Hey all...
I got my hands on some new stuff recently that's meant to reduce coolant
temperature. I'm haven't tried it out yet, but will perform Scientific
Experiments soon.
It's good stuff, but not magic. That is, if your cooling system is
basically in okay shape but you need to drop the temperatures slightly,
this will work better than a 50-50 mix of water and glycol.
Hmm! Very interesting... I plan on doing several cold-to-running-temp
starts on the car and noting the steady-state temp reading (off the temp
gauge wouldn't be very accurate, I guess I should get a real thermometer),
then adding the toxic slime and doing it again and see if it peaks at a
lower temp. It may be possible that the stuff allows better wet contact
at speed, though, when the water is sloshing around rapidly and may foam,
cavitate, whatever, and won't be that exciting at idle speeds. We'll see.
(Shall we add this to the FAQ list, anyone?)
I first heard of this stuff about two years ago. I've read about it since
then, talked with people from RedLine, and tried it on my own cars. The
theory is a little different from the way you seem to understand it, Ian.
The principle is that this solution changes the surface tension of water.
One effect of this change is to make the water form smaller bubbles when
localized boiling occurs inside cooling-system passages. Because the
bubbles are smaller, there is more coolant in contact with the metal at
any given time. And since a bubble of vapor has already absorbed all the
heat it can, this improves the efficiency of the cooling system.
As for effectiveness, as I said, it will improve cooling system performance
in a good system. I've used it in my race car and my street car and it has
been effective in both of them. If the temperature gauge's gradations are
accurate, I'd say that it reduces coolant temperatures in the head (and my
sending unit is right up next to the thermostat, as are most, I think) by
about 15 degrees in the height of summer. On the other hand, I've heard
reports that it does nothing on cars (John Lye's, I think) that were already
stretching the limits of their system's performance. So it's not magic,
but it helps a good system work better.
The old version of this product came in the form of pink crystals that you
had to dissolve before using. The blurb on that bottle said that it
contained water-pump lubricants; this bottle doesn't say that, so you
might want to be sure you add it with a little conventional coolant to
get the lubricating benefits of the glycol.
Here, I grepped my notes on the subject. This is from a talk given by
Roy Howell, the RedLine engineer who developed WaterWetter, at an engine
building class last April; I wasn't at the talk, but I saved the following
notes (posted to the wheeltowheel list, if they look familiar to anyone):
-------------------Begin excerpt-------------------
Coolant
Red Line Water Wetter is a surfactant - reduces the surface tension
of the water. Allows the water to more intimately contact metal.
When the water boils, the surfactant makes smaller bubbles, which
makes it easier for the bubble to be pushed away from the metal
surface, and allow more water to contact the metal.
Water Wetter has a high Ph, but also has silicates, so it can be used
in aluminium radiators. However, if left for a long time, the
silicates are depleted, and damage will occur. The liquid versions
of Water Wetter do not have phosphates.
Discovered by Roy Howell. Some engineers were begging Roy to develop
a corrosion inhibitor to add to straight water for racers, since
racers rarely use AntiFreeze. He did some work, developed Water
Wetter simply as a corrosion inhibitor, and gave it to Huffaker.
Huffaker immediately noticed lower operating temperatures, and Roy
started to investigate why.
You *can* cool an engine to much. The ideal temperature for coolant
is 190 F.
AntiFreeze has 1/4 heat transfer capability of straight water.
Temperature recordings at block water jacket exit, after stabilizing:
Water Anti-Freeze Water Wetter Temperature (F)
50% 50% No 228
50% 50% Yes 220
100% 0% No 220
100% 0% Yes 202
----------------End excerpt------------------
I'll leave the address here in case anyone wants to contact them for
further information:
Red Line Synthetic Oil Corp
3450 Pacheco Blvd.
Martinez, CA 94553
(510) 228-7576
--Scott
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