[Healeys] Thermostat

HealeyRick healeyrick at yahoo.com
Fri Aug 3 16:34:32 MDT 2012


Roland,

I'm learning from the school of hard knocks.    Right now I'm happy
where I am, but may try increasing the anti-freeze ratio little by little to
see the effect.  I tried running a 15 lb cap,  Sure makes that header tank
balloon up when it starts getting hot.  One more example of the no free lunch
rule.

 
Rick





________________________________
 From: Roland Wilhelmy
<rwil at sbcglobal.net>

 Water boils at 212 F at atmospheric pressure,  A 50-50
mix of
antifreeze and water boils at something like 225 F if I remember the
numbers right.        At 7psi the  boiling points of both  coolants
are raised
usefully.  Since the efficiency of an engine rises with
operating temperature,
there are some advantages to running hotter (we
already know the
disadvantages).  So you could run your Healey or
Nasty Boy at 225 F
comfortably with a 50-50 mix and a 10 pound
radiator cap.  You'd have a good
margin for error or traffic.

What all this means is that there is no such
thing as a free lunch in
thermodynamics.  Water has a better heat capacity but
50-50 mix has a
higher boiling point so the radiator is working with a larger
temp
difference when the mix runs hotter.


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