Filling tires and cold weather.....Good idea or not?

[Wyobuckaroo]

When I filled the turf tires on my compact tractor I used 5 gallon anti freeze and 17 gallon wind shield washer fluid. Total of 22 gallon per tire.
This gives about a 30 -- 70% solution plus the anti freeze ability of the ww fluid.
I tested this mixture to -30 degrees and it stayed total liquid.
I'm told some solutions will turn slush and some people think that is not harmful.
I chose to spend the extra $ for a little more anti freeze and not find out the hard way.
I refused to use salt solution and other products were way more expensive in my area than this alternative.

This may not be a lot of weight compared to many tractor tire sizes, but makes a big difference in the performance of my tractor.

Good luck

 

[Willl]

I tested this mixture to -30 degrees and it stayed total liquid.

How did you test it ? my freezer only goes to -15 ?

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

How did you test it ? my freezer only goes to -15 ?

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I just did the math.
If a certain solution would slush at -15, I did the math to make a solution that would be good to -30 degrees.
Have a friend with a commercial freezer. Gave the final solution a test there.

Good luck

 

[Whisper35]

Thanks MHarry,
I am new to the tractor world and I appreciate all the information. I did discuss this with the local tire supplier and they recommended exactly what you suggested. They filled my tires with CaCl and nitrogen. Seems to be working well so far.

 

[MHarryE]

Thanks MHarry,
I am new to the tractor world and I appreciate all the information. I did discuss this with the local tire supplier and they recommended exactly what you suggested. They filled my tires with CaCl and nitrogen. Seems to be working well so far.

A tractor dealer actually filling with nitrogen! Very good. At Cat we demand nitrogen fill because oxygen in even the air percentage is a huge quantity in a large off highway tire. Once saw an articulated dump truck in a dealer's shop where they were going through everything after a mishap. Truck tires had been air filled. Driver hit a power line that was sagging because a piece of equipment hit a pole. It blew out all 6 tires instantly. They told me that as the time I visited, then driver was still deaf. It also blew my theory that due to rubber tires there is no path to ground.

 

[Soundguy]

get the voltage high enough and rubber is a path.. so is a spark gap.. that's why lightning can strike..

 

[The Haymaker]

get the voltage high enough and rubber is a path.. so is a spark gap.. that's why lightning can strike..

With enough potential behind it, electricity will flow many places. When you figure in the steel belting of the tire, along with conductive impurities in the rubber, there isn't much insulation there. The only safety in vehicles with electrical contact is that the occupants are at the same potential as the charged car. same reason birds can hang out on the wires.

Boom Truck Crane Cooks After Power Line Connection - YouTube

 

[Soundguy]

and the faraday cage effect. IE.. inside a shell that has a conductive exterior.. and a path to ground CAN be created without specifically going thru the passanger..

 

[Mace Canute]

A tractor dealer actually filling with nitrogen! Very good. At Cat we demand nitrogen fill because oxygen in even the air percentage is a huge quantity in a large off highway tire. Once saw an articulated dump truck in a dealer's shop where they were going through everything after a mishap. Truck tires had been air filled. Driver hit a power line that was sagging because a piece of equipment hit a pole. It blew out all 6 tires instantly. They told me that as the time I visited, then driver was still deaf. It also blew my theory that due to rubber tires there is no path to ground.

Your post gives the impression that the tires blew because they were air filled and that they wouldn't have blown if they had been nitrogen filled. I think it's more accurate to claim the heat from the electric arc as it passed between the rim and ground would have damaged the tire so badly that it wouldn't have been able to contain the pressure regardless of what was used to inflate it.