All,
I am new to the mail-list. Hoping to run a modified
mini-pickup this year. As long as the basement gets
finished in time.
On this issue - There was an article in Popular Hot
Rodding recently that explained some of the
differences between water and glycol etc.. They did
show some test data. The product that they were
looking at was from Evans Cooling. Something you might
want to look at.
Joel
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Ron;
That's a very good question; I haven't seen any
reliable test data
comparing plain water with wetting agents or glycol.
Water alone has the highest specific heat (how much
heat it takes to
raise its temperature) but it is claimed that a
wetting agent improves
the thermal conductivity at the coolant interface.
Glycol raises the
boiling point but it lowers the specific heat of the
coolant so if you
can run a high enough system pressure it seems like
pure water would be
a better coolant, given the same boiling point. Of
course the glycol
has
some other properties that are beneficial-- corrosion
inhibitors, water
pump lubricant, etc.
We used to use water with a high percentage of sodium
dichromate
dissolved in it as coolant in Bob's McLaren. It acts
as a passivation
in
the aluminum block, coolant tubing, etc. Since it was
a bright orange
color it was also easy to spot a leak.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
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