I had two friends, one deceased this year, that collected single malt scotch brands. I think it is more of a curse than being crazy about cars. I was content with a blend called, Something Special, never fantastic, but always great. Bob
But will catch fire as it did @ Bonneville in a diesel powered streamliner mandating a rule which states no coolant other than water may be used......
My dad wasn't so much a good wrench so to speak - an ok one....he always drained some out of the bottom of the radiator pet cock.....and but it into our freezer over night.....and checked it in the morning......never knew what the target temp was......we never lost a freeze plg or block though....
That's not a bad idea .. though freezers store food at 0° to -10° F., maybe not good enough for North Dakota and places like that! &@!!ing winter... ugh
I recently removed my aluminum heads off my flathead and had a fair amount of deposits and I was running the green antifreeze. I was told I should be using the newer orange type because of deposits you get from the green. I never knew that. I also never thought about what water is used in the 50/50 mix but that makes a lot of sense. So does using distilled water. I'm a tattoo artist and I use distilled water in my autoclave and ultrasonic cleaner because of the deposits tap water leaves from all the minerals in it. So it makes a lot of sense to mix your own antifreeze. I also use distilled water to mix with my ink because you don't want to put all those minerals into anyones skin. Also distilled water has a neutral ph and that means it matches the ph of whatever you mix it with. When I put my motor back together I'll defiantly be mixing my own and be using the more modern antifreeze with distilled water. This was a very enlightening thread.
Nope, you're wrong. Any good pre-mix antifreeze will be made with deionized water. The hardness level of most ground/tap water in this country is far too hard to be used in cooling systems, it will lead to scale build up and reduce the longevity of the coolant as it consumes a lot of additives. Industry best practices says to use deionized water. Reverse osmosis is a close second.
Sorry my friend, but you are wrong too. Unless you have access to deionized water it's best to just purchase pre-mix antifreeze. How much calcium can there be in tap water you ask?
Yeah, I know they are supposed to, but that isn't quite the same thing. They weren't supposed to make dog food with adulterants that poisoned and killed thousands of pets either, "Olive oil" that ain't, etc.
I now know quite a lot about antifreeze . I used to do a lot of roofing on the Scottish isles and got a real taste for Laphroaig I think I will get a bottle for Christmas
I’ve been in an orange water area most of my life. I don’t like showering with the water in red or yellow areas when visiting but I really like the water in green areas. Not sure if I’ve taken a shower in a purple area.
That corrosion protection and water pump lubes are vital. The can be had in other forms as well. The heat transfer efficiency of 50/50 anti freeze is 30% lower than straight water. That Means you need 30% more radiator and 30% more air flow or a combination of both. Just Incase you’re building a radiant floor heat system and going to be running antifreeze in the tubes you’re going to need 30% more tubes or 30% more BTU on the boiler. Ask me how I know that one. Fuck
Back in 1962 my father in law had a 1962 Rambler with an all aluminum engine. At that time it used a different anti-freeze that was blue and not common. Distilled water was OK in an emergency. Working in a steam power plant for over 40 years taught me a little about water and its properties. Guys came to the chem lab for water to use at home for their wives. Even thou it left no water spots it was recommended not to wash your car with it. At our dirt track nothing but water wetter can be used as an additive. (It jells and we don't use it) we use only distilled water and carry some and when we rebuild an engine it looks like it has never been used. The cast iron is raw and perfect.
I had an engineer relative who designed and built the home their family lived in with all kinds of interesting stuff. One was a hot water radiant heat concrete driveway . Neat idea, don't really know how well it worked, it was before my time. Beats shoveling I'm pretty sure. I was stationed in South Korea where radiant heat indoor flooring is very common. It works well, and is very nice but it isn't for the impatient and probably easy to overshoot.
Well,,,,I’m not a scientist,,,,,and I know that my education is limited. All I can go by is my experience,,,,,and the fact that I pay for the parts,,,and the supplies. So I definitely want to save money ! All I have ever used is tap water,,,,,I guess I am just a renegade. Maybe I have been lucky,,,,,but I have never experienced parts failure,,,,and the insides look just fine. All of the drivers in my family have massive amounts of miles,,,,,514,000 on one,,,,345,000 on another,,,,332,00 on another,,,,all use green antifreeze,,,tap water,,,mixed according by me. The only failure I experienced,,,was in the one with 514,000,,,,,,it was at about 180,000,,,,and the factory radiator plugged up,,,,aluminum radiator,,using the good stuff,,,for aluminum. I threw the damn thing away,,,,bought a new radiator,,,,been green in it ever since. The engine finally laid down at 491,000,,,,,it had been abused a lot by me. However,,the water pump still looked great inside,,,,maybe I was lucky. All the rest of them have been very reliable as well,,,,but,,,I try to maintain them very well. Maybe I am just really lucky. And I don’t deny that science is very good,,,,and it is always ahead of me. I am sure all of the info posted here is accurate,,,,and I listen to what I can. I buy straight antifreeze for about 9 dollars a gallon,,,,,I see 50/50 for 8 dollars a gallon. So I am giving 4 dollars for a half gallon of water,,,,I can’t see that ,,,at least in my opinion. I am only going by my experience,,,which has been decent so far,,,others I’m sure will vary from mine. I guess it just being hard headed on my part,,,,I just feel like there are a hundred different ways to get to the same spot,,,,just so happens,,mine work well for me. I like the green stuff,,,regular water,,,,,and oh yeah,,,,don’t even ask what I use for motor oil or filters,,,you will scream,,,Lol. I am just a work in progress,,,,who knows how I will turn out eventually. Tommy
So just to reply to my own post. After reading more and seeing the info on deionized water it looks like using it over distilled is the way to go. I looked at the 50/50 bottle and it just says water but I wasn't looking at a quality brand so maybe they do use deionized water in the better brands. I'll be checking when I go get some.
