Technical FAQs
Technical FAQs
Issue:
Why choose glycol over water?
Product line:
All cooling units that require heat exchangers
Environment:
All Product models, all serial numbers
Cause:
Install
Resolution:
Why choose glycol over water?
Advantages of Glycol:
Disadvantages of Glycol:
Note! The specific heat capacity of an ethylene glycol based water solution is less than the specific heat of clean water. For a heat transfer system the circulated volume must be increased.
In a 50% solution with operational temperatures above 36 oF the specific heat capacity is decreased with approximately 20%. The reduced specific heat capacity must be compensated by circulating more fluid.
Automobile antifreeze solutions should not be used in HVAC systems because they contain silicates that may cause fouling. Silicates in automobile antifreeze are used to protect aluminum engine parts.
Note! Distilled or deionized water should be used for ethylene glycol solutions. City water is often treated with chlorine, which is corrosive, and should be avoided.