Water Injection - What does it do?

I remember years ago people were putting water injection kits on their
engines. I beleive it was a water tank with a hose running into
either the air intake near the carb or maybe directly into the intake
manifold. A small oriface metered the amount of water that was sucked
in.

What did it do for the engine? Any affect on gas mileage?

Larry

I believe that was covered in the 'Popular Mechanics' article that debunked
all of the 'fuel saving' devices tested. Much of this stuff is still being
advertised even though it had only a possible application in carbureted
engines.

Water injection came as an extra measure of high power and ping reduction in
piston engine military airplanes. The throttle (I'm doing this from
memory... it's been a long time) went from idle to cruise to maximum - then
there was a button interlocked further position marked 'WEP' which stood for
War Emergency Power. You used that one only when you were in peril of having
your ass shot off! What it did was open the throttle all the way, increase
the supercharger/ turbo boost and dump about 50 gallons of water into the
intake over the next 3 minutes. The water mist did a couple of things. It
flashed to steam and added an extra measure of compression. It also absorbed
some heat energy in the process of turning to steam which reduced peak
cylinder temperature and reduced pinging.

Neat idea but absolutely has no place in a modern automobile street engine.
Can cause more problems than it could ever hope to fix. Aside from possible
water lock and corrosion, there is also the aspect of how to winterize the
water reservoir. You could add alcohol to it and then it further tips the
cost - benefit scale in the wrong direction.

Just as a point of interest, google for "war emergency power" or 'engine
"water injection"'

Oppie


"Buzz" > wrote in message ...
>I remember years ago people were putting water injection kits on their
> engines. I beleive it was a water tank with a hose running into
> either the air intake near the carb or maybe directly into the intake
> manifold. A small oriface metered the amount of water that was sucked
> in.
>
> What did it do for the engine? Any affect on gas mileage?
>
> Larry

In article >, says...
> I remember years ago people were putting water injection kits on their
> engines. I beleive it was a water tank with a hose running into
> either the air intake near the carb or maybe directly into the intake
> manifold. A small oriface metered the amount of water that was sucked
> in.
>
> What did it do for the engine? Any affect on gas mileage?
>
> Larry

Dunno much about it. I dont think a stock engine would take much if any
advantage from it. The cons would be greater I think.

Pro's:
Cooler Cumbustion
Carbon Remover

Con's:
Rust
Moisture in Oil
Set up cost

Unknowns:
Fuel Mileage
HP

If it would give better gas mileage I think the automakers would jump
right on it.

> Neat idea but absolutely has no place in a modern automobile street
engine.

Well, that depends. On your car as it came from the factory, I would tend
to agree.

But on a very high compression or forced induction motor - that's a
different story.

First paragraph on this page does a good job describing the use:
http://www.volvospeed.com/Reviews/aquamist.htm

Lane [ lane (at) evilplastic.com ]
---
Visit my Saturn Car Audio and Performance Page at http://www.evilplastic.com



"Oppie" > wrote in message
news:1129516614.a1327206a4292cd6f73335ed26a25887@t eranews...
> I believe that was covered in the 'Popular Mechanics' article that
debunked
> all of the 'fuel saving' devices tested. Much of this stuff is still being
> advertised even though it had only a possible application in carbureted
> engines.
>
> Water injection came as an extra measure of high power and ping reduction
in
> piston engine military airplanes. The throttle (I'm doing this from
> memory... it's been a long time) went from idle to cruise to maximum -
then
> there was a button interlocked further position marked 'WEP' which stood
for
> War Emergency Power. You used that one only when you were in peril of
having
> your ass shot off! What it did was open the throttle all the way, increase
> the supercharger/ turbo boost and dump about 50 gallons of water into the
> intake over the next 3 minutes. The water mist did a couple of things. It
> flashed to steam and added an extra measure of compression. It also
absorbed
> some heat energy in the process of turning to steam which reduced peak
> cylinder temperature and reduced pinging.
>
> Neat idea but absolutely has no place in a modern automobile street
engine.
> Can cause more problems than it could ever hope to fix. Aside from
possible
> water lock and corrosion, there is also the aspect of how to winterize the
> water reservoir. You could add alcohol to it and then it further tips the
> cost - benefit scale in the wrong direction.
>
> Just as a point of interest, google for "war emergency power" or 'engine
> "water injection"'
>
> Oppie
>
>
> "Buzz" > wrote in message
...
> >I remember years ago people were putting water injection kits on their
> > engines. I beleive it was a water tank with a hose running into
> > either the air intake near the carb or maybe directly into the intake
> > manifold. A small oriface metered the amount of water that was sucked
> > in.
> >
> > What did it do for the engine? Any affect on gas mileage?
> >
> > Larry
>
>

It was covered in PM TV show last week as a debunked gadget along with the
tornado, etc. and they expressed concern over potential damage if not hooked
up correctly. It was used in WWII to extend gas mileage in fighter planes. I
first learned about this in the '80s when an old friend garage built such a
device as designed by his father, a WWII pilot/mech. for his , lol, K-car.
He claimed it worked but never proved it.

marx404

In article <1129516614.a1327206a4292cd6f73335ed26a25887@teran ews>,
"Oppie" > wrote:


> Neat idea but absolutely has no place in a modern automobile street engine.

