The winter antifreeze in the car is frozen: advice from drivers

To clean windows in winter, car enthusiasts use anti-freeze. It easily and quickly cleans glass from dirt and small insects. There are situations when the antifreeze still freezes.

Why does the non-freeze freeze? The washer fluid has a freezing point in concentrated form; when diluted with water, it changes. If you decide to dilute the antifreeze, then be sure to take into account the weather outside the window and the forecast for the near future. Some labels contain a table of proportions of water and concentrate linked to the freezing point of the solution you make.

If the antifreeze in the pipes is frozen

What to do? The hoses need to be warmed up. Below we have provided recommendations from experienced drivers:

Place the car in a heated garage or parking lot for several hours. After complete heating, it is necessary to drain unnecessary water using a pump. To speed things up, disconnect the tube from the tee that distributes the antifreeze between the nozzles. We lower the end of the hose into a bucket where the product will be drained. Next, install the tubes in place and fill in the antifreeze solution. Finally, the driver presses the washer lever under the steering wheel several times to remove the remaining water from the nozzle cavities. For example, you can combine business with pleasure: you give your car a full wash and wax, while you go to the cinema or go shopping. This procedure will take at least an hour. Before leaving, immediately pour warm anti-freeze (with a margin for freezing temperature) and immediately pour it well so that the unnecessary fraction comes out.
Take 95-96% alcohol (medical antiseptic solution for external use) from the pharmacy and pour it into the tank. Some experienced drivers recommend using a syringe to hit the target more accurately. Attention: when using this method, you can attract the attention of people who are not indifferent to alcohol.
Take them off and take them home. In some cars (for example, Japanese ones) they are located extremely inconveniently for quick access by the driver. But in the Swedish Saab, the pipes are located immediately under the hood.

Can the ocean freeze?

As mentioned above, subject to modern climatic conditions, even the shallowest pond is not able to completely freeze. However, let's try to imagine that as a result of some natural disaster on Earth, all the oceans froze to the bottom. Could this really happen?

Brynicle or the underwater “icicle of death” is capable of instantly destroying all life in its vicinity

It is known that the freezing point of salt water depends on its salinity level. So, with an average amount of sea salt in the water, the usual temperature at which the ocean begins to become covered with a thin crust of ice becomes approximately -2...-4 degrees Celsius. Despite the fact that our planet has experienced many major and minor ice ages in different eras, the oceans of our planet have never frozen to the very bottom. Warm ocean currents, even in the coldest years of the Earth, helped maintain seawater in a liquid state. In other words, the possibility that the planet's oceans will one day freeze completely is reduced to absolute zero.

By the way, did you know that Pluto has its own subglacial ocean of liquid water? If such a distant object was able to preserve its water resources in a liquid state, then our planet has nothing to worry about in this regard. In any case, let's try to imagine in our Telegram chat what could happen to humanity if the oceans of our planet somehow froze completely.

If the anti-freeze on the windshield freezes

In winter, when going out to the car, car owners are faced with a frozen windshield. It takes a long time to get rid of the ice. What to do? Here are four ways:

scraper;
hot liquid;
vinegar;
check the cabin filter.

Now in more detail.

A scraper, in the role of which even plastic bank cards are sometimes used.

Hot liquid, often water - we categorically do not recommend using this method, because temperature changes can cause cracks to form on the windshield.

The first two methods either take a long time to solve the problem or lead to damage to the car.

Vinegar. To avoid the problem of frozen glass in advance, treat it with vinegar. This product will prevent ice from forming.

Prepare the solution. You will need table vinegar, a rag, water. Mix water and vinegar in a ratio of 1 to 3 in a spray bottle.
Wipe the glass with the solution. Treat all necessary car windows with the mixture described above.

Check the cabin filter . The cause of glass icing can be a clogged cabin filter; it prevents air from circulating in the cabin. Replace or clean it if necessary. The photo below shows a filter that requires replacement.

This method will help protect your car windows from ice formation. If you forgot to treat the glass the day before, then in the morning this solution will help fight ice on the glass. You can use a special purchased “antilde”, which is sold in stores. According to experienced drivers, the vinegar solution is comparable in effectiveness to a store-bought product.

How to drain frozen antifreeze from the tank?

