Anti-freeze

Prawn Farmer · Jul 15, 2014

Most everything I have uses ethylene glyco except for my Bobcat which calls for propylene glyco. What would determine an engineer designing a cooling system to choose one over the other? Apparently they are not to be mixed or be interchanged. Different from the anti-freeze used in aluminum blocks/heads?

Bob · Jul 15, 2014

My GUESS is that those machines are used around grain and other food product handling facilities and that propylene glycol is much LESS toxic then ethylene glycol (in case of a leak or a spill.

I looked a bit around the "net and it propylene glycol is a bit LESS efficient at carrying away heat, and there seems to be debate both ways on which products is less corrosive to aluminum and other metals as it ages and breaks down, so it doesn"t seem like it would be used for either of those reasons.

It will be interesting to see what other folks have to say on this one!

Anonymous-0 · Jul 15, 2014

Look it up. Propylene glycol is generally considered safe for human or animal consumption. So if you are a tree hugger or worried that your pets will drink the stuff, use propylene glyco. If you want the best protection for your cooling system use ethylene
glycol. Recommend not mixing the two together. I would drain/flush the cooling system and use ethylene glycol and distilled water.

IH2444 · Jul 15, 2014

(quoted from post at 15:51:46 07/15/14) Look it up. Propylene glycol is generally considered safe for human or animal consumption. So if you are a tree hugger or worried that your pets will drink the stuff, use propylene glyco. If you want the best protection for your cooling system use ethylene
glycol. Recommend not mixing the two together. I would drain/flush the cooling system and use ethylene glycol and distilled water.

yes use only distilled water it does make a big difference in the long run.

CJinMI · Jul 15, 2014

Probably for environmental reasons, they came out with a hyd oil that is safer/biodegradable (2004-2005??) also.

NCWayne · Jul 15, 2014

I've got a lot of customers with Bobcat brand skid steers, and as far as I know, all of them run the green stuff. I also know the majority of my other customers run the green stuff in all of their equipment. Given the age of many of the machines, regardless of brand, and the conditions I've seen when I had to go into the engine, or cooling system for one reason or another, I'd have to say that the green stuff has done a really good job on everything I have seen so far.

buickanddeere · Jul 15, 2014

Propylene doesn"t ruin bearings if a coolant leak seeps into the crankcase.
Non toxic. They drench cows with the stuff.

Two worthwhile reasons.

MarkB_MI · Jul 15, 2014

Toxicity, or rather the lack of it, would be my guess. You wouldn't want to throw out a few thousand bushels of grain because your skid-steer had a coolant leak nobody noticed.

RodinNS · Jul 17, 2014

Propelene glycol is supposed to be the 'long life' coolant.... that's the main reason it's getting used. As far as I know it matters not which one you use as long as it's one of the other. Don't mix them.

Rod

dej(Jed) · Jul 17, 2014

(quoted from post at 12:17:28 07/15/14) Most everything I have uses ethylene glyco except for my Bobcat which calls for propylene glyco. What would determine an engineer designing a cooling system to choose one over the other? Apparently they are not to be mixed or be interchanged. Different from the anti-freeze used in aluminum blocks/heads?

I have mixed them and they stay mixed. They don't settle out or phase seperate at all. After hrs of operation they are okay.
We have run testing on them in the laboratory for various clients. (fuelsandlubestechnologies.org)

Anti-freeze

Prawn Farmer

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Bob

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Anonymous-0

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IH2444

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CJinMI

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NCWayne

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buickanddeere

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MarkB_MI

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RodinNS

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dej(Jed)

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