Do you purchase or make washer fluid?
- Thread starter 1978elcamino
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I posted this question here a few years ago about why don't manufacturers sell a washer fluid concentrate that would cost a fraction of what it costs to ship gallon jugs, and you could add a few capfulls to a gallon of water and get -20°F washer fluid. The reply was that it wasn't possible.
The concentrates will lower the freezing point but not enough to matter for our purpose. For example, if water freezes at 32F and we lower it to 20F. That is still not enough for winter.
That would probably have to do more with either economics or ignorance than chemical possibility
Well, they sell concentrate versions of all kinds of products. Laundry detergent. Powdered drink mixes. Radiator antifreeze. Why so hard to make this in a useful concentrate?
Kestas
Staff member
All concentrates are basically dehydrated mixes. Dehydrated washer fluid would basically be alcohol. You could buy a gallon of alcohol to make three gallons of washer fluid.
The concentrate in this case is pure (or close to it) alcohol. Most washer fluids here use methanol. -20f is roughly 25% methanol, -35f is 45% methanol, and -50f would be 60+% methanol. (All very rough).
Transporting, storing, etc of pure methanol is troublesome as it is flammable. When diluted in washer fluid, it is less so.
There is no way to "concentrate" alcohol further.
303 makes tablets that I use outside winter simply dissolved in tap water, paid $10 for 25pcs tube, that's 25 jugs of washer fluid for $10.
50 % propylene gylcol by mass is good to -29F(-34C), and boiling point is also raised 10deg F.
These solutions can get slushy way before the freezing point though
These solutions can get slushy way before the freezing point though
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Yes, just like dehydrated water!
You could just get a gallon of regular windshield washer fluid and and dilute it 5:1 or 3:1 during the summer with water. You'd still have some methanol, probably good for anywhere from 20-28 degrees. Water cleans better anyway.
I make my own with Optimum No Rinse. It doesn't get cold enough here in So Cal for me to worry about it freezing.
For me at least, making washer fluid vs buying it has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with performance.
While there are some premixed washer fluids that are acceptable, I haven't found any of the common choices that do a great job at washing off bugs and such. The Mercedes fluid is pretty good, and I've read very good reviews of the BMW washer fluid, but haven't tried it. So making washer fluid at home is all about finding a product that performs.
After reading reviews I tried the 303 tablets, but have been very underwhelmed by them. I've even tried mixing them at 2x and 3x the ratio in the instructions, and still haven't had any better results than some of the better pre-mix. I have had pretty good results with nextzett concentrate, which looks a lot like the Sonax concentrate.
All that said, living in a cold winter climate, it is inconvenient to have to switch to and from an antifreeze type solution. Sometimes I question if it is worth the hassle.
I use Einzsett concentrate or 303 tablets, with a gallon of distilled water. While the Einzsett has a water softener(but that calcium precipitate has to go somewhere), demineralized water helps to prevent problems.
To me, with 303 tabs it's just convenience and price per Gal, the tabs work while may not match best bottled fluid in performance. I go thru fluid due to salt and spray from cars in front. I haven't seen fluid cheaper than C$3.50 /Gal lately.
Synthetic blinker fluid !
It’s a matter of convenience for me… I mix it because we go through a lot, especially in pollen season. in the summer when it’s hot, if I use premixed fluid I usually dilute it because it evaps too fast otherwise. in the winter I tend to use premix, however it’s just occurred to me that all of the cars right now have home brew mixes in them, but nobody is complaining of it freezing. They are also trained to (hopefully) not try to use rubber wiper blades to scrape a windshield.