Hello El Cazador, you can get by with plain water, however you can run the risk of long-term corrosion issues depending upon the materials that make up your cooling system. Some folks will use soluble oil, others will use the coolant additives that are manufactured for this purpose. It all depends on how you look at the benefits/detractions of the additional cost that can be involved. Many of the additives that are made specifically for this purpose will also have algae inhibitors, electrolysis inhibitors, and other additives that will prolong the life of your system. You can pretty much make the call for yourself. Best regards, aevald
When a friend set up His TIG machine He used tap water. The machine was in an unheated section of a building, and at some point in the following winter the water froze. This distorted the pump housing enough that the pump turned too hard for the motor to turn it. He kept his mouth shut about the tap water, and the pump was replaced under waranty. He used antifreze after that.
Unsure if there is any internal filter. But if you go the antifreeze rout overtime it tends gum up on you and restrict the flow. Possibly causing damage to your power supply.
Best off to go with the Miller coolant. The automotive stuff can be corrosive to certain metals. I always spent the money & never had an issue with the Miller coolant. I have, however, replaced a lot of Procon pumps that had automotive anti freeze running in them. S.W.
I have tig welded for 11 years and we always used window cleaner from the auto parts store only like a $1 a gallon never seemed to have problems. One gallon of window cleaner and the rest r/o water and never had problems with clogging up.
Sweet! I never heard of that. Makes sense though. It doesn't usually freeze up & stays on the window in hot weather. I'll keep it in mind!! Thanks! S.W.
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