Flood coolant evaporation

[rezcar]

Hi all,
I ordered a gallon of Rustlick WS11 flood coolant about 2 months ago. Cut it with water at 10:1 as recommended and so far so good, except for the fact that I've used the whole gallon already!

Seems like I should get more life out of this based on other's comments here. I didn't measure but it seems like I lose 1/4 gallon every two weeks or so due to evaporation. I have a 3 sided enclosure and a chip/splash shield on the front, no dripping or leakage from the chip tray which dumps coolant back to the reservoir.

In short, nothing ends up on the floor. Drainage isn't 100% efficient, I have some puddling but the chip tray doesn't look like it has a gallon's worth of WS11 film on it...is this normal? Would an oil-based coolant be better?

I'm in the OC of So Cal, 5 miles from the water.

[Shotout]

Originally Posted by rezcar Hi all, I ordered a gallon of Rustlick WS11 flood coolant about 2 months ago. Cut it with water at 10:1 as recommended and so far so good, except for the fact that I've used the whole gallon already! Seems like I should get more life out of this based on other's comments here. I didn't measure but it seems like I lose 1/4 gallon every two weeks or so due to evaporation. I have a 3 sided enclosure and a chip/splash shield on the front, no dripping or leakage from the chip tray which dumps coolant back to the reservoir. In short, nothing ends up on the floor. Drainage isn't 100% efficient, I have some puddling but the chip tray doesn't look like it has a gallon's worth of WS11 film on it...is this normal? Would an oil-based coolant be better? I'm in the OC of So Cal, 5 miles from the water.

If you are loosing water content through evaporation then your coolant should be overly rich. A refractometer is the only accurate way to check your coolant concentration. Different brands, formulas and types of water soluble coolant have different Brix factors, which is most likely what any refractometer you use will be calibrated in. The company's website or a dealer/rep should be able to give you the correct factor for your coolant. You calculate the percentage of your mix by checking the Brix number and multipling it by the factor. For example a coolant with a factor of four that when mixed reads 3 on the scale on the refractometer would be at 12% concentration. The idea is to add a lower concentration of coolant mix to balance for evaporation loss. As you loose water content the reading will rise on the scale so you add weak coolant mix to replinish the sump to try and balance it. There are other causes of coolant loss as well but for evaporation it is a matter of balancing the coolant mix you add to the the tank to keep it in a good percentage range. If you add a 10:1 mix every time then it will slowly creep up in concentration, waste coolant, risk skin irritation and loose effectiveness as water soluble coolants need enough water to work properly.

[Delw]

your complaining about 1 gal in 2 months WOW
sounds like your getting a deal , in one machine I put in 5-10 gals of mixture a week.

in the summer i go through 5 gals of pure coolant 1-1.5 months on one machine, in the winter I go through about 3-4 gals 1-1.5 months
if your face milling you will loose lots to evaportation.
my chips come out pretty dry, what I have noticed is that alum will use more coolant then steels stainless or nickle alloys

[TOTALLYRC]

You are of course loosing a significant amount to carry off, which is coolant attached to the chips.
In my case it appears to be more than evaporation, especially when I did some Lexan the other day, the chips were coolant colored and where very wet. I let them sit overnight and they were the same.
If I did a lot of Lexan I would like to put them in a press to squeeze them dry, or a centrifugal dryer, to spin them dry. Since my Lexan was a one off job for me, it is not a big deal.

[Geof]

You also lose coolant because the machine creates a fine mist that drifts away and settles on everything; which is why eventually everything in your shop gets an oily, dusty film on it.

But as mentioned your loss rate is nothing unusual.