Tig cooler water

[Disco_Mark]

Just acquired a TIG plant - Miller syncrowave 300...

For transport the water cooler has been emptied, so I now need to refill it. Should this be filled with straight tap water, or should it be distilled or deionised and should it contain any antifreeze or water wetter?

The machine will be living in a barn, so could see fairly cold conditions - hence the antifreeze thought...

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks
Mark

 

[Disco_Mark]

OK, had a read through this post, and the articles linked to it...

should have searched first....

Mark

 

[Tungsten Sharpener]

50/50 anti freeze and water

TS

 

[Disco_Mark]

apparently not, according to several sources linked to on the thread above. At least not automotive anti-freeze as it can co-agulate and block the channels in the torch....

not an expert, just relaying what I have just learnt!

Mark

 

[Tungsten Sharpener]

I have run this mix in both my murex tig set and my esab mig set at the advice of their tech dept and had no trouble for a good few years.

TS

 

[^neo^]

15 years of halfords cheapo anti freeze and tap water hasn't hurt mine

 

[Sam]

Have had no problems running soluble cutting oil in mine the same oil I use in the lathe and cut off saw.

 

[Paul.]

Pound shop antifreeze in my mig for the last 7 years, no problems so far

 

[Jay]

Used to run our synchrowave with tap water and rust inhibitor that you use in central heating syatemss- cause the tank on those from memory is mild steel, so it stops the rust/ crap building up.
It was Mr Young at youngs welding in twickenham- who used to make all the olympic oil filled welders that told me that one years back

 

[Disco_Mark]

Having read lots of manufacturer's websites' and consulted here and a number of local specialists, there doesn't seem to be a concensus!

All the official documentation I have read says to use some kind of special non-coagulating coolant mixture designed for these machines.

Everyone else - including the people I have rung to attempt to acquire some special coolant - have said to use a combination of automotive antifreeze and a rust inhibitor.

The water source is also up for grabs as several say 'tap water' and others say deionised...

I think, for the sake of getting the plant up and running I am going to use some antifreeze with a bit of fernox (central heating rust inhibitor stuff?) and some distilled water from a dehumidifier (am in a hard water area, so attempting to minimise the limescale content of the water seems like a prudent measure to me).

Anyone see any flaws in my plan, or am I worrying too much.... :P

Cheers
Mark

 

[Shox Dr]

Good idea to use the distilled water, I did the same, as the bore of the piping around the torch head is very small. As for additive i just used Auto antifreeze. I think but may be wrong, that fernox and the like already have an anti freeze in them, as for mixing the to I'd be testing a bit first to make sure you dont get a reaction of some sort

 

[astro_al]

Hi Mark, I've just been running anti-freeze and tap water after that thread, and its fine so far. I think I'll go through torches faster than their waterways will block up anyway.

Nice machine!

Al.

 

[Disco_Mark]

Cheers Al, just got to learn to use it now... :S

Mark