expansion tank help
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Aug 2018
Posts: 15
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expansion tank help I'm installing an expansion tank, from what I read you feed it into the lower hose with a tee. I have a Entrophy radiator, it has an npt fitting welded into the tank about 2 inchs above the lower hose for the anode.
Question 1. If I take the anode out would this be suitable to plumb the expansion tank here. And can I use the overflow nipple from the cap for the tank input?
Question 2. As long as I have a proper antifreeze mix do I need to put the anode back in somewhere else or could I leave it out?
Looking for confirmation or rejection of hookup method, pictures of your hook up, better ideas. Thanks, getting close to getting this on the road!
Question 1. If I take the anode out would this be suitable to plumb the expansion tank here. And can I use the overflow nipple from the cap for the tank input?
Question 2. As long as I have a proper antifreeze mix do I need to put the anode back in somewhere else or could I leave it out?
Looking for confirmation or rejection of hookup method, pictures of your hook up, better ideas. Thanks, getting close to getting this on the road!
I would just leave the radiator as is and run an overflow tank from the nipple by the cap, that's what that radiator is setup for. Make it a much easier cleaner install and take up a lot less room.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Aug 2018
Posts: 15
Likes: 0
No problem.
If you have a radiator cap and an expansion tank, they will both have 15-16 psi caps on them and both try to vent pressure. If you choose to run an expansion tank you'll need a cap on the radiator that fully seals and a pressure venting cap on the expansion tank. That's another reason I said run the over flow. Essentially your radiator is setup to be used like older style systems before expansion tanks. And those still work fine.
If you have a radiator cap and an expansion tank, they will both have 15-16 psi caps on them and both try to vent pressure. If you choose to run an expansion tank you'll need a cap on the radiator that fully seals and a pressure venting cap on the expansion tank. That's another reason I said run the over flow. Essentially your radiator is setup to be used like older style systems before expansion tanks. And those still work fine.
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 22,289
Likes: 3,615
From: Central Cal.
That would be correct. Just like the old aftermarket coolant recovery systems from 30-40 years ago, where you took the overflow hose that DID just dangle and spew on the ground, and hook it to the bottom of a plastic jar so what got blown in, got sucked back out upon cooling. Sometimes a special cap was included that allowed the sucking back in thru the tube instead of the cap perimeter.
That would be correct. Just like the old aftermarket coolant recovery systems from 30-40 years ago, where you took the overflow hose that DID just dangle and spew on the ground, and hook it to the bottom of a plastic jar so what got blown in, got sucked back out upon cooling. Sometimes a special cap was included that allowed the sucking back in thru the tube instead of the cap perimeter.
Exactly.
In the old days there was a pressure vent right under the radiator cap and when the cooling system got to the pressure that the cap is rated for the cap would allow some coolant to bleed out and maintain that pressure. And on those they had a tube that vented to the ground
Then they put that tube in a jar to have fluid go in and out of the radiator to allow for expansion and contraction. So it is the same as above and yours is set up this way, the system still bleeds pressure off by purging antifreeze out but you put the hose in the bottom of the jar and so when the system cools back down and goes into a vacuum it sucks the fluid back up out of the jar and refills itself back to full and the process repeats every time you run the car then turn it off.
Then they made expansion tanks that keep everything together in one unit and actually expand the amount of water in the system. These however do still have a certain pressure cap and a release and if they hit too much pressure will bleed off onto the ground.
Both systems work good.
I looked for videos to explain it and found a hot rod video on it and the dude is wrong on many points of how they function.
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This one is good. Try not to get confuse by the video he is showing an expansion and recovery tank all together on one system. Just read the below and then watch the vid.
What he calls a recovery tank is what we been calling an overflow.
I guess we should be saying recovery tank thats where the hose goes in the bottom of the tank from the nipple on the radiator under the cap
An overflow would just be a hose dangling in a jar to catch the over flow
And an expansion taps into the lower hose and has the radiator cap on the expansion tank and not on the radiator. This style also does not have a purge hose nipple on it like your radiator and doesn't actually have a place on the radiator to put a cap, because the cap is supposed to go on the expansion tank, if you use an expansion tank.
If you have any cars from the 90's or older around you go pop the hood you'll see how the recovery tank is setup
Cars in the 2000's and newer will have a recovery or an expansion, you can tell the difference by checking to see where the radiator cap is. If it's on the radiator that's a recovery or overflow setup, if the cap is on a tank off to the side then that's an expansion setup.
What he calls a recovery tank is what we been calling an overflow.
I guess we should be saying recovery tank thats where the hose goes in the bottom of the tank from the nipple on the radiator under the cap
An overflow would just be a hose dangling in a jar to catch the over flow
And an expansion taps into the lower hose and has the radiator cap on the expansion tank and not on the radiator. This style also does not have a purge hose nipple on it like your radiator and doesn't actually have a place on the radiator to put a cap, because the cap is supposed to go on the expansion tank, if you use an expansion tank.
If you have any cars from the 90's or older around you go pop the hood you'll see how the recovery tank is setup
Cars in the 2000's and newer will have a recovery or an expansion, you can tell the difference by checking to see where the radiator cap is. If it's on the radiator that's a recovery or overflow setup, if the cap is on a tank off to the side then that's an expansion setup.
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