Can hydrometer check pH balance of coolant?
We have a service writer who insists a coolant hydrometer can be used to check the pH balance of coolant. His complaint is that the coolant test strips are expensive and unnecessary, if all of the techs have a hydrometer.
As far as I know, a hydrometer cant be used to determine coolant acidity.
I welcome corrections to either line of thinking.
A hydrometer checks specific gravity to determine freeze protection only .
It sounds like he’s trying to re-invent the wheel. As far as I know a hydrometer checks specific gravity which will give you a coolant/water concentration, although I believe a spectrometer will give a much more accurate level. The only easy way to check acidity or ph level is with the test strips. I will happily be corrected on this if wrong, as I am sure there are others in this group with…
Well, if changes in PH somehow changed specific gravity, then maybe, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't. And even if it did, the hydrometer would only show a combination of the effects of PH on the coolant's specific gravity combined along with the coolant/water ratio's changes to specific gravity, so there would be no way to tell which changed the reading. I'm sure you just posted this to show…
I think the hydrometer is measuring the specific gravity of the fluid, and that's how it calculates the concentration of coolant in the fluid. I don't see how it could possibly measure pH.
Your SA is incorrect, A hydrometer checks state of charge by measuring the specific gravity of the battery fluid. The battery state of charge changes the specific gravity of the battery “acid” The PH doesn't change, at least not enough to determine anything. I really doubt it would change more than a tenth of a point. Isn't it amazing how much techs have to deal with science and chemistry?…
Hydrometer measures gravity (a necessary tool when brewing beer as well!!). Litmus strips, dye drops (only works on clear liquids), and electronic pH meters/pens are the only ways I've ever obtained pH of liquids.
Ask him if it is possible to measure current flow with a pair of pliers. Current clamps are expensive if all of the techs have pliers. Also, regular pH strips work with any aqueous solution. They don't have to be made for coolant. I was in a lab a few times, back in the day.
Your service writer is completely wrong. As others have mentioned, a coolant hydrometer measures specific gravity, not pH. And your techs are better off using a refractometer instead of a hydrometer to measure the coolant protection. Cost is about the same as a glass tube hydrometer, the refractometer is smaller and more accurate, and does not easily break unlike a glass tube hydrometer.
Hi Rudy, Can the same hydrometer be used, yes, but it is not that simple? The biggest thing to realize is Specific Gravity. Plain water has a Specific Gravity of 1.0. Any other liquid added to this water will alter that reading. A hydrometer measures this difference. Test strips are accurate, and they test PH (just don't expose them to the sun for long periods or get old), a cheaper…
Rudy You wrote: “service writer who insists a coolant hydrometer can be used to check the pH balance of coolant. ” It appears that somehow your service writer is aspiring to be in the government or a politician, and therefore, can violate the laws of physics just “because he says so”. He as spoken, therefore the laws of physics no longer apply. As others have written, a coolant hydrometer is…
Does the writer have numbers or a conversion table?
Rudy, It seems to me it that perhaps it is really more of a matter of return on investment. As opposed to a scientific question. If your techs are doing the tests, and someone is analyzing them and selling flush services successfully— based on the results. The test strips will cover their cost. However… Everywhere I have worked and they tried it, somehow it failed to be marketed…
I have never seen a hydrometer or refractometer that will measure PH. I do have an electronic PH tester, but it cost more than a hydrometer, takes about 30 to 45 seconds to get a reading, and requires calibration fluid to zero it. Test strips are much faster and more cost effective.
A hydrometer is fundamentally useless with modern coolants that have different specific gravities. It tells you nothing useful. It is a series of balls that float. They cannot determine pH and are not very good at determining freeze or boiling points for that matter. Doesn't matter though. By the time stock coolant is failing this test it has been doing damage for a long time. You need a…
Rudy, just inform him that he is wrong and it is clear that he needs schooling in coolants and servicing techniques, so that he can better serve your customers by knowing what he's talking about. Next, he will arguing about the cost of using too many different expensive coolants, that are just marketing hype and different colours for no good reason! Send him to Kevin's classes on fluids, on…
Hi Martin, I have replaced to many heater cores and radiators in recent years due to so called “universal coolant antifreeze”. Often times that stuff has chemical conflicts and it will Gel up in radiators and heater cores. A pH test will not show the chemical makeup of coolants. Even test strips will not show this. I recommend for people to only use what the manufacturer recommends, and it…
Agreed Glenn. Working at a GM dealership or any dealership or independent shop, the safest way to ensure that the correct fluids for any system on the vehicle are used, is to identify the correct specified fluid for the application. However, there are additional factors to consider, even when going the OEM specification route. Always reasearch Bulletins and/or Service Manual Updates that…
Appreciate the input gents. I was certain he was incorrect, however sometimes you don't know what you don't know, so I thought Id double check with my peers.
Id just like to add to this. We are a 5 store company and the cost of the strips is $7000 a year After I insisted the strips were the only way to test for PH balance and referenced this thread as further evidence, the powers that be decide to look deeper into the ROI. Turns out were doing over $140k a year on the coolant and brake flushes based off of strip recommendations(the strips in…
Hi Rudy, Once they took the blinders off, they could see more clearly. Maybe they need to look elsewhere for saving money and keep costs under control, like having the techs exchange an empty spray can each time they need a new one or turn in empty tubes or cans of RTV gasket maker. One shop I worked at years ago did that and it stopped a lot of shop materials loss. I've seen more than one tech…
Glenn Although monitoring shop supplies would help (and Fastenal has a great vending machine for that task) I suspect we might find some layers of management that could be culled. All too often I see too many bosses and not enough workers and when it’s time to tighten the belt and trim costs management gets rid of a worker bee. I also most often see management stepping over a hundred dollar…
Absolutely correct Mark. Inept management with a focus on maximising their own bonus/commission related annual incomes by cost cutting, so frequently affects the quality of materials and components made available for service and repairs. Backed by the company “bean counter”, a “one man case of argument for a spec quality fluid or component can "fall on “deaf ears” as an uphill battle. I was…
Martin, I wonder about a business model that does not charge for the pH strips used? Or how they have someone on the front line with not enough knowledge to perform the job properly? What other brilliant mistaken ideas might be in that persons' head? Wow! How did density become confused with hydrogen ion levels in this application? When someone suggests a phenomenon to me that make little or no…
Agreed David. That really made no sense at all to me. Customers should be charged for all sundry items relaevant to their vehicle diagnosis, service and repairs. Just as we have technicians in the field exhibiting a widely varying range of skills, there are “intermediate” staff acting to convey customer concerns to technicians, also with a wide variance in abilities. While we don't want them…