Water or 50/50 Mix for Summer

Model A Ron

Model A Ron

Well-known member
I was running water with a wetter and some of the ICE mix to keep my A cooler in Summer but I thinking about 50/50 year round. Do any of you guys boil over on hot days that are 95 and up on 50/50 mix?
 
With a 50/50 mix your boiling point is raised. So, if you were not boiling over with straight water you wont be boiling with a mixture.
 
Model A Ron said:
I was running water with a wetter and some of the ICE mix to keep my A cooler in Summer but I thinking about 50/50 year round. Do any of you guys boil over on hot days that are 95 and up on 50/50 mix?
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I run a 50/50 mix and no problems here.
 
Antique_iron said:
A 50/50 mix does not raise the boiling point. Only a closed pressurized cooling system will raise the boiling point.
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I agree with Antique Iron - a friend has a '31 that boils over in hot weather with 50/50 but does not with plain water and coolant additive. We've checked the head gasket and it's OK. Radiator has been back-flushed as well as the block at least twice. The problem may lie in the radiator itself, but for now the plain water/coolant additive combo keeps it from boiling and he's able to tour without losing coolant.

P.S. I read a few years ago in a hotrodder magazine that for every pound of pressure applied by the radiator cap, the boiling point is increased by 2 degrees (at least that's what the article said). At sea level, water boils at 212*, so adding more pressure by way of the cap raises the boiling point.
 
We have freezing winters here in Maine so I am always afraid of forgetting about not having anti-freeze. 50/50 year round for me. :)
 
Antique_iron said:
A 50/50 mix does not raise the boiling point. Only a closed pressurized cooling system will raise the boiling point.
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See charts

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According to that chart, we should run straight antifreeze in the summer and 65% antifreeze in the winter?
 
I think you're looking at the centigrade part of the chart(on the left) instead of the farenheight part(on the right)
 
LeonardS said:
According to that chart, we should run straight antifreeze in the summer and 65% antifreeze in the winter?
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If you want to do that, go ahead if you think your engine will ever get to 392°F. Most of our engines run about 200°+ lower than that.

To the rest of us in the real world, my point was adding anti-freeze does, in fact, raise the boiling point of the coolant.

Antique_iron said:
A 50/50 mix does not raise the boiling point. Only a closed pressurized cooling system will raise the boiling point.
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Ramman said:
Again, I'm betting the chart is for at least a 16# pressurized system.
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I was responding to Antique_iron. I didn't mention anything about pressure.
 
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Anyone willing to make a mess on your wife’s stove ! LOL 65 % makes it good to -56*F BUT see what happens at 100% antifreeze…….it will freeze at +12*F
Check your % of antifreeze, the water will boil out( because of a non-pressurized system) and then you could have 100% antifreeze and then your only protected to +12*F
Water is a better for cooling this is a scientific fact period, add water wetter and anti rust and your A will run 30*F cooler than antifreeze mix in the summer.
 
Specific heat is a measure of how much heat a material can absorb for each degree of temperature rise. Water has the highest specific heat of any liquid that I know of. That is the reason it works so well in cooling your engine.

If you have an overheating problem the solution is not changing the coolant. Look first at how clean your cooling system is. Then take a close look at your radiator. Old radiators will have loose fins that don't transfer heat from the tubes very well. Cheap radiators will not have enough fins and/or tubes.

I run 50/50 year round which works well for me even in the 95 degree days.

Change your antifreeze every 3 years. The freezing temperature will not change that much with old antifreeze but the additives that help prevent rust dissipate and/or degrade.
 
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Ok, here's the thing about the green stuff in your radiator. It tends to foam in a non-presurized system. Just something to consider.
 
Y-Blockhead said:
If you want to do that, go ahead if you think your engine will ever get to 392°F. Most of our engines run about 200°+ lower than that.

To the rest of us in the real world, my point was adding anti-freeze does, in fact, raise the boiling point of the coolant.





I was responding to Antique_iron. I didn't mention anything about pressure.
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I’ve always run straight water, but it was suggested I try 50/50. It looks like 50/50 does little to improve the boiling point.
 
Model A Ron said:
I was running water with a wetter and some of the ICE mix to keep my A cooler in Summer but I thinking about 50/50 year round. Do any of you guys boil over on hot days that are 95 and up on 50/50 mix?
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No Boil over with 50:50 mix in Memphis summer. I do have a clean cooling system which is the key. No foam either.
 
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Don't know where those charts came from, but the boiling point is unaffected in an open cooling system- period. That is why vehicles eventually progressed to closed pressurized systems.
 
Antique_iron said:
Don't know where those charts came from, but the boiling point is unaffected in an open cooling system- period. That is why vehicles eventually progressed to closed pressurized systems.
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of course the boiling point changes when you add glycol to water, non-pressurized or pressurized. remember your physics classes?


At a 50/50 mix it will be about 110°C. (Edit: non-pressurized)
 
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