2+2 Windshield Washer Concentrate may be dangerous!

[Bailey28]

Went to Ollie's today and found Berkebile 2+2 windshield washer concentrate 16 oz for $1.49. I bought 8 bottles as I hate buying those large gallon jugs for more.

I started reading the fine print and this is what is stated on the bottle:
"Liquid and Vapor are highly flammable
Toxic if swallowed, also if in contact with skin or inhaled
Causes serious eye irritation
May damage fertility or the unborn child
Causes damage to organs"

I assumed windshield washer fluid to be benign. Who knew?

https://www.berkebileoil.com/windshield-washer-concentrate.html


By the warnings on the bottle it looks as if I can run my car or small engines/weedwhackers on this stuff!

 

[DukeOfFrontenac]

With warnings like that it must work pretty good.

 

[ctechbob]

Probably loaded with methanol. Sounds a lot more scary than it is if that's the case. Methanol certainly isn't great for you, but its not like you need to handle the stuff with a respirator and nitrile gloves.

There ya go.

 

[Rand]

methanol. Carry on.

Causes blindness and/or death if ingested.

not much of a concentrate if its only -40 undiluted.
I picked up -53f wiper fluid in Canada a few years back.. locally they carry -20f to-35f .

 

[Sequoiasoon]

And it's not harmful just in California but all states.

 

[CleanSump]

Don't drink it or squirt it in your kid's eyes.
And it's not known to cause cancer to my states of So What and Who Really Cares.

 

[Bailey28]

I will do the 32F degree mixture to start with however it appears their ratio chart is wrong. Mixing 8oz. of concentrate to make 1 gallon is 120/8 = 15:1.

Their chart says mix 3oz. of concentrate to 125oz. water for a 15:1 ratio. 125/3 = 41:1 Their math doesn't make sense.

 

[dnewton3]

OP -

I'm not sure why you would be surprised about this warning; the product you bought is a concentrate of alcohol (which is a flammable substance with a low vapor point) and is meant to be diluted with water.

Guess what ... pretty much all windshield washer fluids (whether sold as concentrate or RTU) are in a similar state and have similar SDS warnings/info. Here's several I found randomly by searching "windshield washer fluid SDS":

https://www.goswac.com/assets/images/sds/SDS-WINDSHIELD_WASHER_FLUID-US-en.pdf
https://labelsds.com/images/user_uploads/Optikleen Windshield Wash Fluid SDS 8-2-23.pdf
https://www1.mscdirect.com/MSDS/MSDS00019/04668273-20201224.PDF
https://www.49northlubricants.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/8700-8701-WHMIS-SDS.pdf
https://championbrands.com/MSDS/4089 - Champion Windshield Washer Concentrate SDS.pdf
etc ...

You can find these products anywhere from a low of 10% up to 100% of alcohol. Your assumption that washer fluid is "benign" is, well, a bit ignorant of what the products have been since inception.

 

[Nukeman7]

I will do the 32F degree mixture to start with however it appears their ratio chart is wrong. Mixing 8oz. of concentrate to make 1 gallon is 120/8 = 15:1.

Their chart says mix 3oz. of concentrate to 125oz. water for a 15:1 ratio. 125/3 = 41:1 Their math doesn't make sense.

View attachment 315079

Looks to be a mistake on their part or a typographical/proofreading error. You need to add 8.3 fl. oz. of concentrate to 125 fl. oz. of water to get the 1:15 ratio.

 

[OilStainedNapkin]

I need to make sure I don’t use it for my snow cones

 

[CleanSump]

I need to make sure I don’t use it for my snow cones

Spiced Rum would be more better.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Went to Ollie's today and found Berkebile 2+2 windshield washer concentrate 16 oz for $1.49. I bought 8 bottles as I hate buying those large gallon jugs for more.

I started reading the fine print and this is what is stated on the bottle:
"Liquid and Vapor are highly flammable
Toxic if swallowed, also if in contact with skin or inhaled
Causes serious eye irritation
May damage fertility or the unborn child
Causes damage to organs"

I assumed windshield washer fluid to be benign. Who knew?

https://www.berkebileoil.com/windshield-washer-concentrate.html


By the warnings on the bottle it looks as if I can run my car or small engines/weedwhackers on this stuff!

