Is everyone just using straight water or a mixture of water and some other liquid such as alcohol? I have heard from several people that its best to use an additive...???

 

50/50 mix of alcohol and water seems to be the norm. it seems to be the best compromise for coolness and corrosiveness...

 

...... and for keeping your bottle from freezing!

 

So, is the blue juice (wiper fluid) sold at gas stations NOT recommended???

 

Jonnieoh,

I talked to the guys at Alta and they said anything would be ok. Some of the guys have said to use distilled water only but Alta said thats nonsense and overkill (gee, do some of our guys do that?)...I use a 50/50 water/alcohol mixture and it works fine. Blue juice would not hurt anything.

 

If it were me I would just use water, seeing as how the IC already gets exposed to rain all the time.

 

But then your intercooler will smell like window cleaner. :P

 

I agree water is the best...but if you sprayed window cleaner on it wouldnt hurt anything...

 

I too spoke with Adam from ALTA, and he said, "Shouldn't be an issue at all. The alcohol in it also helps improve cooling of the IC over straight water. You may want to check periodically for any residue from any surfactant in the liquid. You can simply rinse that off during a car wash. Nothing to be concerned about."

I asked, because I live in New York state, where we have that blue windshield washing fluid as a necessity.

 

You want to use a liquid that has a low vaporization temperature. Water vaporizes at 212, and absorbs more heat energy than say oil, with a higher temp of vaporization. Alcohol, however evaporates too fast and does not give you a high enough vaporization temperature to be as effective as water.
100% alcohol won't absorb heat energy as much as 100% water. You can get a decent cooling reaction when mixed with alcohol, this way you don't freeze your lines when it drops below 32F. For the best and cheapest cooling, 100% water is probably the best solution.

 

is there an alternate method to connect the sprayer, like say to a separate reservoir added specifically for that purpose? I can see the difficulties in that (pump, activation method, ect.) but has anyone done it?

for some reason i dont like the idea of hooking it up to my rear wiper system.

 

Yes you can use an auxillary pump and then use the same tank even. Totally up to you! Aux. pump kits can be had for about $12 at NAPA.

Hope that helps! Let me know!

 

Any of you guys using water injection?