What may happen if you pour antifreeze into a washer tank
Any automobile needs regular replenishment or replacement of working fluids. Modern marketing forces auto chemical manufacturers to use colorful packaging, bright containers and colorful labels. Not all beginning drivers quickly remember what liquid is where. It can cause undesirable situations when renewing liquid consumables.
What is the antifreeze ash
To deal with the situation, when the windshield washer system by accidental coincidence got into a tosol or its analogues, it is necessary to know what it is. Antifreeze can be confused with antifreeze due to the similarity of colors and fluidity. The blue shade of the sprinkler filler is quite similar to G11 antifreeze.
The coolant has a similar composition to the cleaning fluid. The base is an alcohol solution to which various dyes and chemically active substances are added. The main alcohol-containing substance of the toluene is propylene glycol (two-atomic), but different manufacturers may use other types of glycols. The substance is strictly prohibited for ingestion, because its toxicity can be fatal.
The composition contains additives that perform a number of functions in the engine cooling system:
- fight possible pockets of corrosion;
- form a protective barrier on the inner metal surface of the pipelines;
- prolong the service life.
Only distilled water is used to form the alcohol solution in order to minimize the possibility of forming rust spots. The different dyes used in the composition help to visually identify the composition, which most companies will have similar for the appropriate coloring.
What happens if you pour coolant into the washer tank
The purpose of the coolant is only to remain liquid at low temperatures (below zero), when the normal water crystallizes and does not pass through the channels. Drivers pour it into the appropriate tank on their own. Unlike toluene, it is not so demanding to the composition.
The washer fluid includes such components:
- alcohol;
- water;
- dyes;
- flavorings.
The freezing point of alcohol is very low, so even a relatively low concentration of the solution will have a positive effect on the finished product. The higher the percentage, the better the effect will be. It is important to know that the composition does not include medical ethanol, which could be used internally, but other chemical compounds.
The methanol used is poisonous to drink. It is capable of causing blindness or death even at low concentrations in the body. Isopropyl compound is also used, 100 ml of which is a deadly poison. Less dangerous is bioethanol, which has characteristics similar to medical alcohol, but is also not suitable for drinking.
If antifreeze has penetrated the car washer tank, there is no need to panic. There will be no major trouble, because the chemical compositions of the fluids are largely identical. The presence of additives contained in the tosol, is able to have a beneficial effect on the metal elements of the construction of the washing system.
If you manage to fill up one fluid instead of the other, the losses will be more economical. Tosol is several times more expensive than antifreeze, so you’ll have to buy a new bottle for the engine.
Tosol (antifreeze) in the washer tank. Poured, what to do?
You know, information for the sake of nonsense, it has absolutely no meaningful load, but for the sake of the experiment will be useful to some newcomers. In general, I get a lot of what I consider to be “nonsense” questions, such as – the freezing fluid in the cooling system. And another popular is the washer fluid in the tank, many newbies pour inexperience! Then they start wondering what to do – it’s all gone, where to go, etc. – Panic. Although it is not necessary to panic, there is nothing serious about it …
ARTICLE CONTENT
I decided to give information and about the antifreeze, and suddenly someone poured into the tank red or green liquid ! Tosol though it looks like it is blue, but the antifreeze, I think you will need to purposely pour. But never mind, let’s get started.
Anti-freeze
This fluid, which is designed not to freeze, at different temperatures, so that even in sub-zero figures to wash your windshield.
The composition of antifreeze liquid is simple – it is alcohol + water + flavoring or color additives. Alcohol does not let the fluid freeze, and the more it is, the lower the freezing point.
There are only three types of alcohol used in washer fluid:
- Isopropyl – this is a technical alcohol, poisonous, if you drink about 100 – 200 ml, leads to fatal consequences.
- Methanol (methyl) alcohol, a simple one-atom composition, is also poisonous, if consumed about 100 ml is fatal.
- Bioethanol is harmless to the body, similar to medical alcohol, has been used in the EU since 2012 as a substitute for toxic competitors.
To be fair, it should be noted that previously used medical or food alcohol, but since our “people’s” motorists began to get alcohol from it and then drink it – banned.
To these alcohols is added usual tap water, as well as flavorings and dyes blue, sometimes they add compositions that help clean impurities in glass, for example from buds of trees, gnats, etc. That’s how you get the non-freezing fluid that we pour into the washer tank with you. Nothing too natural.
TOSOL (antifreeze)
Now I will talk about our tosol (because it is often confused because of the color) or antifreeze G11, read more about the differences here.
The composition also involves – alcohol, distilled water, additives and dye.
The alcohol here is propylene glycol (or a variety of other glycols). This is a two-atomic alcohol, also toxic, if you drink it, can also be fatal.
The additives here are tuned to fight corrosion, they either envelop walls of pipes and other elements of the cooling system, or fight already with pockets of rust.
The dye is informative – distinctive character, it does not represent any technical characteristics.
The water here is distilled and not common under the tap – it is needed to prevent scale formation inside the cooling system.
What will happen if you pour the saline into the washer tank?
YES to exactly nothing! It’s perfectly safe! You will also wash your windshield with it, that’s all!
Many people may now say – yes ethylene glycol is much more toxic (tosol) than say methyl alcohol (antifreeze). No guys, they are about the same toxicity, but glycols are much more expensive, about 2 – 3 times than methyl alcohol, so it is just impractical to use it in the “washer fluid”!
For the tank itself, for nozzles and other systems washer will also be nothing bad, on the contrary, they will be covered with a small layer of additives that should protect against corrosion, even if there is little metal, if only in the pump, and in the nozzle, but at least them. Although this protection will be washed off quickly with antifreeze! So, do not panic, just drive and quietly pour out all the drip or antifreeze.
So it is possible to pour ash in a tank? Yes, of course you can – but it costs 5 times more than “washer fluid”. For example, 1 liter of the cheapest tosol is about 60 – 80 rubles, and here for 90 rubles you buy 5 liters of antifreeze!
Now the video version.
I end here, read our AUTOBLOG.
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