what should i add to my system?

watter wetter
purple ice
innovaprotect

???

Zerex racing coolant, common antifreeze or Water Wetter.

Purple Ice is a little low on anticorrosives by itself. I haven't got a clue what's in Innovaprotect. If its like the rest of their equipment it's probably fine though.

I personally use Zerex and it's excellent (anticorrosive and no bacterial growth). the only other thing I would consider putting in is Water Wetter, but you'll have to add a little antifreeze for bacterial prevention (actually unclear about this, because some people say they don't get any bacteria with it alone and some do....so I'd just go with the AF to be safe). Either way, it should work great.

I agree with what has been said, however, if you (like me) live somewhere where Zerex and Water Wetter need to be ordered on line ....... I would use a small amount of ethylene glycol (antifreeze) and call it a day.

Yep I agree with Put. I live on the middle of nowhere so I have uised a little bit of antifreeze and some water wetter. I just order the water wetter, but I have yet to try Purple Ice. I haven;t heard enough good things about it yet.

I remember someone using windshield washer fluid. What are your opinions about it?

I stay away from windshield washer fluid for a couple of reasons. If you get the wrong kind it won't do you any good. It has to be a glycol based fluid to be effective. It also comes premixed with water so you really don't know what strength your mixing your coolant. Better to use a additive that is tried and true with mixture ratios that are well documented.

And there is a good chance the water in the washer fluid is just filtered not distilled or deionized. The only real advantage to washer fluid over green antifreeze is the blue color. And you can buy dyes that will do that.

like 15% antifrezze is FINE. Water is the best heat dissipating liquid, well, for this purpose. Unless you have a liquid like liquid nitrogen that boils at an extremely low temp.

So it's safe to use antifreeze in a WC system? I would think it would corrode the copper or hurt the tubing.

bong water j/k

i have heard a lot about purple ice

Quote: Originally posted by Cheshiredemon So it's safe to use antifreeze in a WC system? I would think it would corrode the copper or hurt the tubing.

The antifreeze is what is preventing corrosion in your system from harmful tap water. As was already said, 15% common antifreeze should be plenty.

water wetter is neat stuff as it absorbs heat much better then glycol based antifreeze but ofcourse not as good as water does. If your system is 85% water and 15% glycol id doubt that difference would be worth the water wetter price tag. You would probably be better off spending that money putting another fan to your radiator

Something I always wanted to try - but don't have the money or the scrotum to do it. 100% alcohol cooling system. Just the thought of a spark scares the living day lights outta me. But it obviously wouldn't have a bacterial growth problem, and doesn't assist in corrosion. I know, really, but I needed to say it anyways.

this is helpful.. now i dont have to ask

but i am about to order some Zerex Super Racing Coolant.

Quote: Originally posted by Iateronmly Something I always wanted to try - but don't have the money or the scrotum to do it. 100% alcohol cooling system. Just the thought of a spark scares the living day lights outta me. But it obviously wouldn't have a bacterial growth problem, and doesn't assist in corrosion. I know, really, but I needed to say it anyways.

Considering the thermal conductivity of alcohol is .17 W/mK compared to water at .6 W/mK. Alcohol would pretty much $uck in a cooling loop. Even straight glycol at .24 W/mK would work better.

I've read that anti-freeze is only effective in certain temperature ranges, which I interpet as it doesn't really dissapate heat in low temperatures. Anti-freeze is made for car engines, that probably run well over 100 degrees ....I remember reading earlier post about this...time to do a search

Not really true. Virtually every substance will conduct heat better at lower temperatures. This is true until you hit approx. 9 degrees above absolute zero where the thermal conductivity is at its highest.

Moving closer toward absolute zero the slowing of molecules slows the ability to conduct heat. So at just above absolute zero the thermal conductivity is approx. equal to what it is at 30 degrees Kelvin.

Copper for instance has a thermal conductivity of 400 W/m-K at room temperature. 4,450 W/m-K at -243 C, 24,900 W/m-K at -264 C and 4,220 W/m-K at 1 degree above absolute zero.

So for all practical purposes, the lower the temp the better the thermal conductivity. If I quote a thermal coefficient for something it's generally referring to what it would be at room temperature.

One place it would be semi true is with water "wetting" agents. The percentage of improvement in thermal conductivity when mixed with coolant is higher at higher temperatures. (Engine temps) Than it is at computer or room temperatures. Water wetter would still conduct better at lower temps, but the percentage of improvement is higher at higher temps.

Make sense?