Methanol-free washer fluid?

[akela]

As we know, the methanol-based washer fluid is very poisonous. Drink one glass of this stuff, and you can be dead.

We are not supposed to drink the washer fluid, but still it may easily come into contact with skin, and we definitely likely to inhale the vapors coming through the ventilation/heater system.

What's the alternative, for the winter time? Anywhere I can buy "eco-friendly" yet non-freezing fluid?
Or perhaps DIY it, mixing water with alcohol - anybody has experience with that?

 

[Quest]

rrriiiigght! as if a bit of alcohol inside windshield washer fluid will kill you and your community.


Fact is(a) nobody would be silly enuf to drink windshield washer fluid (methanol is widely known to cause blindness when taken in sufficient quantities; and (b) the absorption rate of methanol diluted in water through your skin would be so slow, you may might as well go nakked in a bath tub fill in windshield washer fluid for hours before you can start to feel a thing or 2.

If you want to find something high/toxic, look elsewhere.

Q.

 

[nthach]

303 washer tablets and isopropyl alcohol for the antifreeze part of it.

 

[mclasser]

Originally Posted By: akela
As we know, the methanol-based washer fluid is very poisonous. Drink one glass of this stuff, and you can be dead.

We are not supposed to drink the washer fluid, but still it may easily come into contact with skin, and we definitely likely to inhale the vapors coming through the ventilation/heater system.


Don't ever drink the stuff, wear gloves when refilling it and put the HVAC on recirc. Boom! Problem solved.

 

[Tegger]

Originally Posted By: akela
As we know, the methanol-based washer fluid is very poisonous. Drink one glass of this stuff, and you can be dead.

And if you consume a whole bottle of Warfarin pills you will also be dead.

But nobody does either thing.

Like the old saying goes: The dose makes the poison.

Originally Posted By: akela
We are not supposed to drink the washer fluid, but still it may easily come into contact with skin, and we definitely likely to inhale the vapors coming through the ventilation/heater system.

There's a giant difference between half-a-2mg Warfarin pill and a whole bottle. Likewise, there's a giant difference between occasional, low-concentration exposure to methanol and drinking a glass of the stuff.

Health Canada and the FDA both say there is no harm to human health from normal-use exposure to the methanol in windshield washer fluid, primarily because the exposure-level is extremely low and extremely occasional.

Instead of worrying about a non-existent threat, you should spend more time on stuff that actually makes a difference to your health, like your personal habits. Things like your diet, how much exercise you get, drinking and smoking, excessive self-medication with supplements and vitamins, stuff like that.

 

[Tegger]

Originally Posted By: nthach
303 washer tablets and isopropyl alcohol for the antifreeze part of it.

You Californiacs need to stay out of discussions like this. We north-easterners can go through many, many gallons of the stuff every winter. You have NO idea.

If you drive a lot on busy roads, as I do, it is possible to go through more than a gallon a DAY.

It's way easier for us to just buy a few jugs at Walmart for a couple of bucks each than to try and home-brew anything.

 

[Bluestream]

I wear a hazmat suit when filing my washer reservoir, But you could fill it with Crown Royal, and that would be safe...

 

[Padawan]

You can give this a try:

http://www.1z-usa.com/products/anti-frost-windshield-washer-fluid-concentrate-33-8-oz-1-liter.html

 

[akela]

Thanks everybody for your honest opinions, but I still would like to use non-methanol fluid. Right now I have 0.5l ethanol added to the washer tank; seems to work (in our mild climate), although I'm wondering are there any other options available.

Originally Posted By: Padawan
You can give this a try:
http://www.1z-usa.com/products/anti-frost-windshield-washer-fluid-concentrate-33-8-oz-1-liter.html

thanks! A bit expensive though.

 

[Robenstein]

You are likely getting more toxins in your body from the general pollution in the atmosphere put out by living in an industrialized world. As mentioned, it is not the chemical that matters, it is the dosage that determines whether it is a health hazard. Even H20 is toxic at a certain dosage.

 

[Chris142]

Come to California.we cant buy the good wondow cleaner

 

[Tegger]

Originally Posted By: akela
Originally Posted By: Padawan
You can give this a try:
http://www.1z-usa.com/products/anti-frost-windshield-washer-fluid-concentrate-33-8-oz-1-liter.html

thanks! A bit expensive though.

Well, yeah. That's why methanol is used in the first place, because it's cheap.

You can't have it all. You can get what you want, or you can get cheap. You can't get both at once.

Or... you can pull the M*A*S*H thing and build your own still. THAT would give you cheap booze!

 

[mlatour]

There is currently a murder trial here in Quebec where a doctor drank methanol based windshield washer fluid
in the intent of comminting suicide after allegedly killing both his young children:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/p...trial-1.3281941

He got confused, passed out but obviously he did not die after injesting the washer fluid...
I also remember hearing an expert explain that methanol was not as lethal as ethanol.

To the OP, I think the exhaust fumes from the gasoline/ethanol burning vehicles ahead of you
should be more of a health concern to you than occasional splashes of washer fluid.

 

[simple_gifts]

The Italians put methanol into a their wines in the 1980s resulting in over 20 deaths.

http://articles.latimes.com/1987-02-01/news/mn-321_1_italian-wine-production

 

[NateDN10]

A 50% ethanol solution won't freeze until -25F. If you need colder, 70% will get you down to -55F. And I sure hope you don't need any lower than that.

To be fair though, while ethanol is "less poisonous" than methanol, and we obviously drink it regularly in very small quantities, drinking enough ethanol will still kill you.

 

[volk06]

This is really something that should not be this big of a deal. Antifreeze is more lethal than the methanol concentration in any windshield washer fluid.

 

[akela]

Originally Posted By: NateDN10
A 50% ethanol solution won't freeze until -25F. If you need colder, 70% will get you down to -55F. And I sure hope you don't need any lower than that.

To be fair though, while ethanol is "less poisonous" than methanol, and we obviously drink it regularly in very small quantities, drinking enough ethanol will still kill you.

For the temperatures where I live (never seen it below -10C), I suppose 20% ehtanol should be fine.

 

[akela]

Originally Posted By: volk06
This is really something that should not be this big of a deal. Antifreeze is more lethal than the methanol concentration in any windshield washer fluid.

I thought the difference is obvious: antifreeze (or, say, brake fluid) is circulating in the closed system. No vapours, no contact with skin.

And, I am not trying to convince anybody. I just want my washer fluid to be non-poisonous (well, almost, relative to methanol). Matter of personal preference.

 

[Gasbuggy]

The Rain X brand smells much less potent to me.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: akela
And, I am not trying to convince anybody. I just want my washer fluid to be non-poisonous (well, almost, relative to methanol). Matter of personal preference.


Where are you getting undenatured ethyl alcohol? You do realize that unless you pay the tax or have a research permit, all EtOH is denatured, usually with methanol.