works great now with the new tube
and now it’s time to setting the mirrors, looks also a big challenge; i gues
That is discussed in the FAQ’s I linked previously. And if you have a ‘digital’ display you want to get an analog meter so you don’t burn out this new tube too soon… Again, touched on in the FAQs.
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I’ve been running since start of winter with a 50% solution of distilled water and propylene glycol, the flow is always full of bubbles. Have run a bunch of hours. The glycol reduced the flow rate. Temperature seems to be about the same…
These bubbles flow… What you don’t want is a bubble that ‘sticks’ to an area of the tube that needs to be cooled…
Well, you might not have problems running like that but it’s not recommended people run a setup which generates bubbles and constantly flows bubbles through the system. At that point you’re then going down the rabbit hole of all the variations of tubing configurations and inlet and exit locations causing air pockets etc.
Nice that you’re able to work with that and not have problems and have acceptable heat transfer with so much air in the lines. Not what I would show anyone who’s not been around the block with these things for less than a year or so.
So what’s causing the bubbles? Do you have the return exit hose dumping above the water line instead of below water line/level? Do you have a leak in your line somewhere so air is being pulled into the line somewhere?
The mixture of the glycol going through the pump causes bubbles.
I have a 5202 chiller, no leaks, just the addition of the glycol. All ‘plumbing’ coming out of the tube is oriented properly. The only other thing in the ‘line’ is a flow meter. It was present and working before the glycol addition, so that’s not an issue.
I sent that video to Russ Sadler, back when I did it, and he said it wasn’t a problem. He has a tad more expertise in this than I. As I questioned the bubbles issue also.
I’ve been running it, at about 16ma - pretty hard, in just the last couple of weeks cutting 4.6mm ply.
I have mA , HV, coolant temp & flow rate meters…
The glycol thickens the mixture, resulting in a slower flow rate.
The tradeoff is that it has a good dielectric constant and at 50%, is good to 15 F for freeze protection. Seemed like a good tradeoff for freeze protection…
I love critters, with most antifreeze mixtures being sweet and toxic to most animals…
I buy it at the tack shop… for milk cows… so you can eat it 
Is the pump submerged in the return tank AND is the return line below the waterline so as to not add air to the system?
Also surprised Russ didn’t mention added a little bit of Dawn dish detergent to break surface tension and eliminate air bubbles. The technique is used in glycol based solar systems specifically for air bubble removal.
What do these solar system run for heat transfer that bubbles?
Great suggestion. I will try that before the next change of coolant and see how it works out. Normally my issue has been with the dielectric dropping when you add other items to the list of ingrediants.
I have a 5200, the pump sits on the bottom of the machine and connects directly to the bottom of the storage tank.
I get almost 3l/min though it, about 4 without glycol.
No bubble problems until the glycol. I really haven’t worried about it. I know it isn’t freezing.
I guess time will tell…
I would not be surprised if the added viscosity causes much lower pressure on the inlet to the 5200 cooler and there’s a tiny air leaking in.
I think they were solar hot water systems I was reading about which had glycol mixture and a few with air bubble problems. Many mentioned air extraction units and some shady marketing videos which really used some chemicals to extract the bubbles. But I’ve heard of using Dawn dish detergent years ago when I first started with the K40.
This type of clamps:
not this type:
Larger diameters and thick rubber is ok with those screw type clamps but for the small diameters that part where the screw section is tends to leave 2 gaps of pressure at each side of the flat screw section.
Who knows, maybe the cw5200 just dumps the water dropping it into the top of the reservoir and that induces air bubbles into the solution. Since the bubbles are not going away over time something is introducing the air.