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Why don't people use alcohol instead of antifreeze?

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yes..

i got a friend that used Etanol in his loop (water temp -20c), i know he replaced the Etanol, because of certain things, which i really dont know which it was..

So i have no own experiences with it, i use color free glycol, and has always done, in my OC rig..

i imagine your loop must be clean using etanol tho, a tap and a swizzle stick = party
 
sunnydaye said:
My father told me how they used to mix alcohol in with the water during WW2 when he was a kid. The cooling systems were different, and you could run with the radiator cap off because it was not pressureized. He said that you always had to adjust the mixture. Too much alcohol and it would boil off at too low of temperature, too little and you didn't have freeze protection. If you ran a 170 degree thermostat, you had some room to adjust between 170 and 212. You had to keep an eye on the temperature guage, alcohol ran cooler, and when it boiled off you didn't have enough water so it would overheat, something like that. Of course there were no plastic, very little rubber parts, and no computer controls etc. It was all controlled by the thermostat and air flow through the radiator.Also engines were low compression, more so than today. One reason why they lasted so long. Of course alcohol is very flamible, and what boiled off was the alcohol, which made for more than a few auto fires. From what he said people were happy to get antifreeze.
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NecroThread.jpg
 
Just as an informative, the thermal conductivity of water is not the reason it is primarily used, specific heat capacity is. Take a peek, some types of concrete are more thermally conductive than water (seriously). Water has the highest specific heat capacity of any reasonably attainable substance, diluting it with literally anything you can get will make it less effective, how much is the question. Sorry for the info burst I couldn't help myself.
 
Just a fun thing..

A top fuel dragster dont got any radiator, right?, in fact it got no separate cooling loop what so ever..

those engines get slightly hot when ramped up, or..

Still often the engine tops is covered with frost, after a race??

did i give you guys something to think about?

/ top fuel drivers isnt allowed to reply..^^


zzz

Brrr, brrrmmm
 
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They run on Nitromethane mostly, blended with some methanol. Cools the intake charge below ambient. However that's mostly because of the atomization and force of the air coming in from the supercharger.

Hey I'm not a top fuel driver but I do race cars lol. Oh and I also used to be into RC cars which run usually on 30% nitro :D

I don't really see how any of that would be useful though since it's a completely different principle/application.
 
Yes..

just came to think of it, before going to bed.......

pretty useless input to the OP tho
 
BTW, be care full what you clean your fittings with, or chemicals you use in your loop..

This O-ring was exposed to a very common household chemical..

sorry for the hair..

silicone can be very sensitive..

and some of the fittings rust, believe it or not.. if only exposed to regular water..
 

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fwiw rubbing alcohol does destroy acrylic... i tried cleaning the inside of my res with it, now it s full of tiny hairline cracks all over the res.
 
WhitePaw said:
Just a fun thing..

A top fuel dragster dont got any radiator, right?, in fact it got no separate cooling loop what so ever..

those engines get slightly hot when ramped up, or..

Still often the engine tops is covered with frost, after a race??

did i give you guys something to think about?

/ top fuel drivers isnt allowed to reply..^^


zzz

Brrr, brrrmmm
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Nope... they don't need it.

There are no cooling chambers at all within a block like that actually. Also, on average, that motor only turns about 540 times from light to light... less than 1K from ignition to shutdown. Those motors are also rebuilt after every run anyway.

Also, I recall reading that they run around 40% more fuel than a combustion cycle can burn, which also cools the cylinder walls and engine.

:ty:
 
Nitrometan under pressure = chill, and if i am not misstaken, nitrometan dont burn, if you try to set it on fire with a lighter
 
Not so sure about that...especially considering it is the fuel they burn to go down the track in the first place... unless you are separating ignite and burn for some reason? Its flash point is 95F... seems likely it will burn...... just sitting there on a 95F+ day, LOL!

Anyway:
Nitromethane is usually used with rich air/fuel mixtures because it provides power even in the absence of atmospheric oxygen. When rich air/fuel mixtures are used, hydrogen and carbon monoxide are two of the combustion products. These gases often ignite, sometimes spectacularly, as the normally very rich mixtures of the still burning fuel exits the exhaust ports. Very rich mixtures are necessary to reduce the temperature of combustion chamber hot parts in order to control pre-ignition and subsequent detonation. Operational details depend on the particular mixture and engine characteristics.
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