Aquamist

[marT350T]

I am just wodering how you know if water water injection is working( spraying a mist )

I have a system that activates when my turbo is boosting so apart from taking the pipe off and taping into a bottle and driving a few miles how else can you check it ?

[Steve_D]

Where does the system get its water from?
It must have a tank of some sort which you can see gradually going down or am I missing something.

Steve

[marT350T]

The tank I put the water / methanol mix in is covered in a heat reflective tape which makes seeing the level in the tank quite difficult.

My car mainly gets used on the strip so it is only doing short bursts and when I drive it on the road I turn the boost right down so I dont use the water injection.

Maybe the only way is to remove all the insulation and tape from the bottle and watch that.

[Busa_Rush]

Use a dip stick ?

[GreenV8S]

What sort of system do you have? Do you just want to know that it has been switched on, or are you trying to confirm that you actually have water going into the engine? I've got a fairly basic Aquamist system but I'm using their dash display system (DDS3 from memory) which has a flow meter, water level sensor, pressure sensor etc and tells you what the water flow rate is and raises an alarm if the rate is too high (burst pipe) or too low (blocked jet) while the pump is running. The idea is that the alarm output can then be used to switch your ECU into a more conservative mode.

[BB-Q]

I know this may seem like a daft question but are you sure you actually need it? Many who fit water injection have lost power as a result because they weren't suffering from detonation in the first place!

What are the details of your set up? Or have you proved it's requirement on the dyno?

[liner33]

One of the tuners i know refer to this product as "Aquamyth"

[shpub]

I watch the air intake temps go down when it switches on...

[stevieturbo]

shpub said:

I watch the air intake temps go down when it switches on...

But what were they to start with ?

My intake charge temps on the road etc rarely exceed 30degC. So it hardly warrants any extra cooling.
Simply dumping water in under those circumstances wont benefit any IMO.

If you are using it on a high compression engine running very close to detonation, and using the water to prevent that...then intake temps arent so relevant, but obviously any benefit is good.

[marT350T]

I really just want to know if i am getting a mist to the engine. I dont what system it is as it was installed when I bought it.

I am not 100 % sure that I need it I am hoping to find out for definate when I get my car remapped at the end of Feb.

I suppose I will able to tell if its working when it is on the rolling road if there are runs with or without the water injection

[GreenV8S]

Take the hose off the injector and point it at the windscreen. Then you will see how often it is coming on.

The benefits of water injection are well known. A small amount of water injection can improve combustion efficiency and fuel economy. If you have forced induction, WI also gives protection against detonation and lowers the charge temperatures. If you have an NA car you might not get enough benefit to justify the expense, and if you have an adequate intercooler on your forced induction car then you might not *need* water injection, but if somebody is dismissing the benefits as a myth my conclusion is that either they don't know what they're talking about, or they have a vested interest.

[marT350T]

[quote=GreenV8S]Take the hose off the injector and point it at the windscreen. Then you will see how often it is coming on.

Thats a good idea the only thing is my engine is mid mounted .
I think I will just have to sercure it into a plastic bottle and try it that way.

[shpub]

stevieturbo said:

shpub said:

I watch the air intake temps go down when it switches on...

But what were they to start with ?

My intake charge temps on the road etc rarely exceed 30degC. So it hardly warrants any extra cooling.
Simply dumping water in under those circumstances wont benefit any IMO.

If you are using it on a high compression engine running very close to detonation, and using the water to prevent that...then intake temps arent so relevant, but obviously any benefit is good.

Mine is used on my blown V8 mainly when gunning it on a track. Like you in normal conditions the temp is around 30--40 but I have hit 60 ish when sprinting. The WI brings this down to below 30 PDQ. That is where I get the benefit. Normal road driving... doesn't come on. All controlled by a home made controller. If the temps go over 40 and the controller says the WI is active.... summat is not right.

[BB-Q]

GreenV8S said:

Take the hose off the injector and point it at the windscreen. Then you will see how often it is coming on.

The benefits of water injection are well known. A small amount of water injection can improve combustion efficiency and fuel economy. If you have forced induction, WI also gives protection against detonation and lowers the charge temperatures. If you have an NA car you might not get enough benefit to justify the expense, and if you have an adequate intercooler on your forced induction car then you might not *need* water injection, but if somebody is dismissing the benefits as a myth my conclusion is that either they don't know what they're talking about, or they have a vested interest.

Also bear in mind that water is combustible under no circumstances and is often used as a band aid to conceal or get around more serious problems. It has it's place and I would gladly use it if needed, but my original point was that it is needed a lot less often then it is bolted on, and that decent intercooling and correct turbo sizing and engine management will resolve most problems.
Instead of using water try water/methanol mix or even injecting nitrous oxide for the cooling effect and adding extra fuel to get the benefit?

And as for water injection on N/A engines? That's for no other reason than covering up a fault.

[Boosted LS1]

Route a hose into your ear and if it gets wet then you know the systems working

[GreenV8S]

BB-Q said:

Also bear in mind that water is combustible under no circumstances

Any yet, water in the combustion chamber changes the chemical reaction that occurs. It will react chemically with soot or partially burned hydrocarbons and complete the combustion process (hence common use at one time to decoke an engine without dismantling it). The use of excess fuel to suppress detonation is a fairly common tuning technique. However, this excess fuel cuts power significantly because it results in partial combustion. Using water instead of fuel avoids this. If you're adding fuel to suppress detonation then you will probably be better off (in performance terms) adding water instead.

BB-Q said:

And as for water injection on N/A engines? That's for no other reason than covering up a fault.

It's been used on aero engines to improve fuel economy. It's not very practical for every day use in road cars though as it gives you twice as many tanks to forget to fill up.

[spend]

GreenV8S said:

..It's not very practical for every day use in road cars though as it gives you twice as many tanks to forget to fill up...

Cup holders have become standard, do I see a golden opportunity for some re-cycling

Dave

[liner33]

shpub said:

I watch the air intake temps go down when it switches on...

You should watch the intake temps plummet on nitrous and that doesnt sacrifice hp but adds it .

I read a great deal on WI and most of the experts seem to agree its of use only when all other forms of detonation control is eliminated. Other methods like richening the mixture , reducing the boost pressure , ignition retardation, increasing octane levels etc etc are avaialble to most of us

I think many people turn to it prematurely