??? About Thermostats in Race Bikes. Remove? yay or nay?

Water boils at 100 F/212 C and it freezes at 32 F/0 C. If the water is 66 F/18.9 C than it will boil faster than it freezes. Water does retain heat better than it disperses heat.

 

So...when did this turn into a physics forum?

 

^ yes, boils at higher temp, plus also works as anti-corrosive AND helps lube the seals... it's actually good stuff apart from being slippery and inhibiting cooling a tad bit compared to water. (i remember hearing it's like 98% as efficient at heat dissipation as water is)

 

Really?

You mean 100 C / 212 F right.

 

It does raise the boiling temp a little but not as much as it lowers the freezing temp. That is why the cooling system is pressurized.

 

In my bike, I cut the guts out of the t-stat, but put the washer back in. I did this so that there is still an orifice there to create back pressure in the system. The cooling system is pressurized at about 16psi, but this only happens when the coolant gets up to temp. The "washer" in place will help keep some pressure in the head, this will raise the boiling point of the coolant and keep from having localized boiling. This also helps keep the flow rate of the coolant to a lower level thus making sure that the water stays in the radiator long enough to drop temperature.

 

Correct, that is what I meant. Damn, I felt like I was on a roll.

 

So your previous logic...that water at 66F would boil faster than it would freeze...was that based on that 100F was closer than 32F is?

If so..what now that 212F is WAY further away than 32F?

It just dawned on me..I have a friend who designs industrial freezers for a living. I'm sure he'll have a good answer.

 

Yes, my logic was based on water with a constant temp directly in the middle of boiling and freezing. You can do the math, but water does heat faster than it cools as long as it is a controlled test. Again, there are many variables. Man this is fun. I wish I was on vacation all the time and could spend hours on here.

 

What kind of oil should I be running?

 

The kind that dissipates heat and allows the water to stay in the radiator longer.:up:

 

One BTUH will heat one pound of water one degree in one hour...
Remove the same amount of energy from the water and it will cool at the same exact rate.

Changing the state of the water (from liquid to ice or liquid to steam) takes much more energy then it does to just raise it's temp.

Since your not changing the state of the water in an engine I see no reason to even bring it up...
If the radiator is designed to remove a similar amount of heat that the water absorbs in the engine then the temp will stabilize.

 

It does when it's absorbing heat from a solid (the engine block) to a liquid (the coolant) then the heat transfer from the liquid (the coolant) to the solid (fins and tubes) to air that's taking place in the radiator. Air does a very poor job of transferring heat from a solid surface. That's why many turbo charged cars have liquid to air intercoolers vs. air to air intercoolers.

 

A few points:

A) Your cooling system will not transfer heat as well with ethylene glycol antifreeze as it will with plain water.

B) Your cooling system will not transfer heat as well with propylene glycol antifreeze (Engine Ice and similar) as it will with an ethylene glycol mix.

C) If you have any questions regarding the above please check with Dow Chemical as they offer both types. Their websitehttp://www.dow.com/heattrans/tech/ offers specific heat, SG, density, viscosity data etc. for both types.

D) Water Wetter may help heat transfer as it contains a surfactant to rduce surface tension of the water in contact with the heat transfer surfaces.

E) Removing the thermostat may will remove some of the head that the pump sees in the system. Reducing head losses will move the flow to the right side of the pump curve and will increase the system flow. It will also increase the horspower requirement of the pump! You may find that the pump impeller and casing may be damaged by cavitation at the new operating point. Small pieces of the impeller and the casing may be eroded away by the cavitation.

F) Removing the themostat may change the laminar flow characteristics on the heat transfer surfaces and prevent turbulent flow near these surfaces. This may reduce heat transfer.

G) A particular system may prove to be self limiting as the faster flow rate will increase frictional losses thereby limiting total flow.

 

so reading between the lines.. leave the t-stat in

 

But that only works with British water, right?

-jim

 

It would seem like that is the way it is recomended.

 

YES. :up:

 

That is another whole ball of wax...relavent...but not what I was talking about.

 

That's the easiest path. Or experiment cautiously. The gutted T-Stat is one possible solution. Honestly though, how often does a t-stat fail closed?