It’s vital that your commercial vehicles receive the proper and continued maintenance to keep them on the road and performing efficiently. Time spent in the garage or sourcing new vehicles can slow down projects and affect the bottom line.

Keeping your vehicles’ coolant systems in top condition can extend their road life. The coolant system regulates the heat in your engines, distributing excess heat to the radiator or cooler as well as preventing freezing and corrosion.

The coolant or antifreeze that you use in your coolant system is critical. With a wide variety of antifreeze available, you need to make sure that you’re using the right type for the right vehicle and properly maintaining that coolant throughout its lifecycle.

Types of Coolant

Before diving into specific coolants, there are three overall types to note: inorganic additive technology (IAT), organic acid technology (OAT), and hybrid organic acid technology (HOAT).

Older vehicles use IAT, but for the purpose of modern-day coolant systems, they use primarily OAT antifreeze, which offers longer lifetimes.

Coolant types are usually color-coded to help people quickly identify the general antifreeze type they need for their engine.

• IAT = Green
• OAT = Orange, yellow, red, or purple
• HOAT = Orange or yellow

As you’ll note, there is an overlap in colors for OAT and HOAT, and these colors are not a hard rule, so it’s important that you double-check that you have the proper antifreeze for your vehicles and do not mix antifreeze types in your engine. Doing so can create damaging impurities.

BENEFITS OF EXTENDED LIFE ANTIFREEZE

Within OAT antifreeze, there is an extended life antifreeze variety with even more added benefits including longer drain intervals, improved engine life, and ultimately, keeping more vehicles on the road for longer periods of time.

Even with extended life antifreeze, it’s important that you have regularly scheduled maintenance to keep your vehicles running smoothly and efficiently. With large fleets, mismanaged maintenance can quickly compound into expensive repairs and the need for new vehicles.

EXAMPLES OF COOLANTS AND OAT ANTIFREEZE

At Berryman Chemical, we have over 40 years of experience creating chemicals for the transportation and construction industries. Below are a few types of antifreeze and coolants that cover several typical fleet needs and their specific features.

Heavy-Duty Conventional Antifreeze

This ethylene glycol antifreeze is a year-round, heavy-duty green antifreeze for diesel engines and comes in concentrate or a 50/50 premix. Great for preventing cavitation corrosion/erosion, its all-season formula is effective up to three years or 300,000 miles when properly monitored. This coolant is a solid, basic option for off-road and heavy-duty on-road trucks.

Light-Duty Ethylene Glycol OAT Antifreeze

This light-duty, extended-life OAT antifreeze is ideal for both foreign and domestic passenger cars and trucks for up to five years or 150,000 miles. It contains no borate, nitrate, nitrite, phosphates, or silicates, and its yellow, year-round formula includes inhibitors that protect all cooling system metals. With a pure organic acid technology (OAT) inhibitor system, this is a longer-lasting antifreeze than conventional options.

Heavy-Duty Ethylene Glycol OAT Antifreeze with Nitrite and Molybdate

A heavy-duty, extended-life antifreeze with nitrite and molybdate for extra protection, this red-color coolant is designed for diesel off-road and heavy duty on-road trucks. Its additives protect all metal cooling system pieces, and it is graded for up to 600,000 miles when monitored correctly. HDELC-NMOAT does not have phosphate, borate, or silicate, and so it typically does not require supplemental additives or chemical filters.

Heavy-Duty Extended Life Nitrite-Free Antifreeze

Another heavy-duty, extended-life ethylene glycol antifreeze, this yellow-color version is a nitrite-free OAT antifreeze with proprietary inhibitor technology to provide high-temperature protection for off-road and heavy-duty trucks with aluminum alloy components. The nitrite-free formula also provides excellent protection against wet sleeve liner pitting. This yellow-colored OAT antifreeze works up to 600,000 miles on highway.

CONTACT BERRYMAN CHEMICAL FOR YOUR OAT ANTIFREEZE NEEDS

At Berryman, we are fully equipped to provide custom-created chemical blends for your fleet’s coolant needs. With storage facilities around the world, we offer regular delivery options that we continually monitor for ideal optimization with a support team available anytime. Contact us today to discuss your OAT antifreeze needs or call 713-597-8076.