radiator coolant instead of H20?

[badkuk]

Hello All!


Just got this crazy idea yesterday...why not use radiator coolant instead of H20? Is it a lot more dangerous leakage-wise, to use coolant?

[nikhsub1]

Because coolant's ability to transfer heat SUCKS that's why! People often think that coolant cools better than water - WRONG! If you used all coolant and no water your temps would be @ 25%-50% hotter than pure water. Use no coolant and some mystery oil to combat corrosion and to provide lubrication to the pump. I run NO COOLANT in my car, of course I am in Los Angeles so no need for anti-freeze. Coolant used to be called Anti-Freeze, that is all it is useful for - Then the manufacturers found a way to sell more of it to people in warm climates - Lets call it Coolant! The stuff is evil for cooling where freezing is of no concern.

[JigPu]

Nah... I think its just as safe as water. The only problem with radiator coolant is that it isn't as effective as water. Somebody here had a nice thread where he was trying to find a really good mixture for cold watercooling. Do some searching through the pages and you should find it...

JigPu

[r0ckstarbob]

try looking at the top of the forum

For all you watercooling nuts out there - hard data (http://forums.overclockers.ws/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39039)

the problem with using radiator coolant (antifreeze) isn't so much it's ability to conduct/absorb thermal energy as it is it's absolutely terribly SUCKASS viscosity. yes it has thermal properties that are worse then water too. but the big HUGE difference is that a 50:50 antifreeze/water mixture has a viscosity that is
1200% worse then water.

viscosity of water @ 0c = 1.79 cP
viscosity of 50:50 antifreeze/water @ 0c = 21.6 cP
(lower the viscosity the better)

this means vastly slower pump speeds and pump rates.

antifreeze should be called anti-boil because thats why it was primarily designed - to prevent the coolant in your automobile from boiling over when operating. the ability of antifreeze to remain fluid enough for a car to pump it at extrememly low temperatures long enough for the engine block to warm it up (and thus thin it back out) to operational temperatures seems to be more of an afterthought than anything. the focus of automobile cooling isn't to make the car run as cool as possible, it's just to make sure it doesn't get too hot. as we all know, cars work better when they're warmed up (just not too warm) and working within operational parameters. below or above that and they don't like it at all.

hope thats helpful

welcome to the fourms