- Joined
- Feb 20, 2002
Im new to water cooling. I was just wondering. Why not use your car antifreeze for your cooling rig?
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Why not car antifreeze?
- Thread starter harrynguyen007
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2002
- Location
- Baltimore, MD
water is the best cooling liquid. add anything else and the cooling properties will only go down. antifreeze is only if your running sub freezing.
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2001
- Location
- Corner of No and Where
It is one of the common additives: it helps prevent gunk from growing in the water, and helps prevent dissimilar(or some kind of problem related) metallic corrosion if you have different materials in the loop (copper and aluminum as an example.)
Actually, the antifreeze is not as good at transferring heat, so a large amount is counter productive, unless you are chilling the water with a freezer unit.
Actually, the antifreeze is not as good at transferring heat, so a large amount is counter productive, unless you are chilling the water with a freezer unit.
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2001
- Location
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
glass said:
Not even, it's ALWAYS mixed. pure antifreeze turns to gel at extremely low temeratures. Some people do actually put a bit in to keep down corrosion of their heatercores/radiators. It's a large debate as to wether or not any should be used at all, and different additives, should be used instead. I had a list of additives that are all pretty much the same, and can be added to water to increase heat transfer. I'll find the thread and bump it up.
not my words but the absolute truth, happy reading.
wj
Basic chemistry teaches us that pure water is the best coolant. The common chemistry yardstick that says that it takes 1 BTU to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree F* is a specific heat number index. Pure water is assigned 1.0. Conversely, a 50/50% mix of a typical antifreeze product and water has a tested specific heat number range of 0.5 – 0.7, depending on product additives. This means that pure water will remove double the amount of BTUs per unit volume than the mix typical antifreeze (rated at 0.5). Simply, the more water content, the more heat gets taken away! Do not confuse this with the boiling point of water. Pure water will boil at a lower temperature than that of a mix of water and antifreeze, as well as freeze at a higher temperature. The application of pressure in the system through the normal expansion of gas/air during heating is the natural solution to keeping the water from boiling away. A 10-psi pressure on the cooling system raises its boiling point to 239 degrees F with just water. Only use the amount of antifreeze that your geographic region (for purposes of freezing) dictates! I recommend only 20% in regions or seasons that don’t have to worry about freezing. Distilled water is best for radiator use and has no mineral content or solutions to deposit in or clog a radiator. This is NOT the same as de-ionized water! Tap water can do in a pinch with little harm, if any, just don’t make it a habit. The use of surfactant/wetting agents (alters the surface tension of coolants) helps alleviate trapped air, cavitation air production, and the prevention of hot spots. This is reason enough alone to add them as insurance. These wetting agents will also cause the coolant to absorb heat at a faster rate, which means that in higher flowing systems more heat is carried over a time period than in a conventional system. This is only effective if your water pump increases the flow and the radiator can remove the additional heat when presented with such. Only use the wetting agents as directed, this is not a case where more is better!
wj
Basic chemistry teaches us that pure water is the best coolant. The common chemistry yardstick that says that it takes 1 BTU to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree F* is a specific heat number index. Pure water is assigned 1.0. Conversely, a 50/50% mix of a typical antifreeze product and water has a tested specific heat number range of 0.5 – 0.7, depending on product additives. This means that pure water will remove double the amount of BTUs per unit volume than the mix typical antifreeze (rated at 0.5). Simply, the more water content, the more heat gets taken away! Do not confuse this with the boiling point of water. Pure water will boil at a lower temperature than that of a mix of water and antifreeze, as well as freeze at a higher temperature. The application of pressure in the system through the normal expansion of gas/air during heating is the natural solution to keeping the water from boiling away. A 10-psi pressure on the cooling system raises its boiling point to 239 degrees F with just water. Only use the amount of antifreeze that your geographic region (for purposes of freezing) dictates! I recommend only 20% in regions or seasons that don’t have to worry about freezing. Distilled water is best for radiator use and has no mineral content or solutions to deposit in or clog a radiator. This is NOT the same as de-ionized water! Tap water can do in a pinch with little harm, if any, just don’t make it a habit. The use of surfactant/wetting agents (alters the surface tension of coolants) helps alleviate trapped air, cavitation air production, and the prevention of hot spots. This is reason enough alone to add them as insurance. These wetting agents will also cause the coolant to absorb heat at a faster rate, which means that in higher flowing systems more heat is carried over a time period than in a conventional system. This is only effective if your water pump increases the flow and the radiator can remove the additional heat when presented with such. Only use the wetting agents as directed, this is not a case where more is better!
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2001
- Location
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
When I said...
I wasn't referring to the the cooling properties of anti-freeze. I was making reference to the fact that most people use it to prevent corrosion and the growth of algae inside the sysem. In cars anti-freeze is used to raise the boiling point of the coolant to prevent the system from "boiling over", to lubricate the water pump, and to prevent corrosion in the system. Cars need to be withing a a certain temperature range to operate at peak efficiency. Whereas, for the most part, "the cooler the better" applies to computers. All the additives I linked to in my other thread are "wetting agents". They supposedly increase the thermal transfer capabilities of water. Wether or not they will do anything for the small cooling systems we use is for the individual to decide.
I wasn't referring to the the cooling properties of anti-freeze. I was making reference to the fact that most people use it to prevent corrosion and the growth of algae inside the sysem. In cars anti-freeze is used to raise the boiling point of the coolant to prevent the system from "boiling over", to lubricate the water pump, and to prevent corrosion in the system. Cars need to be withing a a certain temperature range to operate at peak efficiency. Whereas, for the most part, "the cooler the better" applies to computers. All the additives I linked to in my other thread are "wetting agents". They supposedly increase the thermal transfer capabilities of water. Wether or not they will do anything for the small cooling systems we use is for the individual to decide.
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2001
- Location
- Waterloo, Wisconsin, USA
If your not cooling sub-zero
Just put some Water Wetter in your system. fights corrosion, kills bacteria and all that and won't hurt your temps like Anti-freeze from what I've seen.
Just put some Water Wetter in your system. fights corrosion, kills bacteria and all that and won't hurt your temps like Anti-freeze from what I've seen.
