Radiator/Heatercore

[weapon]

*tries to not *

lol. where did the hair splitting begin again?

They (rad/hc) are possible descriptions for the same object. A radiator is more of a description than an object... a heatercore is a form of a radiator that's intended to provide heat for an automobile's heating system. We use them because of their convenient size. An engine radiator is still a radiator... A thermochill radiator, is... well... a radiator.

It's like, if you hear someone ask, what's better, Karate or Martial Arts? =p.
What's better, Cheverolets or Automobiles...

you get my point?

when the thread was put up with the title "Radiator/Heatercore" I suspect 90%++ of the people in the watercooling forum new exactly what it was about. If there was any confusion regarding the question it was quickly cleared up by the post:

Well..what exactly is the difference, the gist that im getting is that heatercores [generally] perform better and take up less room.
Physically, as far as i can see heatercores are more cubed in form and have heatpipes(?) coming out of the sides.

Since this is a watercooling forum I am going to take a big chance here an guess that this question is related to heatercores and radiators that are normally used in watercooling systems. In a watercooling system, a heatercore is just that - a heatercore, just as the term "radiator" normally refers to the single tube/finned design with multiple 180s. We are not here to discuss whether or not the commonly used titles for our gadgets are techically correct under the glossary of the physics book just as most of us likely don't give a damn if heatercores are technically radiators under some broad definition of the term.

lol...maybe I should just put up a poll -
which one is the radiator and which one is the heatercore?
number 1:

number 2:
http://www.aquastealth.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=28
or
http://www.overclockers.com/articles304/

 

[vonkaar]

They are both radiators. You aren't disagreeing with that, only suggesting a naming difference for popular descriptions. I'm not disagreeing with that either. You are making sooo much more out of this than neccessary. That's especially evident in light of the fact that we are both in agreement over the only point that I'm arguing: Technically speaking, a heater core IS a radiator. We can agree to disagree over the seperation of the two for popular naming conventions.

A Ford is a Ford but all other cars are simply cars. That's fine by me, fine by you. I'll call a Ford a car, you'll call it a Ford and we'll both go on living.

 

[thorilan]

dont make me bring out the bad jokes and pics of the ex wife to scare you into catotonia

 

[weapon]

dont make me bring out the bad jokes and pics of the ex wife to scare you into catotonia

lol. thorilan, I am a little surprised that you managed to remain almost entirely out of this one...but for being able to do so, I commend you -- I sometimes cannot stop my fingers from hitting the keyboard when the horse is clearly dead.

vonkaar, I agree that they are both radiators in that they both meet the requirements of certain definitions of the word "radiator" and that this thread obviously can go no further as far as productive info goes. call heatercores whatever you wish - no biggie.

 

[thorilan]

hehe instead of posting i could just grab popcorn and watch

 

[pwnt by pat]

Thorilan, I'm with you. This is getting really silly.

 

[suicidalmole]

haha, glad they finally ended that, definatley got ridiculous

 

[weapon]

thor, how can you be up at 5:52 posting?


and weapon, where did you get the black heatercore/radiator thing?



_

it's a heatercore -- I just modded it with a little this and that. It began as a plain-jane '77 b'ville core (2-302) and then it got weaponized with some soldered on flat side panels, soldered in 1/2" barbed fittings, a little paint work....errrr, have you read the water cooling stickies any??

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=304440

 

[Guderian]

Whats a sticky?

 

[HiProfile]

Ask yourself these two questions: Are all radiators heater cores? Are all heater cores radiators? I really hate to jump in and give the horse a kick, but I really want to make this crystal-clear. Also, keep in mind the context of the question: this is a non-native english speaker asking for the definitions.

I disagree with saying something is only a radiator if it's water pathways have a circular cross section. If a tube is only a tube when its a cylinder, wtf are those long, hollow things with square cross sections? The thin passages that transfer water between the big tanks on either side are usually called CORES when it comes to automotive radiators. They usually have oval or rectangular cross sections (read: flattened). I can't think of any *modern* radiator used in automobiles [that can be liscensed in the USA] that uses round tubes in engine radiators. FYI the terms for a radiators should be: tank for the large reservoir on either end that may house inlets/outlets, core for the cappilary tubes that flow water between tanks, and fins for the pieces of metal that disapate most of the heat to the air.

IMHO:

heater core = specific automotive term (since we're using automotive heater cores) for something designed to take heat out of one system to heat & control the temp of another.

radiator = term for a type of device that expells heat into another system to cool the main system.


Bottom line: different industries have different criteria to define an object, and you should use the coresponding criteria from that industry to define that object.