I did an analysis of Water Wetter here:
http://www.kymcoforum.com/index.php?topic=3649.msg39938Quoting from that post:
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I also bought some Water-Wetter. The basic marketing premise behind Water-Wetter is that it reduces the surface tension of water. It also contains anti-corrosion ingredients.
Should localized boiling occur in the cylinder head coolant passages, the steam bubbles would form, come into contact with cooler surrounding coolant and collapse, which creates shock waves that can strip the protective metal oxide layer from the coolant passage.
Should your water pump cavitate (i.e.: turn so fast that it literally lowers the suction pressure so much that the liquid flashes to steam), the same effect would take place, with the collapsing steam bubbles stripping off the pump impellar's protective passivation layer.
Water-Wetter claims to attack this problem in two ways:
1) It reduces the surface tension of these bubbles, allowing for smaller bubble formation and hence smaller shockwaves, and hence less metal oxide (passivation) layer erosion.
2) The anti-corrosion ingredients help to quickly form a new protective metal oxide layer in those instances where the old layer has been stripped off.
Here are the ingredients of Water-Wetter, according to its MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet):
http://www.redlineoil.com/content/files/tech/WaterWetter%20MSDS.pdf---------------
1) Di-isopropyl alcohol ether: 1-40%
(Note: They mis-spell this in the MSDS as 'Dilsopropyl alcohol ether'.)
(Note: The listed CAS #25265-71-8 is for dipropylene glycol.)
2) Tri-isopropyl alcohol diether: 1-40%
(Note: The listed CAS #24800-44-0 is for tripropylene glycol.)
3) Sodium molybdate: 2-10%
(Note: The listed CAS #10102-40-6 is for molybdic acid sodium salt dihydrate.)
4) Tolyltriazole: 1-3%
(Note: The listed CAS #29385-43-1 is for tolyltriazole.)
5) Polysiloxane polymer: n/a
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NOTE: There is no such thing as Di-isopropyl alcohol ether (or Dilsopropyl alcohol ether). The CAS number on the Water-Wetter MSDS is actually dipropylene glycol.
NOTE: There is no such thing as Tri-isopropyl alcohol diether. The CAS number on the Water-Wetter MSDS is actually tripropylene glycol.
The anti-corrosion ingredients are Sodium Molybdate and Tolyltriazole.
The Polysiloxane polymer acts as a stabilizer for the silicates in the propylene glycol, preventing it from coming out of solution.
So, it would appear that Water-Wetter is nothing more than propylene glycol anti-freeze (silicate-based), with sodium molybdate and tolyltriazole anti-corrosion ingredients, with a silicate stabilizer.
Note that you can mix ethylene glycol and propylene glycol together, but doing so makes it impossible to check the coolant's strength using a hydrometer, owing to the differences in the specific gravities of the two coolants.
RedLine makes the following claims:
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CLAIM: Unique agent for cooling systems that doubles the wetting ability of water
Yes, of course it increases the 'wetting ability', if compared to straight water with no additives. So does regular old ethylene glycol and propylene glycol anti-freeze.
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CLAIM: Rust and corrosion protection allows for use of straight water in racing or reduced antifreeze levels in warm climates
Water-wetter does provide corrosion-protection chemicals that may not be in your existing anti-freeze. If those chemicals are already in your existing anti-freeze, then Water-Wetter provides no additional benefit in this regard.
As for the 'reduced antifreeze levels' (which should read 'reduced antifreeze concentration' to avoid confusion) claim, that's because Water-Wetter IS primarily anti-freeze. You're simply swapping ethylene glycol for propylene glycol.
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CLAIM: Improves heat transfer and reduces cylinder head temperature
Again, over straight water, this would be true. While straight water has greater heat transfer capabilities than either ethylene glycol or propylene glycol, that is only up to the boiling point of water. Once you exceed that point, the heat transfer capability of straight water declines precipitously, because the boiling leads to less metal being exposed to water and more being exposed to steam (note that if you had enough coolant flow to strip the bubbles from the metal surface, you would actually see an increased heat transfer capability when boiling occurred, but then you'd also have high enough flow to erode the aluminum oxide passivation layer, which would result in rapid corrosion).
So by adding Water-Wetter to straight water, you're increasing the 'wetting ability' of the water, allowing smaller steam bubbles to form during boiling, and as such, increasing the capability of the fluid to transfer heat. That said, regular old propylene glycol will do the same thing (as would regular old ethylene glycol).
In addition, in older engines which have only run water as their coolant, there may be scale lining the radiator tubes and cylinder coolant passages. The addition of Water-Wetter may help to loosen and remove that scale, thereby increasing the heat transfer capabilities. For new engines, Water-Wetter would provide no benefit in this regard.
Extensive dyno testing has proven that the heat transfer capabilities fall within the margins of testing error when comparing straight water to water + Water Wetter, and when comparing a 50:50 antifreeze:water mixture to that same mixture supplemented with Water Wetter.
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CLAIM: May allow more spark advance for increase power and efficiency
This would be true for straight water based coolant systems that are 'on the edge' in regards to being able to dump engine heat. For systems that are capable of dumping engine heat easily, or for ethylene glycol or propylene glycol based coolant systems, Water-Wetter would provide no benefit in this regard.
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CLAIM: Compatible with new or used antifreeze (including DEX-COOL and long-life versions) to improve the heat transfer of ethylene and propylene glycol systems
For ethylene glycol based coolant systems, I can see where this would be true. For propylene glycol based coolant systems, I can't see how adding more propylene glycol (which is the primary component of Water-Wetter) would make a difference.
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CLAIM: Satisfies ASTM D2570 and ASTM D1384 corrosion tests for glycol-based antifreezes
This much is true.
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Another aside... it has been said that some motorcycle tracks don't allow ethylene glycol or propylene glycol coolant when racing, because a crash leading to a coolant leak would leave a slick spot that could be dangerous to racers. Yet, they allow straight water and Water-Wetter. Considering that Water-Wetter is primarily propylene glycol, perhaps those race tracks should rethink this policy.
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