrs after the factory coolant is changed out. Sure enough, 2yrs latter my pumps springs a leak and looks like Swiss cheese, the previous owner must of used tap water. Changed to distilled water like the manual says, 10yrs later I changed the pump gasket and it still looks like new.
Everyone blames the pump when they use tap water

I think most manufactures say to use distilled water anyway

When I tell customers to use distilled water they complain about the cost, yeah $2 per gal, wait till you get my bill to weld up the corrosion in your next head

[mbrooks]

anybody run the evans npg waterless engine coolant?

www.evanscooling.com

[David Redszus]

The thermodynamics of cooling systems is a little trickier than it seems.

Studies have shown that an automotive system is most efficient when the coolant temperature is about 230F.

Hot engine metal will cause steam pockets in areas where flow is stagnant or moving slowly. A certain amount of controlled boiling called nucleate boiling will help move the steam pockets out of the way so that cooler coolant can move into the hot zone.

The heat transfer from a metal surface to a liquid coolant is very efficient and does not need a surfactant as much as it needs a very clean surface without scale or rust buildup. A good cooling system cleaner such as a chelating agent should be used to remove crud from engines before even considering which coolant should be used.

The cooling process proceeds from hot engine metal to hot liquid coolant to hot metal radiator to cool air. The metal radiator to air interface is the most critical by far. And that does not mean more tubes but rather higher fin counts and diffusers to improve the metal to air heat transfer.

[hotrod]

A certain amount of controlled boiling called nucleate boiling will help move the steam pockets out of the way so that cooler coolant can move into the hot zone.

One of the functions of the surfactant is to make it easier for those bubbles to break away from the surface and present a true liquid to metal heat exchange surface to promote heat transfer.

Water wetter seems to work well in engines that have difficulty clearing that blanket of steam bubbles that form in some areas due to inadequate flow to strip the steam bubbles off the surface. In another engine that does not have that sort of a cooling flow and heat exchange issue the addition of the surfactant will have very little effect so it really is a modification that is best tested and used if it helps or discarded if it does not.

On my engine it significantly helps a hot spot that tends to form near the rear of the heads where cooling flow is inadequate.

Larry

[Masher Manufacturing]

Fishman

Where do you find ionized water?

It is actually Deionized water. This is where mineral ions are removed by distillation or ion exchange ( the home water softner tank that uses salt )

Bottled water is just filtered tap with a fancy label.