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Author Topic: Recommended Coolant Change Interval in Projectors Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-09-2015 03:37 PM                     What are the recommended coolant change out intervals in D-Cinema Projectors? There doesn't seem to be any straight answers on this from the manufacturers.... Thanks! Mark  |  IP: Logged Nocevski Toni Film Handler Posts: 1 From: Skopje / Macedonia Registered: Mar 2009 posted 02-09-2015 04:22 PM                     For Kinoton DCP is once in the year.  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 02-09-2015 04:24 PM                     Barco annually, Christie 4 yrs (32000 hours) Barco also wants new coolant pumps every 4 years.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-10-2015 06:00 AM                     NEC only wants the distilled water topped off as needed with not scheduled change out. Personally, I think the real answer is somewhere between what Barco and what Christie wants. Barco is probably seeking a form of revenue from the coolant but also preemptively ensuring that the coolant is at the proper levels and if there is any debris in the system that you are flushing it out rather than letting it build up. You are also more apt to find an aging cooling system (hoses cracking or connectors/fittings) if you are opening it up and changing the coolant.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 02-10-2015 02:35 PM                     how do you flush a Christie?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-10-2015 04:07 PM                     Well, NEC doesn't use distilled water actually. Its some sort of orange colored coolant. There is a part number for it. They may just want it topped off with distilled water though and thats fine. I have yet to have any of them change. But in installing a new light engine is makes sense to me to dump the coolant, flush the system and add new. I have only done Barco's in the past and I can buy that coolant in bulk, so no big deal. Thanks for all the input... Mark  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 02-10-2015 05:21 PM                     I asked NEC, and they said the coolant was "lifetime" and not needing any changing. I suppose they can get you some if it leaks out...? I have changed the prism assembly on a 2000C and didn't lose more than a few drops of coolant.  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 02-10-2015 06:13 PM                     quote: Mark Gulbrandsen Well, NEC doesn't use distilled water actually. Its some sort of orange colored coolant. Practically all common water based coolants are either green or orange. It's always basically just distilled water, glycol as anti-freeze and some corrosion inhibitor. The orange coolant is supposed to last longer than the green stuff and you're not supposed to mix them.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 02-10-2015 06:29 PM                     Orange coolant is like what GM uses in their vehicle's cooling system, which is under the trade name of "Dexcool", yet prob not the same stuff designated for our digital units. Ethylene Glycol is what is in the green coolant. Propylene Glycol is what is in the orange coolant and doesn't corrode aluminum as the alcohol based coolant would. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 02-10-2015 06:57 PM                        Yes I have changed out three NEC light engines now and we lost about one drop from each of the two feed lines. I don't know what could get in the lines but corrosion.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-11-2015 06:32 AM                     I'm sure NEC's theory on the topping off is that if any liquid is down over time...what would have evaporated off is the water, not the glycol. If you constantly replenish with a 50/50 mix, you are in effect increasing the glycol to water ratio and thereby thickening the solution...which could cause flow problems. Another reason is if you put your own "anti-freeze" in you may not match the chemical composition...safer to just say to top off with distilled water. As for the others...Christie and Barco both use a "Blue" version of antifreeze. I would caution that not all glycol/water solutions are identical. One thing a projector manufacturer has to do is ensure that whatever mixture goes in has to not breakdown the components it comes in contact with. In fact, Barco got a bad batch a few years back that WOULD degrade the rubber. Remember, you are having that solution running through a light engine worth upwards of nearly $30,000 if 4K...do you really want to cheap out on the antifreeze to save a could of bucks on a coolant change? The best stuff I've ever worked with (not on DLPs) was what Kinoton used...Tyfocoor. It too was a glycol based antifreeze but this stuff stayed very clear over time. It definitely kept things from growing in the lines. Christie doesn't try to hide where they source their stuff. It is Jeffcool.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-11-2015 10:04 AM                     The barco coolant was a 50/50 mixture of glycol and water but it did not have a corrosion inhibitor in several of their batchs and it caused a lot of grief with clogged pumps Apparently the EU doesn't permit phosphates to be used in antifreeze due to a reaction with the high lime content in most water and there is a organic inhibitor that wasn't included in the barco stuff We added DiPotasium Phosphate at 5%  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 02-11-2015 10:12 AM                     Current Barco blue coolant is 1/3 ethylene glycol ("ethanediol" to them) - I don't know when they switched the concentration. This could affect some drive-in systems: 33% freezes at about -15C, 50% at -37C. I never saw any announcement of the change. The part number is the same I believe although I only have the old bottles with 50% solution, not the shipping carton with the PN.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-11-2015 01:09 PM                     I think California also outlawed phosphates quite some time ago.  |  IP: Logged Jason Raftery Film Handler Posts: 72 From: San Diego, CA, USA Registered: May 2011 posted 02-11-2015 07:11 PM                     quote: Dave Macaulay Current Barco blue coolant is 1/3 ethylene glycol ("ethanediol" to them) - I don't know when they switched the concentration. This could affect some drive-in systems: 33% freezes at about -15C, 50% at -37C. I never saw any announcement of the change. The part number is the same I believe although I only have the old bottles with 50% solution, not the shipping carton with the PN. Was this a very recent change? I've got quite a number of bottles with a packing date of 2015-01-07 and the MSDS that came with them lists an ethylene glycol content of 45-55% and dipotassium phosphate concentration of 0.5-1.5%.  |  IP: Logged

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