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Water Wetter? What's your opinion?
GazzaP - 17/2/07 at 08:29 PM

As above really! I'm looking into using this stuff has any body else ran it and does it really do 'what is says on the tin'?

thanks

Gary


D Beddows - 17/2/07 at 08:34 PM

I know there are people who swear by it but when I tried it it didn't seem to do much to be perfectly honest, certainly didn't solve a cooling problem - a new radiator and remote header tank did


GazzaP - 17/2/07 at 08:40 PM

i'm going to plumb in the header tank tommorow, ran all last season with one with no problems but just can't get the temp down this year.


Jon Ison - 17/2/07 at 09:00 PM

worked for me.


nitram38 - 17/2/07 at 09:06 PM

I used to race hillman imps in group 2 historic saloons. The big boys (ford falcon and lotus cortina boys) decided they didn't like the imp on pole at brands so they changed the rules to group 1 cars only. The downside for us was the radiator had to be in the rear of the car instead of our modified postion at the front.
We had problems with 15 lap races in that we lagged behind and usually lost a lap.
From pole to last is what the rad change meant to us (plus running an 875cc instead of 998).
Anyway, using water wetter used to give us an extra lap over just water and antifreeze is what I was trying to get at !


NDC790 - 17/2/07 at 09:16 PM

I used it on the Renault 5GT's i looked after, it did help, only dropped the temp by 2deg on a hot day, about 5 deg's over all.


jlparsons - 17/2/07 at 09:23 PM

I would have thought you'd need to use an awful lot of any additive to increase the heat capacity of the coolant above that of water because that itself is already very high. I'd have to see some figures to beleive it. Unless you're putting pints of the stuff in I'd be very sceptical.

Ever thought about using one of the liquid metals as a coolant? Works in nuclear reactors and chip cooling.


dmottaway - 17/2/07 at 09:35 PM

it is my understanding that it has nothing to do with heat capacity.

It is supposed to allow the coolant to stay in contact with the metal of the engine better than coolant alone.

When running, the very hottest spots may cause boiling of the coolant (even if the overall temp stays acceptable). This boiling will cause bubbles of steam to occur, and they tend to stay right where they are. This can result in bubbles forming an insulating layer where the coolant does not come into contact with the metal.

The water wetter causes the bubbles to break loose from the hot surface so that the coolant can get to the source of heat.

Thus allowing the coolant to work better.

At least, this is what I was told.

dave


rusty nuts - 17/2/07 at 09:49 PM

Use to tow a caravan and in hot weather on a long climb my Citroen XM would get VERY hot . Put a can of WW in and maximum temperature was 15 to 20 degrees lower than before . Cooling system was in good condition but because intercooler was in front of rad temperature would climb . Worked for me!


mark chandler - 17/2/07 at 11:25 PM

Used it when racing my landrover, radiator gets clogged, overheats, add water wetter and you can certainly go further.

However if you have ever added something like rad weld which contains soluble oil then forget it, soluble oil coats the cooling surfaces and stops water wetter working.

So good if the cooling system is in good condition but marginally sized for the application, useless if the system is in poor condition.

Regards Mark


jlparsons - 17/2/07 at 11:46 PM

Interesting stuff! Am intrigued. I'm certainly willing to beleive it going on all those experiences, but my only remaining question is if it does increase coolig efficiency by those extra few percent and cost only a few quid, why isn't it standard in anti-freeze/anti-corrosion fluids, or why don't the manufacuters use it? Will ask my old man, he's got a phd in thermodynamics and 30 years in auto engineering, so come to think of it he's probably the bloke to ask!


Jon Ison - 17/2/07 at 11:52 PM

They don't use it as they designed the cooling systems too work without it.

When I used it radiator was side pod mounted and cooling was marginal, the water wetter bought it under control.

I could have gone too the trouble of fitting a larger rad but decided ww was the easier option.


UncleFista - 18/2/07 at 03:07 AM

As far as I understood it, Water Wetter is meant to provide the same cooling properties as antifreeze (breaks down surface tension and creates better heat transfer), but without being a danger (slippery) on the track if spilled ?
Without the anti corrosion properties of anti-freeze either.

I could be talking crap though


jdgar - 18/2/07 at 03:59 AM

I live in Central Oklahoma, USA. Up until two years ago drove my "72 Spitfire 30 miles to and from work every day. Temps here in the Summer can be very warm (95-105F). Radiatior and block had just been cleaned professionally. I was always too hot until I used Water Wetter. It lowered the temps just enough to let me stop worrying. Won't fix a bad system though. There was a lot of discussion about it on the Spitfire newsgroup (NASS)on Yahoogroups.com
Joe Garrison
Praying for warmer weather


bimbleuk - 18/2/07 at 07:02 AM

As an alternative consider a non-aqeuous coolant. The theory is with no water the localised boiling is greatly reduced and the coolant lasts for much longer.

For example in my turbo'd Corolla switching to a non-aqeuous coolant prevented boiling in the cylinder head after a hard run (you could hear it before switching).

The downer is you must flush all traces of water out of the system and the stuff costs the same as synthetic oil! Just remember once used the coolant should last as long as the engine


Hellfire - 18/2/07 at 08:55 AM

Water wetter will do what it says on the tin but to achieve the maximum cooling temperature it quotes, you would have to replace your entire coolant with Water Wetter, which could prove expensive.

If your system is border line, it will reduce the temperature by a few degrees which is all you may need. It allowed us, along with a few other mods, to get the coolant temperatures under control.

Phil


Stuart Walker - 18/2/07 at 12:55 PM

WW was very useful for my Dad and I in his Austin Healey in south of France last summer, and we didn't have to use too much (can't remember exactly - maybe what it recommends on the bottle?).

Stu