REFLECTOR: Water injection

Brian Michalk michalk at awpi.com
Thu Apr 3 21:50:07 CDT 2014


There was a lot of NACA research that the Reno racers put to use.  
Google in that area.

I believe water injection would be very helpful, but mostly as an octane 
booster.  That alone should help CHT's.  And I don't think you'll need a 
five gallon tank.

Assuming you'll only use it for high power settings, like takeoff, then 
you may only need about a one gallon tank.  I seem to recall about 30% 
water to fuel ratio would be effective for octane boost.  I believe that 
up to 50% would still make a lot of power, and also aid in the phase 
change cooling.

There are a lot of ricer kits out on the market that use windshield 
washer pumps.  If one is just experimenting, that's what I would try 
first.  I wouldn't use it on takeoff though until you have the kinks 
worked out.

This is probably something I will try in the future when I'm looking for 
more work to do on the plane.

On 04/03/2014 09:41 PM, Geoff Gerhardt wrote:
> Guys,
>
> I've been considering using water injection to keep cylinder temps 
> down on climb.  Seems like a better idea than running full rich all 
> the way up.  It looks pretty straightforward, but I'm wondering if 
> there's a reason why others don't use it more.  For those who are not 
> familiar with water injection, essentially, you spray water (or a 
> water/methanol mix) into the intake (typically before the fuel servo). 
>  The large heat of vaporization of water pulls a lot of heat out. 
>  Plus, you get a bit of a performance boost both by lowering the inlet 
> charge temperature as well as the steam expansion during the power 
> stroke.  Another nice benefit is that your pistons get a nice steam 
> cleaning with every stroke.
>
>
> I figure a 5gal tank would do more than enough for a few trips if only 
> used on climb.  I have had some high temps when cruising at high 
> altitudes as well, which it might help with.
>
> I'd welcome any
>
>
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