It's that screenwash thread again

Wig

Edwood_Woodwood wrote: »

I've never once experienced a screen wash reservoir freezing in 30 years of owning cars no matter what cheapo stuff I use.

I have, and when it freezes it breaks your pump. Mine froze when using a screenwash (i.e. it wasn't just water) and after that I put in concetrated at 50% and then I got an iceberg inside the reservoir, the whole thing did not freeze but some of the water froze-out-of the concentrate. So then I moved on to concentrate at 100% and had no more issues.

patman99

I've had the screenwash bottle freez solid a few times over the years, but it never once broke the pump.

Best screenwash additive I have ecer come across was from Unipart. Only ever found it 1 rural garage. Was expensive, but only needed a small amount to do the job.

GwylimT

patman99 wrote: »

My friend's ex (who I am still friends with on FB) has tried 1 part white vinegar to 2 parts boiled water and says it actually works.

Will be trying this myself once the ice returns.

If it doesn't work, then it will still come in useful as a sanitizing cleaner for the kitchen.

A good paint stripper as well.

ChumpusRex

Screenwash concentrate is just a mixture of detergent, scent and ethanol.

The ethanol acts as a disinfectant and antifreeze. Colder concentrates just have more alcohol, except for the super cold stuff which uses ethylene glycol or methanol.

I Winter just use the regular -5 or -10 stuff, and if it's really cold, I'll top up the washer reservoir with some bioethanol, which I have a stock of for a decorative fire place. B&Q sometimes have ethanol in stock at £5 for 2 litres - which will last you for years. Although it can be bought online for less. If I'm expecting a major cold snap, I'll add 500 ml of ethanol to the tank (2.5 litres) and it'll give another 10 degrees of anti-freeze protection.

I'm not a great fan of methanol or ethylene glycol for screenwash - they are both extremely toxic and spills can cause fatal poisoning for pets and children. Glycol also doesn't evaporate, so if you have it on the windscreen, it won't dry if the wipers have left any smears of it behind.

Ethanol has the advantage of being non-toxic. It is also a useful household chemical as it is amazing at degreasing things like cooker hoods, brushed stainless steel appliances, etc.

ChumpusRex

patman99 wrote: »

My friend's ex (who I am still friends with on FB) has tried 1 part white vinegar to 2 parts boiled water and says it actually works.

Will be trying this myself once the ice returns.

If it doesn't work, then it will still come in useful as a sanitizing cleaner for the kitchen.

Vinegar is a weak antifreeze. Pure white vinegar will freeze at about -5 degrees C, and diluted 1 + 2, it will freeze at about -2.

Vinegar is OK at getting rid of grease, but a properly formulated screenwash would be better and less likely to corrode the metals on your car. It will also smell better and probably be cheaper.

force_ten

I have not had an issue with the Lidl screenwash marking my paint

I use it neat in winter and will I ever get to test it down to minus 60 ?, well i hope i dont

I used to hate it when the screenwash would freeze and there was nothing you could do to clean your screen, I never found an issue with the tank freezing but found the problem for me was more the screenwash freezing in the lines or the spray jets freezing up because of the wind chill

Shame Lidls aren't doing any of the winter motoring offers this year as they used to have some very usefull stuff

tim9966

I'm also using the Lidl stuff, after bulk buying it last year after a thread on here I have enough for a few years. It's been the best screenwash I've ever used.

Iceweasel

Yup - the Lidl one for me too - I use it full strength starting in October when the time changes.

So it starts of diluted with the 'normal' screenwash already in the tank, and by January successive top-ups will have increased the strength.

In March I change back to the Halford's purple fruity stuff - which I buy in the undiluted 5L bottles as it's cheaper per litre than buying the ready-mixed equivalent.

barmonkey

I use fairy liquid and never had the bottle freeze.

cardinalbiggles

The problem with vinegar and fairy liquid is you probably want to have some nasty chemicals running through your washer system from time to time to stop the build up of things like legionellosis which like the warm humid environment.