The Ultimate Antifreeze for Watercooling
 

I don’t want this to sound like a pimp, but this is something many of you may be interested in. It’s a well known fact that using antifreeze in your watercooled rig will reduce the coolants heat capacity. I stumbled across an interesting product today. The folks at Zerex (Vavoline) developed an antifreeze for attack boats used by Navy Seals. Apparently the Seals needed something that would work in warm tropical waters. Ethylene glycol is too inefficient to provide proper cooling in these harsh conditions. Enter Zerex Racing Super Coolant. This stuff is reported to improve the effectiveness of an automotive cooling system by 25%. It should do wonders for overclockers that use standard antifreeze in their watercooled rigs. Unfortunately you can’t buy it at your local auto parts store. You can get it directly from Valvoline, (800) TEAMVAL.

Why would you need antifreeze in warm tropical waters?

Well icehart, unless you've been to the tropics how would you know how cold it is!!! I bet you 1 zillion "dollars" it goes below freezing in the tropical waters more often than in ALASKA! Ha, ofcourse they need antifreeze in the tropical waters ;) .

Methanol does the same and you can find it quite easily.

I'm doing phase change right now. I got 1 gallon of Texaco antifreeze. It contains Ethyelene Metahanol (mebbe Gylcol). Where could I find just pure Methanol (or glycol whichever is the one for cooling).

Some people pointed out windshield wiper fluid, which is about 30% methanol and 70% water, if you're lucky to find the soap-free variety.
If you have friends who are in drag racing you'll get pure methanol easily as well.
Ehtylene glycol is nowhere near methanol when it comes to performance in general. Glycol increases viscosity, surface tension, where methanol decreses them. And heat properties are way better.

I had a conversation with a chemist at Valvoline today. Unfortunately they have no performance comparisons to Water Wetter. From what I learned, a 10% solution of Zerex Racing Super Coolant should be all that’s needed to control corrosion in a water cooled system. Compared to the typical 15% solution of ethylene glycol that watercoolers currently use, Zerex should provide a 7.5% improvement in the coolants ability to carry heat. One important note, it’s not an antifreeze so it’s not recommended for use in chillers.

The stuff goes on sale August 1. The cost is $59 for a case of six gallons. Unfortunately the minimum amount one can purchase is a case. I see some group buys in the future.

uuh, sounds just like water wetter. Water wetter isnt antifreeze. U would add it to a mixture of antifreeze if u are running a phase change system (me, hehehe). I would want to try that stuff and compare it. I would dip in in a group buy.

You really can't use methanol by itself. Just stick with the windshield wiper fluid: it's got the right proportions of water:methanol that you need for cooling.

And like gmat said, try to find the kind without any additives (like soap).

Any brands u know dont have the soap additives? That would be good for use in dehumidifier/watercooled system of mine BigBen2k? I am currently using Antifreeze Texaco thing however the radiator still freezes. I'm worried it might crack or something. THe water isnt getting slushy tho.

Yeah, the ice is a problem, I know. You'd have to setup your pump in such a way that it circulates the coolant, so that it doesn't freeze. It should be perfect for a dehumidifier, that's the way I'm headed.

I don't know of any brands that don't have the additives, but I know that they should be the cheapest kind, so as long as the contents are indicated on the label, then that's what you need to be looking for. I haven't had any luck here yet, but I haven't been really looking either.

If you want large freaking quantities o' ethanol (denatured) or methanol, check with your local university chemical supply store. They normally sell it in 5 Gallon bottles for around $8-10. It has purity analyses on the side and all (it is made chemist pure). I would shy from methanol unless you are going SUPER cold ... ethanol still brings you well below zero and it isn't a nerve toxin. Just don't drink it, cos it is still about 2-10% methanol depending on the source to prevent students from drinking their final exam.

BTW, this is also a great way of getting ultra-pure water. Screw that "distilled" water from Wal*Marche, this is the real deal. Plus, if you ever want to do any glass/pyrex equipment, you can make damn near anything you want (and it is pretty damn cool looking, to boot ... turn your machine into a mad scientist's lab ... I knew a guy in college who crafted an octobong ... a huge glass sphere with legs that had a removable lid, one blowhole, and 8 seperate suck tubes with individual cutoff valves ... he said that when finished, he could pack it with a half an ounce at a time and could service a decent size house party with one go at it ... but that is a different type of mod altogether). A great source for people who want tall glass/pyrex tubes for resivoirs.

I am going to use Anti-Freeze and Water Wetter to reduce the surface tension.