If the water in the washer reservoir is frozen, then the advice of experienced car owners will come in handy:

Hot water is one of the most popular tips. This option is suitable when the tank is half empty. Otherwise, boiling water will only worsen the situation. There is also a risk of deforming the plastic container due to high temperature;
Start the engine and warm up the car. This method helps if the tank is under the hood. If the windshield washer container is located under the wing (in many modern cars), then this method will not work;
The popular method is to add heated (not hot!) antifreeze to the tank. On a long journey, this method works quite well: turn on the car, place a canister of antifreeze washer fluid on the engine, wait half an hour. Use the most frost-resistant and undiluted liquid;
Use alcohol: Locate where the washer hoses meet, disconnect them, and inject alcohol. Give the system 10-15 minutes and it will work;
You can heat the tank with a hairdryer - effective, but not convenient in all situations;
If a completely filled tank freezes, there is only one way out. Warm up the car in a warm room. This method is effective, but will take some time. In domestic cars, you can remove the washer reservoir and take it only to a warm place.

After you have thawed the frozen liquid, it is important to drain it. Otherwise, the problem may happen again. In older cars, you remove the washer pump from under the hood, remove the anti-freeze container from the mount and drain the already heated liquid.

In modern cars it is becoming more and more difficult and the tank is located at the front bumper, next to the radiator, near the radiator under the grille. The most accessible way in this case is to turn on the standard washer system pump. Next, you simply wait until all unnecessary liquid is pumped out.

At what temperature does antifreeze freeze?

The use of unsuitable liquid in the windshield washer system leads to failure of the barrel, nozzles, tubes and other elements of the windshield washer system of the car. The table shows the relationship between the percentage of alcohol and the stability of the solution to freezing temperatures.

What anti-freeze product does not freeze?

Read the label.
Measure the isopropyl alcohol content (it is most often used) using a special device - a hydrometer.

When driving the car, the anti-freeze turns into a thin ice crust on the front glass. When moving at high speed, the air becomes colder, as in a strong wind. Consider the speed of movement and take an anti-freeze bag with a reserve temperature. Below is a table of temperature versus speed. It is compiled based on data from the US National Arctic Program (or USAP) Manual.

Winter anti-freeze products are produced on the basis of one of three alcohols: isopropyl, methyl and ethyl. A brief description of:

Ethyl alcohol is not toxic. It is odorless and dissolves perfectly in water. Government control and excise taxes make this alcohol expensive to produce anti-freeze. Legal fluid is not economically profitable for the driver, but illegal fluid is dangerous;
Methyl alcohol is colorless, almost odorless, and poisonous. On the territory of the Russian Federation, antifreeze based on methyl alcohol is prohibited, because such solutions are taken orally. Methyl taken orally is harmful to health and causes death. It is curious that in the European Union, antifreeze liquids with methyl alcohol are allowed for sale;
Isopropyl alcohol is used more often in Russian-made anti-freeze products. The only disadvantage is the pungent acetone smell, which is covered with fragrances during production. The high cost of solutions is due to the addition of additional “odors” to the solution.

Why does the windshield washer anti-freeze freeze? Test results (9 photos)

Author: Vasil

11 January 2020 17:29

Tags: coolant Auto anti-freeze test methanol in liquid frost resistance assessment

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Recently, more and more products of very dubious quality have appeared among automobile windshield washer antifreeze liquids. This thesis is fully confirmed by the results of a special test - a significant proportion of tested liquids do not correspond to the declared parameters

See all photos in the gallery

With the onset of cold weather, many manufacturers of seasonal auto chemicals, which, in particular, include windshield washer anti-freeze products, begin to carefully monitor weather forecasts. This interest in natural weather vagaries is quite natural, since it has an economic basis. In some cases, weather forecaster data can help plan the production process in more detail and avoid unnecessary costs. Indeed, if more or less stable weather with stable temperatures and short-term frosts is expected in your region in the next month or two, then there is clearly no point in wasting expensive technical isopropyl alcohol and producing a product with frost resistance down to -20 degrees. It is quite possible to get by with a composition that can withstand 10-degree frost. In addition, the price of such a product will be more attractive for motorists - when it contains less alcohol, its price will be lower.

However, not all companies and entrepreneurs think this way. Those who are “more resourceful” act differently, using the situation, as they say, to their advantage. Without further ado, unscrupulous companies organize the production of car windshield washers, also designed for mild frosts. However, when sending them to retail chains, they attach labels to them indicating a much greater frost resistance margin, for example, at the level of -20 degrees, or even -30 degrees. Accordingly, the price is indicated as for a more frost-resistant product, which, in fact, is a direct deception of consumers. In other words, in such cases we have to pay extra because the product does not meet the stated parameters. And the companies quickly withdraw almost all of their fraudulent profits from circulation without paying any taxes.

