Cyco. That pH test sounds like a very good idea because I've just noticed somthing. Even though the color is gone from my tubing the smell of water wetter is still present. Water wetter and the Hyperlube supercoolant have two distinctivly different scents (water wetter is quite abit stronger smelling also). So evedently part of the water wetter is still in the tubing.

actually one time i took the ink from one of those flowy red ink pens and dumped it in my water, it looked very cool! then it turned orange.. didnt look as cool, then when i emptied it my hoses were stained red, but that was vinal so thats kinda off the topic...

Someone really should to a test with some waterwetter, and find out if the good parts of it go with the color. I can't see any reason why they would add a separate coloring to something meant to be dumped into a car's cooling system, so I kinda figure that it is the protective substances themselves that give it the red color. Hence if the color goes away / gets absorbed by something, you lose the corrosion protection.

My system is now VERY slowly getting clearer and clearer again. If someone can think of some test that will show the concentration of the good parts of waterwetter in a system, I'll see if I can't get a sample of coolant from my system, and compare it to a sample of my original mix (which has been sitting in a sealed plastic jug since I mixed it at the start of my cooling project - I made 4 liters, and have a LOT left, 3% watterwetter + distilled water).

As was shown fairly well in a thread a while back (yes, I don't post much, I've been lurking for a long time) the waterwetter causes a black coating to form on copper surfaces, which the people who did that test concluded to be a protective layer that prevents oxidation and galvanic corrosion. I believe that this is a chemical reaction between the copper and the waterwetter, which uses up both chemicals and results in the black protective layer. The tests done before had a small piece of copper in a tub of watter-wetter mix, whereas I have a LARGE surface-area of copper, and a relatively small volume of waterwetter. I believe that my waterwetter is reacting with the copper in my system, but that my ratio of copper:waterwetter is enough that I simply used it all up. Perhaps whoever did those tests way back then (if they still have some extra copper and waterwetter) could put a piece of copper in a solution of waterwetter but with a very small amount of waterwetter relative to the surface area of the copper, and after waiting for the protective layer to form attempt to estimate the remaining concentration of waterwetter in the solution.

I thought WW was just a detergent that broke the surface tension of the water, like any soap does, but designed for coolant systems.... here is an idea 2 test.
take some of the water that has had it's WW turn clear and put it in a glass.
see if it builds up b4 flowing over the glass (thus having surface tension)

If it's just a detergent, then the detergent we use to clean clothes would be ideal (the liquid kind, of course) because it's a soap that doesn't bubble.

The Water Wetter also has, I believe, an anti-corrosion agent. I'm not sure what could be substituted for that. Anyone?

water-wetter was designed to prevent corrosion in racecars since antifreeze (specifically glycols) are prohibited. the fact that it slightly redices surface tension and lowers engine temps is a bonus.

Ok but the soap will also reduce the surface tension (that's what makes a soap, a soap!).

So if a rig is copper only, I guess the detergent would work... anyone?

And what is the effect on cooling of that residue inside your w/b and rad.

One would ask an expert chemist before... I think the detergent would attack the copper. Or at least wouldnt prevent galvanic corrosion... See what happens to your copper coins you forget when you wash your trousers :p (if you dont know try it with a trouser you dont mind staining with green copper oxyde...)
Also with detergent you usually find soap-like agents which produce lots of foam.

It seems that the alkali used in detergent would react with the Cu (Cu+). This should be easily neutralized with an acid, but then we're getting into the pH of coolants...

I guess a bit of Litmus paper would fix that right up, although not terribly accurate...

Is there a chemist in the house?

been yahoo'ing all over about this...

http://www.ul.ie/~childsp/CinA/Issue..._in_deterg.htm

Sodium Silicate is a corrosion inhibiter.

A surfactant (surface active agent) is what makes the water "wetter"