Cheap screenwash

[Tim+]

Doesn’t ethylene glycol damage paint?

Tim

[Brian Gaff]

Yes, well, be interesting to know what they put in to stop this. Back in the days of your, you made your own out of water a small amount of alcohol and some fairy liquid all mixed up. However I don't know what you do in really freezing conditions. One guy insisted that urine worked well. The mind boggles.

Brian

[Jeff Layman]

I assume it's the MSDS for G052164M2:

(it's a stupidly long URL!)

That says ethanediol ≥0,1 - <10%, which seems a bit of a large range to me. According to Table 4 at

, you'd need around 17% ethylene glycol for antifreeze down to -7°C. So even if there was the maximum of 10% it wouldn't really be enough. I'm a bit puzzled by the ethanol content too. Even if it's denatured with denatonium benzoate, I'd expect it to be considerably more than an equivalent IPA product. It also doesn't appear to meet the requirements of 18.8 at , as there's no methyl ethyl ketone in it.

Anyway, sounds like you've got plenty available. But if the weather gets really cold, it might be worth considering adding extra glycol to it.

[Jeff Layman]

I don't believe it does. As Andy's MSDS noted, there is up to 10% ethylene glycol in the VAG screenwash. What I'd be more concerned about is the additives for the radiator antifreeze, although even then I doubt they'd damage anything because of their dilution once added to the screenwash.

[Andy Burns]

yes, that's the part number

The one I found, says between 7 and 10%

It's amazing the range of what people sell as "concentrated" e.g. a Holts one has 1-5% each of ethandiol and methanol, and it basically says dilute to taste, even thought it's far weaker than the VAG stuff

[soup]

What I do is use Iso-propyl alcohol in a spray bottle as a deicer (it is safe for the rubber window seals etc) I also spray/squirt a wee bit in/on the nozzles no more frozen jets.

>

[alan_m]

Way back in the distant past (40 years) I seem to remember screen wash smelling of meths.

[soup]

Same thing, or have I been whooshed?

[Jeff Layman]

The "Super concentrated screen wash" is a lot better. At

the MSDS for that states: Ethanol 60 - 100% Ethanediol 10 - 30% Propane-2-ol 1 - 5% Methanol <1%

I think that was one of the reasons I used to make my own. Apart from being cheaper, at least I knew the concentrations of what was in it!

[SH]

-40 °C *is* also -40 °F believe it or not....

[soup]

I know, hence the "Same thing" .

[Theo]

Whoosh!

But in Canada I believe they use primarily Celsius, so Tim+ is double-whooshed :)

[Tim+]

Now I didn’t know that. So yes, my mistake. ;-)

Tim

[Bob Eager]

Mine did, because I put meths in it.

[Joe]

Indeed. De-icer fluid does melt the ice on a windscreen pretty quickly, but you need to wipe it *all* off before driving, or it will re-freeze.

[Paul]

With any luck, you'll see Degrees C on our map here.

Temperature-wise, it's a pretty ordinary day.

Sometimes the map has an inversion, and there can be a belt of cold air, half-way down the map. Conditions are more or less, "as you would expect them" on the map right now.

Paul

[Paul]

One answer I can find, claims the washer fluid is 55% methanol to reach a freezing point of -45C. The container has warnings about flammability, but I've never heard of an incident where washer fluid was mentioned as a contributor to a fire.

Water, methanol, detergent. And the detergent or fairy liquid, is not a major component. The person who picked the amount, did a good job. It has "just enough washing up, for washing up". This is why it has some effect on bugs in summer, but does not make an "excellent" cleaner. It will clean a lot of bugs off, if applied with a cloth and using some elbow grease. But it's not Windex, by any stretch.

[Picture]

Paul

[David]

I topped up with concentrate the other day after the summer strength froze overnight. I was out in the car so everything thawed out, but I realised I needed a stronger concentration. However I made a point in running the front and rear washers for a bit to make sure the new mix went through the pipes. Seemed to work OK.

Cheers

Dave R

[Fredxx]

A useful graph indicating protection using various solvents.

The EU, to my knowledge banned methanol in screenwash, hence why they contain Iso-Propanol.

[Andy Burns]

I realise now that I should have done that too.