Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: djb
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
Its methyl alcohol in washer fluid,not isopropyl.The better stuff even has ethylene glycol in it.They dont sell Rain X washer/Deicer fluid in California?
No, they don't. RainX brand fluid is available, but it is not the same as elsewhere. It's worse than a summer formula, which typically has a little alcohol for cleaning and slight freeze protection. (Water-alcohol slush might not pump, but it's less likely to crack parts.)
I spent weeks looking for the good stuff before I found out why it wasn't available.
Just last weekend I bought some RainX branded "Booster" at a WM in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was in a quart bottle and came with a long list of different requirements (with VOC levels) for maximum concentration. I can't find anything on the RainX website about this, and it may be something made under license by some other company. It had instructions for Texas, Maricopa County, AZ, etc. It said 2 oz to a gallon for most of California, but something like one bottle to 40 oz of water for "Type A" counties (mostly rural, although several of these have their population centers in metro areas). I always wondered how they treat cars that go across county lines, although I suspect it's hard to enforce. I did have an interesting experience adding it to the coolant overflow tank.
Quote:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/consprod/regact/awwf/awwf.htm
What kinds of AWWF are affected by the Regulation?
- Pre-mixed AWWF that is typically sold in gallon-size containers, labeled "summer formula" or "protects to +32 degrees." The regulation for this type is 1% VOC content, and it can be sold anywhere in California.
- Pre-mixed AWWF that is typically sold in gallon-size containers labeled "winter formula", "protects to zero degrees," or something similar. The regulation for this type is 25% VOC content, and it is only allowed to be sold in Type "A" areas of California.
- Dilutable, or Concentrated AWWF, typically sold in 1-quart size containers. The regulation for this type is that it must clearly state on the front label that it is a concentrate, or dilutable, and on the back it must have clear instructions of how to dilute it to Type "A" area specifications and to non-Type "A" area specifications. It is available anywhere in California, and is most often found at automotive supply stores and service stations.
- Service stations filling customers’ windshield washer fluid reservoirs must abide by the VOC limits for their location.In a Type "A" area, a service station may not fill an AWWF reservoir with AWWF above the 25% VOC limit, and service stations located in other areas of the state are required to fill AWWF reservoirs with up to only 1% VOC AWWF.
My reading of their rules is that it is legal to add this in higher concentrations if there will be freezing temps like we've seen recently. I also bought a bottle of spray deicer and an ice scraper.
It used to be possible to buy regular deicer here cheap (maybe $1 a gallon). That came with a recommendation that it should be added with the same amount of water. I used it that way and it worked pretty well. I've bought this stuff pretty cheap on vacation in Nevada. Besides that, I've bought methanol-laced concentrate, and the color has been blue, green, orange, or even red.
That is one of the most ridiculous things ever. Volatile compound? Do they regulate vodka and beer like that too?