harvey

iTrader: (48)

Sometime ago there was a discussion as to whether Water Wetter worked and at that time I was conducting trials which I have now finished.

The idea of Water Wetter is that it reduces the surface tension and improves cooling ability of the water. Typically, temperature reductions of 10 - 20 degrees farenheit are claimed.

There is no point using the standard Subaru temperature guage which is pretty inert but over a period of several weeks I logged the ambiant temperature on first start and the temperatures achieved along a regular route every morning. I then did exactly the same after adding the recommended amount of Water Wetter and I regret to say that I could not detect any improvement in the warm up time nor could I find any reduction whatsoever in the water temperature while in the cruise when fully warm.

This does not necessarily mean that Water Wetter does not work because the car is fitted with a thermostat but from my experiments I concluded that it was unlikely to improve the operation of my engine. It may be that in localised hot spots Water Wetter has a beneficial effect and it is possible that on engines with marginal cooling there is a benefit,however, I have satisfied myself that it is not necessary in my car.

I would be interested to learn of anybody else with observations on Water Wetter.

ustolemyname??stevieturbo

iTrader: (1)

Ive tried it from time to time on a couple cars ive had ( some time ago ), which did suffer cooling problems. I didnt do any accurate measurements, but looking at the temp guage in the cars, the water wetter didnt seem to make any difference, and this is even with water always flowing through the stat, via drillings.

Pavlo

It would be interesting to measure the temperature of something being cooled by the water, like a spot in the cylinder head or something.

Maybe more even temperature distribution? Who knows.

TO be honest, any improvement in the thermal properties of the fluid, would tend to put more heat into it, aswell as from it into the rad.

Net difference in water temp could indeed be zero?

Paul

lucky_strike

Given the Scooby has a temperature controlled thermostat in it then water wetter can not reduce the general operating temperature of the car - the thermostat will control its opening until it reaches its set threshold.

But as the car is put under load (hard driving) or if you are stuck in trafic the thermostat can not open any further allowing more flow of water therefore the radiator has to do its job by cooling the water, and then the fan comes on and then I guess if its still getting warmer (try driving down the M6 every day - lots of stopping in the traffic) then I presume the second radiator fan comes on.

What water wetter should do is reduce the amount of time the fans need to come on because it will keep the water that much cooler for that much longer.

The same goes for really hard driving. Under bonnet temperatures will increase as the cooling system can not cope with the increased engine temperatures and you are relying on the cool air through the radiator. Again water wetter will help to control the increases and maintain cooler temperatures throughout the radiator. This also applies when towing - extra strain/load is put on the engine/cooling system and it will generally run hotter.

I first came across it when I raced an autograss Hillman Imp. Races are short and power to weight is critical so there was no charging system and a small radiator. I ran a fan on it but putting it on drained the battery plus it still didn't cool it sufficiently if races were re-run quickly or for longer races. The car ran no thermostat so when it got hot it stayed hot but the high load during a race (and only a short oval track) meant radiator cooling was not suffient.

Water wetter to the Imp meant I could run a race distance (five to ten laps on a 1/4 mile oval) without the fan on when previously I could not do it. It also helped the engine cool down quicker as well.

As to its merit in a road car I don't know - never tried it but I can see why it won't help when your in traffic jams or thrashing the pants off it during an a or b road jaunt.

ustolemyname??stevieturbo

iTrader: (1)

A friend who races karts, which run a more or less sealed cooling system, with no stat ( AFAIK ), on my reccomandation used pure water. It provided the best cooling for the kart which has no pump to circulate, and relies on convection only.
Temps can be critical at times on these, so any additives would be a benefit. Hasnt tried the water wetter yet though.
All articles I had read always said that pure water is the best coolant. Any additives reduce its cooling/heat transfer properties.
Obviously this product claims otherwise, but then they are selling it.

Pure water is not tap water btw....Distilled was the easiest to get hold of.

[Edited by ustolemyname??stevieturbo - 3/8/2003 5:50:31 PM]