Wasn't there an olds motor in the 50's that had something like this?

You need to get up to speed on water injection. Especially when used on
diesel engines.

--
Steve Barker




"Oppie" > wrote in message
news:1129516614.a1327206a4292cd6f73335ed26a25887@t eranews...
>I believe that was covered in the 'Popular Mechanics' article that debunked
>all of the 'fuel saving' devices tested. Much of this stuff is still being
>advertised even though it had only a possible application in carbureted
>engines.
>
> Water injection came as an extra measure of high power and ping reduction
> in piston engine military airplanes. The throttle (I'm doing this from
> memory... it's been a long time) went from idle to cruise to maximum -
> then there was a button interlocked further position marked 'WEP' which
> stood for War Emergency Power. You used that one only when you were in
> peril of having your ass shot off! What it did was open the throttle all
> the way, increase the supercharger/ turbo boost and dump about 50 gallons
> of water into the intake over the next 3 minutes. The water mist did a
> couple of things. It flashed to steam and added an extra measure of
> compression. It also absorbed some heat energy in the process of turning
> to steam which reduced peak cylinder temperature and reduced pinging.
>
> Neat idea but absolutely has no place in a modern automobile street
> engine. Can cause more problems than it could ever hope to fix. Aside from
> possible water lock and corrosion, there is also the aspect of how to
> winterize the water reservoir. You could add alcohol to it and then it
> further tips the cost - benefit scale in the wrong direction.
>
> Just as a point of interest, google for "war emergency power" or 'engine
> "water injection"'
>
> Oppie
>
>
> "Buzz" > wrote in message
> ...
>>I remember years ago people were putting water injection kits on their
>> engines. I beleive it was a water tank with a hose running into
>> either the air intake near the carb or maybe directly into the intake
>> manifold. A small oriface metered the amount of water that was sucked
>> in.
>>
>> What did it do for the engine? Any affect on gas mileage?
>>
>> Larry
>
>

Would you care to point me to some information please? I may be wrong at
times but never wishy-washy <g>.
Oppie

"Steve Barker LT" > wrote in message
...
> You need to get up to speed on water injection. Especially when used on
> diesel engines.
>
> --
> Steve Barker
>

In many respects, Water injection works like EGR does in modern street
engines. It lowers the peak combustion temperature under high power and
controls ping. Water inj does have the result of aditional expansion (ie
power) but this is not a fuel saver as you have to supply additional energy
to vaporize the water. Bottom line is that it may improve power but not fuel
economy.


"marx404" > wrote in message
...
> It was covered in PM TV show last week as a debunked gadget along with the
> tornado, etc. and they expressed concern over potential damage if not
hooked
> up correctly. It was used in WWII to extend gas mileage in fighter planes.
I
> first learned about this in the '80s when an old friend garage built such
a
> device as designed by his father, a WWII pilot/mech. for his , lol, K-car.
> He claimed it worked but never proved it.
>
> marx404
>
>

In article >,
"Oppie" > wrote:

> In many respects, Water injection works like EGR does in modern street
> engines. It lowers the peak combustion temperature under high power and
> controls ping. Water inj does have the result of aditional expansion (ie
> power) but this is not a fuel saver as you have to supply additional energy
> to vaporize the water. Bottom line is that it may improve power but not fuel
> economy.
>
>
> "marx404" > wrote in message
> ...
> > It was covered in PM TV show last week as a debunked gadget along with the
> > tornado, etc. and they expressed concern over potential damage if not
> hooked
> > up correctly. It was used in WWII to extend gas mileage in fighter planes.
> I
> > first learned about this in the '80s when an old friend garage built such
> a
> > device as designed by his father, a WWII pilot/mech. for his , lol, K-car.
> > He claimed it worked but never proved it.


The WW-II use of water (usually combined with alcohol) injection was
strictly for detonation suppression at high power settings. It cooled
the charge in the cylinders while the alcohol raised the effective
octane rating of the fuel/air mixture. It certainly did NOT improve fuel
economy and was good only for short duration (full military power).

Note that those aircraft used either superchargers or turbo
superchargers to boost the intake manifold pressure to 60 or more inches
of mercury (15 in is sea level ambient).

Detonation susceptibility increases with charge pressure and temperature
and decreases as octane increases.

Forget about it for improving fuel economy!