A place I worked had radiant heated sidewalks. Worked well for the winter, kept the snow and ice from building up. Real fancy setup. F*ckers were too cheap to repave the parking lot, though, which looked kinda like the surface of the moon. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Water from the tap may not be hard. It depends on where it came from, and what was done to it along the way. Pick up a water test kit and measure yours if you want to know for sure. Around here, the ground water is pretty hard, but the city processes it and softens it. Then it runs through my water softener. My dad lives about fifty miles away. His water source got changed by the city. Whatever they’re sending him is now soft enough that he disconnected his water softener. That said, I buy distilled water in bulk anyway for other work, so when it’s time to refill a cooling system, it gets mixed with distilled. Cars that require something fancy get whatever the manufacturer called for. Old cars from before the days of eight kinds of antifreeze get regular old Prestone green. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The 50/50 premixed has it's place. I Have bought it ....so shoot me. Like when I was living full time in my RV and on the road with no place for storing or mixing jugs of antifreeze it was pretty convenient to be able to pick up a premixed and top off when I needed. Sent from my SM-J327VPP using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Packaging convenience sells and makes money. Lazy consumers will buy and the lazier they are the more they will buy and the more they will pay for it. The rare and not so lazy consumers will break down and buy the packaged convenience out of desperation. On the anti freeze, wether is 50/50 or full strength concentrate the manufacturer still has the same fixed costs in bottling, handling, warehousing, distribution, advertising, insurance, product liability, plant maintenance and labor. I’m guessing that those costs far outweigh the raw materials. For comparison- Get yourself a bid on having a house built. Out of the materials side only , subtract 50% because you’re going to get it free from your uncle Wally.
im pretty sure someone said I had a idea , lets see how dumb people are . its now getting hard to find full strength at a lot of places . 5 dollars for 2 qts of wtr.. why cant I think up stuff like that . I also said no one will pay 5 dollars for a cup of coffee ,its 50 cents a pot to make it at home ,and im sure no one will pay 1.50 for a bottle of water . I still brew my own and freeze a gallon jug of wtr . to take to work . just saying !!! my cars and my house are pd for though!
Like I posted above, unless you have access to deionized or RO water than the smart thing to do is to buy the premix. I work in the industry, we supply fleets all over the country (world), the biggest cause of engine problems is cooling system failures due to poorly managed coolants. One of the biggest contributors to that is the use of water in cooling systems that is too hard and causes scale, over taxes the coolant, leads to shortened coolant life, rust & corrosion, over heating, etc. A layer of scale 1/1000th on an inch will insulate the passage and prevent the efficient transfer of heat. This is a known condition. In the commercial trucking and off-road equipment business this has been proven repeatedly. The best managed fleets all use premix coolants, ALL OF THEM. Except of course, you're smarter than guys who manage multi-million dollar fleets, whose jobs are on the line, and the scientists and engineers who help them. That's cool....
No reason to get personal,,,,just a poor guys opinion. And on the other end of that,,,,I have worked with plenty of really smart engineers. Some of them were the smartest guys I ever met,,,,,but not one of them ever had to tell me how smart they were. And,,,,some of them were idiots,,,,and even then,,,it took years to show them to the door. Management always seems to move slowly when replacing their own. Tommy
Whisky Scotland's national drink – from the Gaelic uisge bagh, meaning 'water of life' – has been distilled here for more than 500 years. More than 100 distilleries are still in operation, producing hundreds of varieties of single malt, with new ones opening every year. Learning to distinguish the smoky, peaty whiskies of Islay from, say, the flowery, sherried malts of Speyside has become a hugely popular pastime. Many distilleries offer guided tours, rounded off with a tasting session, and ticking off the local varieties is a great way to explore the whisky-making regions.
But no one mentioned to use the tester and watch the bubbles. Which might be the most important factor. I drink pop and eat candy bars. It makes me happy. My car gets tap water and I am fine with that. You can go threw life wearing safety goggles and gloves and still get hurt too.
Sorry if I went too far, but no, it wasn't just an opinion, it was an insult. I.e. "someone said I had a idea , lets see how dumb people are ." Meaning, if you purchase premix you must be dumb. I don't think what I said was anything close to that.
The Jalopy Journal
