You're an enabler

OEMs are spending large sums of money in order to meet the continually tightening regulations in regards to fuel consumption and emissions reduction. The sheer size of equipment on top of high productivity demands causes frequent overheating—sometimes daily depending on the conditions.

Evans Cooling Systems Inc., Sharon, CT, offers a coolant without water which allows equipment to run hotter due to a boiling point of 375 F (190 C) versus water’s boiling temperature of 212 F (100 C).

The coolant is a liquid blend of glycols with soluble additives. Its freezing point is lower than that of water at around -60 F (-51 C), exceeding water’s capabilities at both ends of the temperature spectrum. Evans waterless coolant never has to be replaced, as long as it is never contaminated with water, and is nontoxic.

Recent emissions testing with Emisstar showed a decrease of carbon emissions (CO2) by over 2%. (Search: 10451257 at www.oemoffhighway.com for the full test report.)

Improved fuel economy

A lot of people don’t associate coolants with fuel economy. “The coolant itself doesn’t save fuel, but it allows fuel saving strategies that you can’t do with a water-based coolant,” says Mike Tourville, Director of Marketing, Evans Cooling Systems. “We call it an enabler. With the higher boiling point, equipment thermostats can be increased slightly, for example up to 205 F (96 C), and the fan-on temperature can be increased to 230 F (110 C) which reduces the amount of time a fan will turn on and run to cool down the equipment.” Since the fan system requires fuel and power to run, reducing the fan on time also reduces unnecessary power and fuel consumption, lowering emissions and improving fuel economy.

Other systems are durable enough to allow for the higher temperatures, as the temperature is only slightly higher, and still well below the threshold for adverse effects on the oil system or hoses and gaskets.

Veolia Environmental Services, a waste management company, saw fuel economy savings of over 4% during a year-long test of the waterless coolant in Sheboygan, WI. The company is currently testing vehicles in Florida and is again seeing a significant fuel savings.

An SAE J1321 Type II Fuel Consumption Test conducted by the Program for Advanced Vehicle Evaluation (PAVE) at Auburn University revealed Evans waterless coolant provided over 3% improvement in fuel economy with thermostats set to 215 F (101.7 C). “This was without changing the fan-on temperature,” says Tourville.

“In every test we’ve done, we’ve gotten some fuel economy savings, usually between 3% and 8%. It’s a simple way to get better fuel economy—change your coolant, and take advantage of a reserve capacity your engine already has in order to run more efficiently,” he says. “There are a lot of other options to improve fuel economy, but the return on the investment is sometimes years; we’re usually seeing customers earn their money back within six months.”

Reduced maintenance costs

Inherently, by removing the corrosive element, water, corrosion and electrolysis are avoided. Without water, there is also no fear of water vapor which can cause pressure in the system. Normally cooling systems are pressurized with a 10- to 15-lb. pressure cap (each pound of pressure increases the boiling point three degrees), “so a 15-lb. cap would raise the boiling point to 257 F (135 C), which is still not a wide enough margin between the operating temperature and the boiling point. With our coolant, we don’t form vapor in an engine because we don’t boil,” Tourville says.

Additionally, water vapor pockets caused by boiling coolant interrupts efficient heat transfer throughout the cooling system because vapor only retains 4% of the thermal conductivity of water. At its most basic, eliminating vapor and thus system pressure is a valuable safety benefit to owners and equipment operators.