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Re: Antifreeze & Cooling in Hot Weather

To: Johno8@aol.com
Subject: Re: Antifreeze & Cooling in Hot Weather
From: "John T. Blair" <jblair@exis.net>
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2003 18:30:43 -0400
At 05:13 PM 7/19/03 EDT, Johno8@aol.com wrote:

>The Alvis Register July Circular poses this question:
>
>"Does antifreeze really improve cooling in hot weather?"
>
>Of course they're asking about vintage (pre-1932) cars with non pressurized 
>systems.
>
>I use distilled water with Red Line's Water Wetter only in sub-tropical 
>Miami, and it seems to work just fine.

John,

I haven't seen any replies to this so I'll tell you what I know.

1. Antifreeze does not increase cooling in hot weather.  In fact it decreases
   the cooling capability of water.  Water is the best coolant.  However,
   antifreeze does have some lubricants that the water pumps need.

2. Why we run antifreeze in the newer cars - post war - in the summer is to
   elevate the boiling point.  Water will boil at 212 deg. F.  However a
   50/50 mix won't boil until say 220.  If we add a pressureized system,
   we can elevate the boiling point to 240 to 260.

   So the eng. won't boil over and loose what cooling fluid we have.  Once 
   the eng. starts to boil over, and it looses water, then it has less water
   to help cool the eng.  Consiquently the coolant won't be able to cool the
   eng. so it will boil over again.  Until it goes ballistic and we really
   over heat, and or break something.

Hope this helps some.

John

John T. Blair  WA4OHZ          email:  jblair@exis.net
Va. Beach, Va                  Phone:  (757) 495-8229

          48 TR1800    48 #4 Midget    65 Morgan 4/4 Series V
     75 Bricklin SV1 (#0887)    77 Spitfire    71 Saab Sonett III
                       65 Rambler Classic

Morgan:    www.team.net/www/morgan
Bricklin:  www.bricklin.org

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