Cold weather concerns for aqueous coolant

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Thread: Cold weather concerns for aqueous coolant

  1. #1
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    Default Cold weather concerns for aqueous coolant

    Hi everyone. Long time lurker, rare poster these days.

    I bought a Fadal VMC40 with 88HS control.
    I live in New England and my "shop" lacks climate control other than a large garage bay door and a giant fan. That's fine for the summer, but now it's October and we've already had frost warnings.
    I'm not as concerned with linear thermal expansion and how cold affects the machine. Today I'm writing because I use a 5-7% concentration of petroleum based aqueous coolant. I'm worried it could freeze over the winter.
    To add further complications, the company I'm renting my bay from uses their side of the shop for storing their work trucks. While there is a wall that divides us, the joists are open and exposed. If they leave a bay door open to drive 8 trucks out, single file, a lot of cold is getting inside.
    This makes me extremely hesitant to get a stand up heater; it would be running non stop just like the electric meter.
    I'm wondering if I should drain my coolant and close shop or consider an aquarium heater for the coolant? I mean, it doesn't have to be a piping 85 degrees. I just need to keep the coolant above 32. I used to have an aquarium with cichlids - I know a drop in heater would work and the volume is similar. Maybe I could dilute the coolant with a bit of antifreeze?

    I just don't know for sure so I figured I'd check in and ask. Thanks in advance.

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  2. #2

    Default Re: Cold weather concerns for aqueous coolant

    An aquarium heater might not keep up if the ambient is very low, but who knows? They are designed to warm water in reasonable ambient temperatures. You could build a box around your coolant tank and put an electric heater in there. I'd use some foam insulation. That would cut electricity costs massively.

    My shop is somewhat insulated (though it's slowly getting better). I have a 70k BTU turbo heater that will more than take the chill off the place even in sub freezing weather. For the hours I'm not in the shop I leave the thermostat set at 50 and the heater placed about 10 or 12 feet from my mill, but pointed directly at it. It a large heat sink anyways, so I figure if I keep it warm it will only help the ambient. The only time I've found my coolant to be frozen was in sub zero temps. With my 600 square foot space (fairly large volume as the ceiling is high) I use about 18-25 gallons of fuel a month this way. Sometimes I want to wear shorts and crank the heat to 80, so it burns a little faster, but 25 gallons is the most I've ever used.

    I'm in Pittsburgh, so we have semi-similar climates.



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Cold weather concerns for aqueous coolant

Cold weather concerns for aqueous coolant