Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid

RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By SHeryl (Guest Post) (10/09/2008) The question is "are these ingredients safe for the paint on your car"? Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By mark (Guest Post) (03/14/2008) Use alcohol and water in the military in helicopters. We used a 50/50 mix in the winter and it was cold never froze. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By Mike C (Guest Post) (03/07/2008) All the sudden ww fluid is no longer $1 a pop. It's like $2 on "sale"! Anyone know why? I plan on going to water with food coloring and a smidge of dishwasher soap in the spring, but for now, with temps still sometimes drifting to 0 degrees F, not a good option. Are there any sources of methyl alcohol (aka methanol)? I know isopropol is available, but someone suggested it was hard on hoses and seals and so forth. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but I wonder if salt water might be a reasonable option. Salt is cheap, and I know salt water freezes below 32F. Just not sure where. Maybe there is some other non-corrosive mineral or compound that, dissolved in water, would lover the freezing point sufficiently to be of use? Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By Stacy (Guest Post) (03/06/2008) I want to know how to unfreeze, frozen windshiled washer lines ect... w/ out putting the vehicle in a heated garage? Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By Mike Arienti (Guest Post) (02/24/2008) 1. Windex and water 2. Vinegar and ammonia 3. non-tap water (try distilled) DO NOT use anything that can damage rubber, as the seals and pump hoses will break down. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By Arlene (Guest Post) (02/01/2008) I'm not looking for something cheaper. I live in Long Island NY and the stuff they sell just doesn't clean the grime off the windows without streaking, and it makes white marks all over the areas that get splashed while it is spraying that looks like salt residue. Please help! Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By garagechuck (Guest Post) (01/07/2008) Be careful what you mix - I added Joy detergent and vinegar to my purchased blue fluid to help cut the grime of the windshield salt, here in Minnesota. Within a week I replaced the windshield wiper pump - it was frozen up. Another week, I replaced the rear window pump - it too was frozen. When was the last time you heard of these failing? I assume this mixture degraded the seal on the pump, and the fluid migrated into it. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By Aris (Guest Post) (12/14/2007) For a washer fluid to not freeze in temps down to -40C, the mixture would need to contain almost 70% methanol. This makes the mixture not only VERY flammable, but also very expensive for those without access to industrial chemical suppliers, where methanol can be purchased for considerably lower prices. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By JB (Guest Post) (11/29/2007) You need methanol. And good luck gettin any. The price has tripled in recent months. So, if you see washer fluid, stock up on it now! It may run out this winter. You will be paying up to $4.00 per gallon retail Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post by 8307c4 (5) | (11/14/2007) Contact Here's how I used to do it, back in the days when Big Lots had 16oz bottles of 70% Isopropyl for a dollar... Not sure if it's still profitable, the cost of the alcohol is the worst part, by the time it gets to $2 a bottle we're talking 50 cents just in this for mix. Then it takes TIME, you know, time is not free, so the cost has to be at least 1/3 of what I'd pay at a store or I can just pick it up already made and save myself the hassle. So then you need a BIG bottle of dish wash detergent, like Dawn but that's too expensive so get the cheapest brand you can find, Big Lots is good for this also thou the best I found was at Dollar General. You need to calculate the cents per ounce, a good price is 4 cents per ounce or lower, so if it's a 24 ounce bottle it should cost no more than 96 cents. Yes, cheapest soap, it will still work way better than you'd think. Then you need some 1 gallon jugs, save your milk containers and anything else that fits 1 gallon, you want to make this stuff 4-6 or more gallons at a time or it's not profitable. Then, teh formulae: 1 OZ of dish washing detergent 1/3 of a bottle of 70% isopropyl OR 1/4 bottle 90% The rest water. Yes, eyeballing is ok but watch it with the soap! Works great, not sure how freeze resistant but it's way better than store bought washer fluid. Have I used it? LOL I been making it like that for 4 years now. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By 8307c4 (Guest Post) (11/14/2007) Here's how I used to do it, back in the days when Big Lots had 16oz bottles of 70% Isopropyl for a dollar. Not sure if it's still profitable, the cost of the alcohol is the worst part, by the time it gets to $2 a bottle we're talking 50 cents just in this for mix. Also you need a BIG bottle of dish wash detergent, like Dawn but that's too expensive so get the cheapest brand you can find, Big Lots is good for this also thou the best I found was at Dollar General. You need to calculate the cents per ounce, a good price is 4 cents per ounce or lower, so if it's a 24 ounce bottle it should cost no more than 96 cents. Then you need some 1 gallon jugs, save your milk containers and anything else that fits 1 gallon, you want to make this stuff 4-6 or more gallons at a time or it's not profitable. Then, the formula: 1 OZ of dish washing detergent 1/3 of a bottle of 70% isopropyl OR 1/4 bottle 90% The rest water. Yes, eyeballing is ok, but watch it with the soap! Works great, not sure how freeze resistant but it's way better than store bought washer fluid. Have I used it? LOL I been making it like that for 4 years now. