Hey,
I was curious as to if anyone has tried to run anti freeze coolant through their water cooled systems. A friend and I were discussing whether or not there may be a performance gain and if the liquid would react to a UV cathode. Any of you guys ever try it or consider it? Think it would remove heat better or worse than water?

Just curious
---Car6on14

I don't have a water cooled system, but from what I read, it's not recommended. I think the reason was it doesn't help with heat transfer and then there were some other negatives mentioned as well. Clogging or corrosion? Can't quite remember.

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This whole thread makes no sense.

Anti-freeze (an ethylene or propylene glycol/water solution) is used in automobiles not because it has superior heat transfer qualities but because the solution has a higher boiling and a lower freezing point than water (basic colligative properties, think back to your general chemistry), so that your coolant system won't freeze in the winter, and if you push your car too hard in the summer you won't boil off coolant.

In fact, anti-freeze has significantly poorer heat transfer qualities than pure water.

Reading directly from the manufacturer propaganda ( ) of "water wetter", the actual function of water wetter is not to improve heat transfer directly, but to reduce water surface tension such that vapor bubbles don't form on the engine surface causing hot spots.

I don't have experience designing water cooled systems, but if you have sized this thing properly you really should not have any even local vaporization. If you take your Pentium 4 above ~70 C, you've already exceeded the maximum reported operating temperature. At 70C on the chip heat transfer area, there will be no local vaporization, and "Water Wetter" should be doing nothing.

Do you have any actual performance data to the contrary, Wusy?

<b>1.4 Ghz AMD T-Bird underclocked to 1 Ghz...just to be safe!</b>

One of the main reasons for putting water wetter in the cooling system is to prevent bacterial growth. It also does a very good job at keeping air out of the system due to lower surface tension. You don't need much, just one capful should be enough for about a quart of water. To get the water UV reactive just put some UV dye in the water, just a couple drops will make your system glow.
A must for liquid cooling systems is always distilled water. That provides extra protection against bacterial growth and increases overall cooling efficiency.

Do not use anti freeze in your system because it will damage the pump and clog up the system!

Damage the pump? Clog the system? d00d, do you know anything about Anitfreeze?

Antifreeze contains several additives to PROTECT the system from corrosion and lubricate the pump. It shouldn't react with ANYTHING in your water cooling settup. But it WILL reduce the cooling effect.

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The man to the rescue. Listen to him, he knows what he is talking about.


How you been Crash? It has been a while since I spent any real time in these parts.



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Let me know about it.

Ich bin sehr gut! Und du, wie gehts?

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

Ich kann mich nicht beschweren. Behaltend Sie beschäftigt? Als Sie hier an Tom lesen können, haben sie mich machend etwas fast jede Woche.

Zu was Sie auf gewesen sind?

I never thought that I would be posting something in any language other than English. I can only speak English and some Spanish.





Got a LAN Party that you want people to know about?

Let me know about it.

LOL, I don't do anything with Tom's, I don't read the main sight...and I only know a little german, french...and english.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>