Does antifreeze work well for watercooling loops!?

[erocker]

I don't see the point. The loop won't be freezing and I doubt the loop gets hot enough that it's needed either. It'll add a small bit of viscosity, so the pump will run a little harder. Well, don't want that either. Someone mentioned lubrication. No. Unless you think lubricating a plastic impeller is somehow important.

 

[Outback Bronze]

I have seen older guys say they have been using the car stuff almost exclusively.

I didn't think I was that old : )

Some people here saying that it doesn't cool as well as straight distilled probably don't have first hand experience. It still cools very well.

I'm guessing the 1-2°C difference in temps that maybe the difference between the two has negligible effect over all the other benefits of using car coolant.

 

[freeagent]

To me it would make sense to use the car stuff.. I am sure it would still cool better than an air cooled heatsink would

 

[LabRat 891]

I didn't think I was that old : )

Some people here saying that it doesn't cool as well as straight distilled probably don't have first hand experience. It still cools very well.

I'm guessing the 1-2°C difference in temps that maybe the difference between the two has negligible effect over all the other benefits of using car coolant.

-reminds me...
I wonder if those 'water wetting' additives that claim to aid in engine cooling would have any appreciable effects in PC water cooling?

 

[Mr.Scott]

-reminds me...
I wonder if those 'water wetting' additives that claim to aid in engine cooling would have any appreciable effects in PC water cooling?

None. Straight distilled is the only way to go for best ambient cooling.

 

[DR4G00N]

I use 50/50 Ethyl AF in my water chiller for the freeze resistance and corrosion protection, the copper and aluminum A/C evaporator sits in the reservoir and so far no noticeable corrosion has formed after years. So it'd probably work pretty well for a mixed metal loop.

In my main system I run RO water with a couple splashes of Dazmode protector which is mostly just ethylene glycol. Does it help? No idea, but I have some so I use it.

 

[damric]

Fly at it.
You just go right ahead and jump into a pool of it. When you get out, if on your own, slam an 8oz glass of it, and see just how well you feel. Chances are, if you wake up, it will be in ICU.

I hope you don't eat any processed food since propylene glycol is in just about everything especially food coloring.

Robot or human?

 

[claes]

The advantages of using antifreeze in mixed metal loops is obvious, but otherwise I’ve yet to see any actual evidence that it’s beneficial in anyway.

Sure, back when I used my dad’s Citation’s radiator and an aquarium pump with random aluminum blocks it was necessary, as it is with CLCs that use mixed metals now, but now that we have DDC/D5 pumps and copper everything, all designed for use in water, I’m not sure what the benefit is other than piece of mind when some manufacturer skimps on the plating or whatever.

(Do whatever you like of course, just saying)

 

[LabRat 891]

Propylene Glycol is animal safe

Not for felines, IIRC.
While it is overblown (pun intended) the issue came up in the vaping community.

 

[Shrek]

None. Straight distilled is the only way to go for best ambient cooling.

There may be some temperature drop at the liquid solid interface and wetting could help with this.

 

[LabRat 891]

There may be some temperature drop at the liquid solid interface and wetting could help with this.

That was where I was coming from.
But, Mr.Scott's been around the community long enough to know by experience and experimentation.
Also, water is pretty amazing stuff, thermally.
It's literally why past-present-future power generation all revolves around:

So... Boiling water, faster?

 

[Shrek]

Absolutely, water has a very high specific heat, but I would suppose that very little wetting agent was needed.

 

[Mr.Scott]

Been there, done that. No appreciable improvement what so ever.
FWIW, Redline Water Wetter is what I tried.
There is no reason to run antifreeze in your loop unless you plan on going sub ambient.

 

[68Olds]

Been there, done that. No appreciable improvement what so ever.
FWIW, Redline Water Wetter is what I tried.
There is no reason to run antifreeze in your loop unless you plan on going sub ambient.

I'll add that if you are going sub ambient with some type of chiller, low temp windshield washer fluid is a better option than radiator coolant.

 

[LabRat 891]

I'll add that if you are going sub ambient with some type of chiller, low temp windshield washer fluid is a better option than radiator coolant.
View attachment 300491

IIRC, the 'active ingredient' in that stuff is methanol.
I've never tried to ignite the stuff, but I believe there is a flammability warning.

