Water Mist Kits for Intercoolers.

Shadeyman · Sep 1, 2011

I watched a video yesterday about spraying the intercooler with water to reduce the temperature of the air before it enters the engine.

A gain of a few horse power is supposedly the result. A bit like the extra umph we all feel on a cold morning.

Has anyone actually tried this on a road car?

I have an old water pump from our caravan that produces about 40psi and because I have nothing better to do I thought I might test the theory and try making a simple water misting kit for my intercooler to see if it actually does make a difference. Activated by myself 10 seconds before I plant my foot on the accelerator it should cool the intercooler sufficiantly to make a difference.

So is it worth my time and effort or will I acheive nothing more than a wet intercooler?

citds · Sep 1, 2011

I like this idea, but there was a hose pipe ban so I never got round to it

Seriously though, sounds good to me.

Shadeyman · Sep 1, 2011

citds said:
I like this idea, but there was a hose pipe ban so I never got round to it Seriously though, sounds good to me.

Might give it a try. It can't hurt anything, or can it?

fingers99 · Sep 2, 2011

There's some discussion of these in the A Graham Bell Forced Induction book.

Only way it could do harm would be if the water got into the air intake in sufficient quantities.

Shadeyman · Sep 2, 2011

fingers99 said:
There's some discussion of these in the A Graham Bell Forced Induction book.

Only way it could do harm would be if the water got into the air intake in sufficient quantities.

I've heard a lot of people mention that book, I think its time I brought it.

s130 · Sep 5, 2011

fingers99 said:
Only way it could do harm would be if the water got into the air intake in sufficient quantities.

True

Also on highly tuned turbo/supercharged engines then water injection is required to reduce/minimise detonation.

See https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Water_injection_(engines) for more information.

It is amazing what the correct application of water can achieve...

Adrian Bravo · Sep 5, 2011

There are also water to air intercoolers.

I have seen lots of different setups where they are putting Ice into the systems tank.

Lewey is trying one such kit in his brilliant Uno Turbo seen here;
https://www.fiatforum.com/uno/245531-1368cc-16v-fire-turbo-t-jet-uno-conversion.html

jip0 · Sep 5, 2011

will it really make much of a diffrence with britains lovely weather?

Shadeyman · Sep 5, 2011

jip0 said:
will it really make much of a diffrence with britains lovely weather?

I believe they're quite effective, even here in the UK.

The main problem is activating the water spray a before you actually need it because the intercooler temperature needs to be as low as possible before you hit the gas pedal for best results.

jip0 · Sep 5, 2011

Shadeyman said:
I believe they're quite effective, even here in the UK.

The main problem is activating the water spray a before you actually need it because the intercooler temperature needs to be as low as possible before you hit the gas pedal for best results.

fingers99 · Sep 6, 2011

Adrian Bravo said:
There are also water to air intercoolers.

View attachment 94354

I have seen lots of different setups where they are putting Ice into the systems tank.

They're good (with ice or CO2 -- "dry ice") for drag strips and where they are packaging issues. Stock Scubbies tend to come with them, but just about everyone bins the "interwarmers" and replaces with air to air intercoolers when going for more performance. There seem to be issues with the quality/price/noise of the pumps available.

Shadeyman · Sep 12, 2011

While searching for some spray nozzles I stumbled accross this intercooler water spray kit for £40

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250882151295

And here is it working.

[ame="http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm189/Shadeyman67/?action=view&current=IntercoolerWaterSpray.mp4"]IntercoolerWaterSpray.mp4 video by Shadeyman67 - Photobucket@@AMEPARAM@@http://vid296.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid296.photobucket.com/albums/mm189/Shadeyman67/IntercoolerWaterSpray.mp4@@AMEPARAM@@vid296@@AMEPARAM@@296@@AMEPARAM@@mm189/Shadeyman67/IntercoolerWaterSpray@@AMEPARAM@@mp4[/ame]

jip0 · Sep 12, 2011

any noticeable difference?

Shadeyman · Sep 12, 2011

jip0 said:
any noticeable difference?

Its not fitted to my car(Stilo) its fitted to a Diesel Passat. Diagnostic software reports a 10°C drop in intake air temp when the system is active. What that equates to in BHP gains we dont know(yet), but it does pull better when the system is actived.

jip0 · Sep 12, 2011

thats not a bad result for 40 quid worth it if there are some proven gains

Shadeyman · Sep 12, 2011

jip0 said:
thats not a bad result for 40 quid worth it if there are some proven gains

There's deffinately a gain, we're just not sure how big. He guessed it was between 5% and 10% as he had similar results from a cheap tuning box on the low setting he once had installed.

He's going to do a few timed runs with and without the system as he's sure it will show an improvement.

Here's one of the websites he used when setting up the system

In road cars, intercoolers act far more often as heat sinks rather than as radiators. Instead of thinking of an intercooler as being like the engine coolant radiator at the front of the car, it's far better to think of it as being like a heatsink inside a big sound system power amplifier. If an electric fan cools the amplifier heatsink, you're even closer to the mark.
Most of the time in a turbo road car there's no boost occurring. In fact, even when you're driving hard - say through the hills on a big fang - by the time you take into account braking times, gear-change times, trailing throttle and so on, the 'on-full-boost' time is still likely to be less than fifty percent. In normal highway or urban driving, the 'on-full-boost' time is likely to be something less than 5 per cent!
So the intercooler temperature (note: not the intake air temp, but the temp of the intercooler itself) is fairly close to ambient most of the time. You put your boot into it for a typical quick spurt, and the temperature of the air coming out of the turbo compressor rockets from (say) 40 degrees C to 100 degrees C. However, after it's passed through the intercooler, this air temp has dropped to (say) 55 degrees. Where's all the heat gone? Traditionalists would say that it's been transferred to the atmosphere through the intercooler (and some of it will have done just that) but for the most part, it's been put into the heatsink that's the intercooler. The temperature of the alloy fins and tubes and end tanks will have risen a bit, because the heat's been stored in it. Just like in the amplifier heat sink. Then, over the next minute or so of no boost, that heat will be transferred from the intercooler heatsink to both the outside air - and also to the intake air going into the engine.
http://autospeed.com.au/cms/article.html?&A=0527

Activating the system 10 or so seconds before its needed was key to getting the best from it due to this "heat sink" effect road car intercoolers have. The lower the start temp of the intercooler the better.

Water Mist Kits for Intercoolers.

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