webasto antifreeze

[twistedh]

This may sound like a daft question but forgive me as I am new to this....my Webasto header tank needs topping up and I wondered if there was a particular antifreeze I should be using? Can I just use a 50% mix of normal car antifreeze and tap water?

 

Thanks!

[Yoda]

Dont use tap water.

[Tony Brooks]

This may sound like a daft question but forgive me as I am new to this....my Webasto header tank needs topping up and I wondered if there was a particular antifreeze I should be using? Can I just use a 50% mix of normal car antifreeze and tap water?

 

Thanks!

 

 

Yes, but check the colour. Until we know a lot more its probably not a good idea to mix blue/green antifreeze with the red/purple/orange variety. I expect yours will be blue.

 

I think Yoda was trying to say in an ideal world you would use distilled water but I doubt that was used last time.

[twistedh]

Yes, but check the colour. Until we know a lot more its probably not a good idea to mix blue/green antifreeze with the red/purple/orange variety. I expect yours will be blue.

 

I think Yoda was trying to say in an ideal world you would use distilled water but I doubt that was used last time.

 

Thank you Tony, much appreciated, I've scoured the manual but it seems to take for granted you know the basic stuff!

[chris w]

Thank you Tony, much appreciated, I've scoured the manual but it seems to take for granted you know the basic stuff!

Webastos don't need a 50/50 mix. My manual states 25% minimum.

 

Chris

[Tony Brooks]

Webastos don't need a 50/50 mix. My manual states 25% minimum.

 

Chris

 

 

But at 50% there is ample headroom for topping up with ordinary water and also for the corrosion inhibitors so changing every two years might not be so vital.

 

Anywhere between about 20% & 50% will probably do the job.

[chris w]

But at 50% there is ample headroom for topping up with ordinary water and also for the corrosion inhibitors so changing every two years might not be so vital.

 

Anywhere between about 20% & 50% will probably do the job.

 

Please correct me if I am wrong, but IIRC I read somewhere that the higher the antifreeze mixture the less the heat transfer as compared to water alone.

 

Chris

[Tony Brooks]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but IIRC I read somewhere that the higher the antifreeze mixture the less the heat transfer as compared to water alone.

 

Chris

 

 

This may be why the maximum is usually set at 50%, more than that and problems can start to occur. However I always understood that Spitfires used 100% glycol for cooling so am not so sure about the specific heat capacity of the stuff.

[chris w]

I looked it up and water has a specific heat capacity of 4.2 J/gm.degC compared to ethylene glycol which is only 2.2 J/gm.degC. So ethylene glycol only conducts heat roughly half as well as water.

 

Chris