If you believe that the scheme of dishonest business described above is a rare exception, then you are very mistaken. Proof of this is the results of the next test organized by experts from the information and analytical portal AutoParad.ru. For testing, several Russian windshield washer fluids were purchased, as well as one licensed composition, produced at a domestic enterprise according to the recipe of a foreign company. Liquids were purchased both in large chain stores and in small retail outlets registered in Moscow and the Moscow region. As a result, we had eight samples at our disposal. We divided them into two groups - in one we concentrated four products with a declared temperature of -25 degrees and below, in the other - also four, but with a freezing temperature of -20 degrees.

The first stage of the research that we carried out at the 25th State Research Institute was the assessment of their physicochemical parameters. In this case, physics means the study of low-temperature properties of liquids (the temperature at which crystallization begins), and chemistry means the determination of the mass fraction of alcohols that form the basis of anti-freeze agents. And alcohol, as the experience of previous tests shows, can be very different in anti-freeze products. Basically, this is isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) approved for technical needs, but often companies use methyl alcohol, which is prohibited in our country, in production. In addition, it happens that liquids are made even with ethyl alcohol, the content of which often exceeds more than 20%. If such compounds arrive on store shelves, it is in clear violation of the law, since they are usually sold cheaply, that is, without taking into account a very substantial excise tax. By the way, such acts are subject to fairly severe punishment, including criminal prosecution.

However, the “alcohol” studies, the results of which were presented by specialists from the 25th State Research Institute, did not reveal any “crime”, since there is no ethyl alcohol in our samples at all. But methyl alcohol, which is prohibited for mass use, is present in large quantities. This component (by the way, it is much cheaper than isopropanol) was found in three samples at once: Winter Road -30, WillMelt -30 and Spectr Lemon -20. It turns out that the manufacturers of these anti-freeze products are shamelessly fooling the people, because the labels don’t say a word about the presence of methanol, but they do say “isopropyl alcohol”! One more thing: the price of each of these products is quite high, as if they were actually made from isopropyl alcohol. For example, for Spectr Lemon -20 we paid 200 rubles, while the real price of such a composition is no more than 120 rubles. In general, they are fooling us to the fullest!

The remaining five liquids were made “according to the rules,” that is, based on isopropanol, however, among them there were substandard compositions. Smoothly moving from chemical parameters to physical parameters, windshield wipers, namely Autoexpress -20, Luzhsky -20 and Oil Wright -30, do not reach the declared frost resistance indicators. The last product has the worst result - the temperature at which crystallization begins is -19 degrees, while on the label of the flask its maximum value is stated at -30 degrees. Imagine how “beautifully” they deceive us!

Research has shown that of the five noted liquids, only two antifreezes - Liqui Moly Antifrost -25 and Sintec Arctic -20 - fully comply with the declared low-temperature indicators. Moreover, they not only comply, but also demonstrate a solid reserve of frost resistance. Both liquids will begin to crystallize at a lower temperature than what is indicated on the specific product label (Liqui Moly Antifrost at -27 degrees, and Sintec Arctic at -22 degrees). However, we did not expect any other effect. These windshield washer fluids have repeatedly confirmed their high quality in various comparative tests organized by reputable expert organizations, both in Russia and abroad. Several times both anti-freeze products were included in complex editorial tests, invariably taking prizes in them. It is not surprising that these products are in consistently high demand in many Russian regions.

However, let's return to the current tests. As subsequent measurements showed, temperature disruption is also observed among the above-mentioned “methanol” products. Two of them - Winter Road -30 and WillMelt -30, designed for temperatures down to -30 degrees, at best can withstand only 22-degree frost. There is already a double deception here - not only did the companies in the production of these liquids use much cheaper alcohol than what is indicated on the label, they also did not pour it as much as required. Of all this “trinity”, only the Spectr Lemon -20 composition, also butted with prohibited methanol, was able to confirm the declared temperature. Well, as they say, thank you for that - at least a tuft of wool from a black sheep!

As we can see, based on the results of the test, a very unattractive picture emerges for our market: out of eight non-freezing windshield washers, only two liquids (Liqui Moly Antifrost -25 and Sintec Arctic -20) meet both the requirements of Russian regulations regarding the production and sale of alcohol products, and and declared physical and chemical characteristics. The remaining six antifreezes (which is three quarters of the total number of samples) are, if we follow the letter of the law, substandard drugs. The above applies not only to their low-temperature performance, but also to specific ingredients (methanol in particular), which are prohibited from being used in the production of consumer goods.

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