Water… Distilled? Purified? Hose??

dusterdoug said

Hey all,

What water ya been running in your high HP street cars for cooling?

Distilled? Purified??

Talk to me…

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Distilled only in cooling systems and batteries. Most any other water contains minerals. Spring time snow melt water will be soft sitting on snow in ditches. As soon as it contacts soil, it starts dissolving minerals in the soil. These minerals then coat the inside of the cooling system or battery plates.
Regarding "just buy premix", OK for street applications but most race facilities frown on antifreeze in the coolant. Antifreezes are generally not exactly enviornmentally friendly, so clean up after a crash, hose failure or engine failure is for them an issue. Many racers use distilled water for the best heat transfer properties, with a bit of water soluable oil as used in machine shops to lubricate the water pump seal. It also prevents corrosion that 100% water promotes.
In a warm climate that never sees freezing temperatures this could be viable. In locations where freezing occurs, this is not recommended. More than a few blocks have been broken when someone has forgotten to drain the water and install coolant in the fall before freezing occurs. A couple of degrees of freezing over night will not likely break a block, but minus 30 will.