Not trying to scare anyone, but there was a reason automobiles moved from water/alcohol anti-freeze-coolant to Ethylene glycol.
In the proposed use however: Cold alcohols, fume less; there shouldn't be any active ignition sources inside a PC/test bench, either.

I suppose the only real concern would be ensuring your tubing and fittings are chemically compatible with methanol. (Oh, and methanol erodes aluminum, last I checked. No Alu rads/blocks.)

 

[vondur]

As noted earlier, AntiFreeze makes use of the chemical property called Freezing Point Depression/Boiling point elevation. This is a good thing in automobiles, as it helps stop the water in a cars freezing and expanding in freezing weather, which would be a bad thing. It's also handy in the summer, allowing the boiling point of the solution to be higher than pure water alone. Not sure if it would make much of a difference in water cooling as the solution would have less overall heat capacity than water alone.

 

[gurusmi]

If one builds a pool he also needs money to fill it. The people pay a hell of money for their rig. But when it comes to coolant they tray to save a few cents.

 

[Outback Bronze]

From EK themselves:

This Is Why You Need Purpose-Made Coolants - ekwb.com

Edit: This article was from 2019. Looks like i was 15 years ahead of these guys lol

 

[Steevo]

So,

The people here that are using car coolant what was your main reason for doing so? Would like to hear your thoughts.

I remember years ago when I first starting using it, I got into quite a few arguments about whether it's any good or not. Basically, a lot of people writing me off.

Well, here I am almost two decades later, and I see some people are starting to see the light.

I remember pulling my first loop apart (Asetek custom loop for socket 478) after using distiller water and the rust was very nasty. Even saw the water going all brown. Prob the reason why I disassembled it.

Pretty sure I tried distilled again (thinking I did something wrong) and the rust started happened again. Mixed metals maybe?

This was when I thought of Car Coolant. I had nothing to lose. Well, here we are.

I was involved in engineering updates for cooling systems on large machines, part of my education was on cooling, electrolysis and cavitation damage.

I have used/been using a 25% glycol antifreeze with 75% distilled water in my system for 10 years in the same pump, the additive package contains moly as a pump lubricant and it’s no longer good when it changes from blue to green or any other color. I add about 10ml of water every year is all.

-reminds me...
I wonder if those 'water wetting' additives that claim to aid in engine cooling would have any appreciable effects in PC water cooling?

I tried water wetter specifically, it didn’t make any appreciable difference.

It’s typically added to pure water systems on track cars as glycol acts a surfactant and lubricant.

The tiny difference on heat carrying capacity is negligible with such a low concentration.

Also I have had my PC outside when it was -20F and colder to push the overclocking and see where temps would end up. With water it would have frozen.

 

[Outback Bronze]

glycol antifreeze

Nobody has mentioned it glows under UV lights too

 

[Mussels]

I want to absolutely point this out!!
Because no one mentioned it besides you!
Antifreeze has great lubricative properties which will improove the life of any moving parts it comes into contact with! If used in right proportions of course!
Thanks for the reply!!


On your car or your PC?
Lol all this Glycol marketing got me confused .

It was in the source link from the reddit quotes i made, they covered it there (can't recall if its in the quotes itself)

That's the second reason you need to dilute these coolants - thicker ones transfer less heat, and they make pumps work harder.
A hotter, harder working pump is not a happy pump.

I don't see the point. The loop won't be freezing and I doubt the loop gets hot enough that it's needed either. It'll add a small bit of viscosity, so the pump will run a little harder. Well, don't want that either. Someone mentioned lubrication. No. Unless you think lubricating a plastic impeller is somehow important.

It's about which chemical is used, as one of them is also what's used as the biocide in regular PC coolants

The other one is not, and is a bad choice

 

[Jism]

Just use distilled water instead of doing a bunch of science. I ran distilled for years with nothing else, and my loop and block was fine.

I fully agree,

I still dont understand how one of the fittings could actually leak after 2.5 years of usage, and drip distilled water straight into the psu.

 

[Mussels]

Keep in mind my EK hardware corroded and grew all sorts of fun on plain distilled - whether or not distilled works depends entirely on what metals they used in your hardware

This is not advice anyone should give out blindly just because it worked for them with their specific hardware, without a biocide

 

[masterdeejay]

Can i add home made Palinka (hungarian made strong alcoholic drink ~50%) to the distilled water in the loop?

 

[freeagent]

I am dumb, this is why I stayed with air coolers