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By steve (Guest Post) (10/14/2007) ok i want something cheaper than actual winter windshield washer. i know sugar is less freezable but that would get sticky and streaky and pop with like 16 tablespoons in one can still does freeze, or salt but then you get rust. antifreeze would work, but i had a mechanic mistakingly put a 70% water, 30% antifreeze mix i had in the trunk in an old ww container (no label left) in to my ww tank and all that stuff does is smear. someone suggested ammonia mixed at 10% i think but I've seen windex freeze (unless they are basically selling you water too) and I've noticed on the ww jug it says alcohol exempt. so what exactly is in there to keep it from freezing? also alcohol( don't know if meth, eth, or iso matters) wrecks the lines your ww goes through. my best guess so far is antifreeze and water, but maybe a little soap would help with the smearing sorry if i repeated but i copy and pasted this response to other sites Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By S Durf (Guest Post) (09/21/2007) menthynol 50% water 50% a few drops of dishwashing detrgent Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By Bafflez (Guest Post) (09/07/2007) Methanol prices have soared, fluid is going routinely for $1.99a gallon. If you can make it for $1.00 a gallon or less then that's a good thing. I haven't seen 99 cent WW fluid in ages. -bafflez Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By Superman (Guest Post) (08/23/2007) Option one: 70% water to 30% non sudsing ammonia. non sudsing clear ammonia leaves no residue or detergents on your windshield. Ammonia wont freeze like water either. It wont damage your hoses or wipers over time. You may want to toss in a few ounces per gallon of vinegar as a fortifier. Vinegar will break down grime and also leave no residue. And it is a great deodorizer, not like you need deodorizer on your windshield but only to beak down grime. The ammonia is what, something like a buck a half gallon. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post by Ahsanazizqamar (1) | (05/10/2007) Contact May 10, 2007 Gentlemen, Re.: Recipe for Windshield Antifreeze Washer Fluid I live in Canada. I am interested to set-up a cottage (Small Scale) industry to produce and sell "Windshield Antifreeze Washer Fluid". I will highly appreciate if someone can help me, also by charging appropriate fees. Thanks a lot in advance for an early reply and action at everyone's end. Very best regards. Ahsan Aziz Qamar Ahsanazizqamar AT Gmail.com Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By (Guest Post) (05/03/2007) What about vinager and water? Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By Patrick from Denver (Guest Post) (02/17/2007) I'm also from Denver, Colorado. During the last cold, slushy, dirty period, WWF supplies were running very low. I was out, the convenience store was out, but did have some rubbing alcohol, so I mixed up a batch on the spot in an empty WWF container. Bad idea (but better than nothing, I guess). Temps were running in the teens (F) that day and my mixture kept freezing on my windsheild. Does anyone know what the commercial mixes use? Glycol, perhaps? If you used Propylene Glycol, you wouldn't have to worry about poisening animals (who sometimes lick it up, because it's sweet). Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By Jim (Guest Post) (01/24/2007) I also live in Colorado, and what I do to save is simply dilute regular washer fluid with water. With most of the stuff that gets on your windshield from the road, almost straight water works fine. The point of the alcohol in the store bought stuff is to reduce the freezing point, not as much for its cleaning ability. So with that said, the amount I dilute depends on what month it is.. Jan and Feb, I add little water, summer time I've used almost straight water (but usually don't go quite that far), and somewhere in between for the rest of the months. My car is garaged at night, so it stays a smidge above the outside temp. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By Bill (Guest Post) (01/09/2007) We're having a very cold & snowy winter in Colorado, and the commercial windshield washer fluid is out-of-stock at all the stores & warehouses. If rubbing alcohol is detrimental to the rubber parts, then does anyone have a source for methanol? Report Spam or Abuse RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post By (Guest Post) (11/16/2006) In New Zealand we dont have the extreme colds a tip one of the mechanics told me that i have used that works well is adding baby shampoo to the window washer as it is much milder than ordinary detergent maybe you could use that in the summer. dont need very much.brent nz Report Spam or Abuse Recipe: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Post by lewis_admin (1336) | (11/14/2006) Profile | Blog! | Contact Ingredients: 3 cups rubbing alcohol 10 cups water 1 Tablespoon of liquid detergent Makes one gallon. Optional: You can add some blue food coloring if you like! Be sure to label the container as this will be toxic for the little ones. By Syd Answers: RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Rubbing alcohol costs 99 cents for 16 oz. (2 cups), thus 3 cups rubbing alcohol would cost 1.49 plus the detergent. Windshield washer fluid is usually on sale for 99 cents or less. (12/13/2004) By alobarbear RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Gas Stations gouge for up to $5.00 bottle. Great recipe if you need some quick until you can get some 99cent bottles (01/26/2005) RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid I have a question. I live in Canada, where it can get very cold. Would this be suitable for winter (-45 degrees C.), or is it just for summer? (02/21/2005) By Brenda. RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid The alcohol should keep it from freezing. You might want to put in more rubbing alcohol. Try making some, letting it sit outside and see if it freezes (make sure it is not open so pets or animals can get into it.) If it does freeze, add more alcohol. (02/21/2005) By Susan RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid Very simple. Isopropanol (aka rubbing alcohol) is not in most washer fluids anymore, and yes it does prevent freezing. Like antifreeze use more in colder climates. The isopropanol also is a great cleaner for glass, and does not streak. You are paying for colored water now, and 99 cents for water makes NO sense. Simplest way is take 1/2 bottle of Walmart brand for Windex and add the rest water, depending on how dirty your windshield gets. Ammonia does a great job also, but diluted. Yes you can safely combine isopropanol and ammonia in same container without any hazard. And now you know. (03/15/2005) By the wisdom RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid In Holland we pay $4 for 33 US fl oz (my conversion) which we can then mix with water. I understand in the UK we can use Meths (Methanol) or in Holland Spiritus - actually anything which'll work in a fondue burner. (02/14/2006) By dutchdavey RE: Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid How many of you that are telling us about how to make homemade windshield washer fluid have actually tried it, and are you really saving any money than buying it at say walmart or k-mart for a little over or under a dollar? if im trying to save money by making my own and your not, then what would be the point of this? (03/04/2006) By Cathy WARNING Rubbing alcohol may be great for glass, but it can deteriorate rubber hoses with continued use. (08/20/2006) By Grace Report Spam or Abuse