Methanol? The BMW winter fluid has similar warnings.

 

[CleanSump]

I suppose one can use Everclear/grain alcohol from the wino aisle if they don't want methanol.

 

[Sumboodie]

Methanol is normal. We do -60* blend at work. It's mostly meth.

 

[t1snwrbrdr12]

You haven’t heard the stories of the dumb mechanics using their lighter flame to light up inside the 50 gallon drum of washer fluid to see how low it is? …and boom?

 

[Number_35]

OP -

I'm not sure why you would be surprised about this warning; the product you bought is a concentrate of alcohol (which is a flammable substance with a low vapor point) and is meant to be diluted with water.

Guess what ... pretty much all windshield washer fluids (whether sold as concentrate or RTU) are in a similar state and have similar SDS warnings/info. Here's several I found randomly by searching "windshield washer fluid SDS":

https://www.goswac.com/assets/images/sds/SDS-WINDSHIELD_WASHER_FLUID-US-en.pdf
https://labelsds.com/images/user_uploads/Optikleen Windshield Wash Fluid SDS 8-2-23.pdf
https://www1.mscdirect.com/MSDS/MSDS00019/04668273-20201224.PDF
https://www.49northlubricants.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/8700-8701-WHMIS-SDS.pdf
https://championbrands.com/MSDS/4089 - Champion Windshield Washer Concentrate SDS.pdf
etc ...

You can find these products anywhere from a low of 10% up to 100% of alcohol. Your assumption that washer fluid is "benign" is, well, a bit ignorant of what the products have been since inception.

The OP is in Florida, where I suspect there's no need for the WW fluid to be freeze resistant - and thus, it probably comprises water, soap of some sort, and blue food colouring, but no methanol.

If my assumptions are correct, it would be unpleasant to drink, but fairly harmless.

 

[Number_35]

Way back when, didn't engine coolant for winter use contain either ethanol or methanol?

The alcohol would evaporate or boil off, and had to be replenished regularly.

When the ethylene-glycol antifreeze came out, it was known as "permanent" antifreeze.

 

[oil pan 4]

Went to Ollie's today and found Berkebile 2+2 windshield washer concentrate 16 oz for $1.49. I bought 8 bottles as I hate buying those large gallon jugs for more.

I started reading the fine print and this is what is stated on the bottle:
"Liquid and Vapor are highly flammable
Toxic if swallowed, also if in contact with skin or inhaled
Causes serious eye irritation
May damage fertility or the unborn child
Causes damage to organs"

I assumed windshield washer fluid to be benign. Who knew?

https://www.berkebileoil.com/windshield-washer-concentrate.html


By the warnings on the bottle it looks as if I can run my car or small engines/weedwhackers on this stuff!

Yeah windshield washer fluid has contained methanol since forever.
They've had warnings on them since forever also.
Normally it's up to 20% methanol in the gallon jugs so it definitely poisonous but non flammable.
When you get above 50% alcohol it start to be flammable.
Methanol ingestion will wreck you eyes and kidneys, probably more.

 

[oil pan 4]

Way back when, didn't engine coolant for winter use contain either ethanol or methanol?

The alcohol would evaporate or boil off, and had to be replenished regularly.

When the ethylene-glycol antifreeze came out, it was known as "permanent" antifreeze.

It was either that or drain the water every day or everytime you shut it off depending how cold it is. Air cooled engines made a lot more sense before glycol based antifreeze.

 

[oil pan 4]

The OP is in Florida, where I suspect there's no need for the WW fluid to be freeze resistant - and thus, it probably comprises water, soap of some sort, and blue food colouring, but no methanol.

If my assumptions are correct, it would be unpleasant to drink, but fairly harmless.

Methanol ingestion is far from harmless. Methanol metabolizes into formic acid, formate an formaldehyde.
The formic acid attacks your eyes, the formaldehyde attacks pretty much everything else central nervous system and liver mainly. The formate shuts down cells ability to consume oxygen, causing hypoxia at the cellular level.
The main cause of methanol poisoning is people drinking windshield washer fluid.