markbognor
South East
Posts: 9,970
Club RR Member Number: 56
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Contents of cooling systems.markbognor
@markbognor
Club Retro Rides Member 56
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Aug 24, 2008 19:28:34 GMT
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I was pondering this while in the shower this morning. (its probably best you don't try to form a mental image of that)
Why are car cooling systems filled with water. Could they be filled with an oil either vegitable or mineral.
Some of the things i was thinking about were
An oil filled system would lubricate the pump and moving parts such as the thermostat well.
Would changes with temperature with the oils viscosity make it too hard to pump when very cold, or would it make the system operate without the need for a thermostat - very cold - low flow low ammount of cooling - hot high flow more cooling?
Could using an oil instead of water prevent corrosion and furring of the engine parts, or would oils just leave different diposits.
Is water used because it is cheep and readily available, or because its thermal conductivity is better than oil, or possibly both.
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rtlkyuubi
Posted a lot
Low and Slow
Posts: 2,922
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Aug 24, 2008 19:37:21 GMT
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only guessing but I think its to do with thermal conductivity. It takes alot longer to warm oil than it does water. It also keeps heat alot longer so bad for cooling in the radiator.
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Aug 24, 2008 19:50:21 GMT
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Water is used to cool nuclear powerstations so it must be good stuff!
it is also pretty safe and lets you do nice things with pressure relief systems and thermostats. Also the viscosity is quite high so taking less energy to pump round the system.
on another note, why does the water in my van's cooling system smell of fish?
Rupert
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tigran
Club Retro Rides Member
In rust we trust. Amen.
Posts: 6,444
Club RR Member Number: 142
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Contents of cooling systems.tigran
@tigran
Club Retro Rides Member 142
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Aug 24, 2008 19:54:51 GMT
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*has never actually seen anything resembling water in any of his header tanks or rad's*
It's more like orange, nuclear bile.
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1964 Rover P5 i6 1987 BMW 525e - The Rusty Streak 1992 Micra K10 2001 BMW E46 316i 2002 BMW E46 330Ci 2013 BMW F31 320d 2018 BMW G31 530d
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Aug 24, 2008 19:57:58 GMT
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the anti freeze does lubricate the pump aswell.
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Aug 24, 2008 20:01:03 GMT
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water has an incredibly high specific heat (the amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature of a litre of whatever by one degree) Its higher than pretty much ANY other substance that is liquid in the temperature range we are interested in.
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Aug 24, 2008 20:02:48 GMT
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why does the water in my van's cooling system smell of fish? Rupert could it be that fish smell of water ;D
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Someone just shot the elephant in the room.
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Akira
Part of things
Posts: 136
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Aug 24, 2008 20:41:05 GMT
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Oil cooling was (is?) used on some motorbike engines, so I'm guessing it must have something going for it. Aren't Blandits oil-cooled?
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Last Edit: Aug 24, 2008 20:41:56 GMT by Akira
boo
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Aug 24, 2008 20:58:01 GMT
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Oil and air cooled - as are 'air cooled' Vdubs.
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SteB
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,408
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Aug 24, 2008 21:14:10 GMT
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Water is used to cool nuclear powerstations so it must be good stuff! it is also pretty safe and lets you do nice things with pressure relief systems and thermostats. Also the viscosity is quite high so taking less energy to pump round the system. So is liquid sodium! Like you say, water is safe, cheap, readily available, has decent heat capacity and can be easily supplemented with this funny stuff called 'anti-freeze'. Water.... its brillliaanttt!
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Aug 24, 2008 23:18:19 GMT
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Tap juice: cheap, efficient, low viscosity.
Oil pumper Suzi bikes aren't an equivalent really because they were only part oil-cooled, and part air-cooled. '85-on GSXRs had jets squirting oil under the pistons, and oil cooled heads. Replaced by fully watercooled motors in the early 90s. First Bandits were air/oil also, being based on the gixxer motors, but latest ones are now water cooled.
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'66 Amazon <-> '94 LS400 <-> '86 Suzuki 1135 EFE
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Darrel
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,167
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We used to use water wetter years ago. Not sure what it did, but everyone in racing circles used it so i just followed suit lol
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