What’s the best way to run a CO2 Laser in an unheated garage which occasionally goes below 0°C? Heating the garage is currently not an option for me.
I’ve heard of people just running the pump (sometimes in combination with a fish tank heater) 24/7 to prevent it from freezing, but I’m not sure that I’d trust the pump or the heater to run all the time with no issues. I am switching to RV/Marine antifreeze in the meantime, which seems to be the recommended stuff for CO2 Lasers.
Anyways, when I actually want to fire up the laser in lower temps, to what temperature do I need to heat up the water first? Any stuff that needs to be considered as well that I could have missed?
Thunder Laser USA recommends 100% RV antifreeze for their CO2 lasers and I started using that this year. I also have a 1kW electric space heater in the attached garage and set that for at least 45 °F. The space heater protected me for a few winters (Chicago area) until the heater shut down once during a sub-zero cold snap. Lost the glass tube on that one.
Most places don’t recommend normal engine antifreeze because it has additives for automotive engine. These additives cause the dielectric of the coolant to conduct the hv to the coolant.
I can’t see why an RV coolant would be different than an automotive coolant, but can’t know everything.
I use a laser coolant from OMTech (I got mine from Amazon) that ensures you maintain a high dielectric value in the coolant.
You can also read this article on coolants … maybe not… it was posted on Lasergods.com, but they went under and it was moved… I don’t seem to have the post bookmarked… Sorry
That is unfortunate. I think I’ll be running it in a 1:1 ratio with distilled water, since I doubt I will ever go below -40°C (or °F for that matter, just found out it’s the same). Thanks for the info!
I think that site is gone, I keep stumbling upon the exact same question I have but the link never works, someone should archive those posts if they still exist
RV coolant seems to be the solution and the recommended stuff from what I have read so far, because it’s not that conductive and doesn’t eat away the silicone hoses/doesn’t corrode different metals. I think it’s the same stuff that OMTech uses, but the RV stuff is mostly pink whereas this one seems blue
I don’t know why (though others in this thread may) but TL-USA recommends straight RV antifreeze so I would research the effects of dilution before adding any water. My CW-5000 chiller took less than 1 gal of RV antifeeze, for what that’s worth.
It actually was an ingredient in DR. Pepper a long time ago. Propylene Glycol is in a lot of consumables.
Snip: Propylene glycol is generally considered to be a safe chemical, and is not routinely tested for, unless specific exposure, such as to a medicine or cosmetic, can be linked with the observed bad symptoms. Since propylene glycol breaks down very quickly in the body, it is very difficult to detect.
I went to the local feed store a few years ago picked up a bottle of Propylene Glycol and ran for about a year. The same thing they give milk cows for certain issues, it is safe for humans.
I got it undiluted and ended up diluting it by 50%, it still slowed the coolant flow as it was relatively thick…
Any indication of what percentage of it they are using?
