It has an open evap type cooling tower so possibly that is the reason. If it
was a closed system with a heat exchanger it might be OK, just guessing. BTW
I am in the US, central Calif Coast.
Alan

"Carl Ijames" wrote in message
...
Boy, I'd love to hear their explanation for why auto antifreeze is no
good but ethylene glycol is ok. The antifreeze has a lubricant for the
water pump and an anticorrosion package but all that together is less
than 1%, it's all compatible with copper tubing, steel, and cast iron,
and the electrical conductivity is pretty low to avoid problems with
dis-similar metals in the engine and radiator. I just thought the
propylene glycol based antifreeze would be better here since it's
nontoxic. I'm too lazy to look up the flash point but I don't think the
glycols burn much unless there's another source of fuel to keep them
going; even water hitting molten steel is going to be violent enough
that I personally don't think the glycol would be worse, but I've never
done the test ... :-).

--
Regards,
Carl Ijames carl.ijames at verizon.net

"Alan Black" wrote in message
m...
I asked the Inductotherm people about that, they say don't use
automotive
type antifreeze, but you can add ethylene glycol to the water in very
cold
areas.
Alan Black

"Carl Ijames" wrote in message
...
How about circulating propylene glycol instead of water, inside a
copper
tubing load coil? Nontoxic, basically nonconducting in case of a
leak,
and pretty cheap (Sierra antifreeze is about $7/gallon here in the
US).
It's a little viscous until it warms up, and doesn't have the heat
capacity of water, but should be safer for you.

--
Regards,
Carl Ijames carl.ijames at verizon.net

Conductivity due to the other additives.

Normally deionized water with 50% glycol and other corrosion inhibitors on
high power units. Prevents arcing, corrosion and buildup problems.

100% glycol is no good and performs worse. 50% ideal.

"Carl Ijames" wrote in message
...
Boy, I'd love to hear their explanation for why auto antifreeze is no
good but ethylene glycol is ok. The antifreeze has a lubricant for the
water pump and an anticorrosion package but all that together is less
than 1%, it's all compatible with copper tubing, steel, and cast iron,
and the electrical conductivity is pretty low to avoid problems with
dis-similar metals in the engine and radiator. I just thought the
propylene glycol based antifreeze would be better here since it's
nontoxic. I'm too lazy to look up the flash point but I don't think the
glycols burn much unless there's another source of fuel to keep them
going; even water hitting molten steel is going to be violent enough
that I personally don't think the glycol would be worse, but I've never
done the test ... :-).

--
Regards,
Carl Ijames carl.ijames at verizon.net

"Alan Black" wrote in message
m...
I asked the Inductotherm people about that, they say don't use
automotive
type antifreeze, but you can add ethylene glycol to the water in very
cold
areas.
Alan Black

"Carl Ijames" wrote in message
...
How about circulating propylene glycol instead of water, inside a
copper
tubing load coil? Nontoxic, basically nonconducting in case of a
leak,
and pretty cheap (Sierra antifreeze is about $7/gallon here in the
US).
It's a little viscous until it warms up, and doesn't have the heat
capacity of water, but should be safer for you.

--
Regards,
Carl Ijames carl.ijames at verizon.net

Hi Steve,
I noticed we fizzled out on the cooling fluid issue and you never had a
chance to talk about how many watts and what frequency your proposed unit
would operate at. I for one would certainly be interested in purchasing a
kit.
Alan

sme wrote:
... supplying this kit at a price we would all be willing to part with
for such a device. ...

Steve, you might want to consider offering a kit that protects your
intellectual property, but minimizes the cost for the hobbiest who can
do fabrication. I'm thinking of a kit that would include a finished PCB
and plans to build the hardware. The PCB is the part with the highest
value-added and producing just it would minimize the production
facilities that you would need.

My $.02,
Bob

Some notes on the cooling side of the discussion...
All hoses must be Non-Conductive. At the Forge shop we use Goodyear and/or Thermold (Goodyear is far superior) in sizes from 3/8" to 1 1/2" on the work coils and up to 6" in the piping system.

Hoses which jumper from Hot to Return bus work have the minimum hose length for voltage distapation as follows: 25 volts per inch (1000 volt output systems = 40" min. hoses, and to be safe 30' hosing on the 4160 vac Input Xfrm'S)

Maximum of 50% **Tech** Glycol mixture in the AIH P/S's and 30% in the Ajax

All of our power supplys (American Induction Heating and Ajax) spec. a minimum of 30 lbs. differential.

As an aside, we run 5 forge production lines, 1) 1800KW 540 Hz. AIH,
1) 2000KW 540 Hz. Master/Slave AIH , 1) 1000KW 540 Hz. & 2) 4000KW
100/220 Hz. Ajax