| Author | Message | ||
| Cullen Newsom (Cullennewsom)
Registered Member Username: Cullennewsom Post Number: 79 Registered: 2-2009 Posted From: 203.176.193.103 Rating: N/A |
Does anyone know how to tell the difference between Ethylene Glycol, and Propylene Glycol. Preferably without the use of a cat or a dog. | ||
| Dan West (Utahclaimjumper)
Registered Member Username: Utahclaimjumper Post Number: 187 Registered: 1-2005 Posted From: 208.66.38.60 Rating: N/A |
Read the bottle??? | ||
| Cullen Newsom (Cullennewsom)
Registered Member Username: Cullennewsom Post Number: 80 Registered: 2-2009 Posted From: 203.176.193.103 Rating: N/A |
The one I drained it into? I don't see how that would help. | ||
| Tim Brandt (Timb)
Registered Member Username: Timb Post Number: 362 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 66.165.176.62  Rating: N/A |
Isn't all antifreeze Ethylene Glycol???? | ||
| Bill Laird (Billaird99)
Registered Member Username: Billaird99 Post Number: 23 Registered: 4-2008 Posted From: 24.163.34.244 Rating: N/A |
I would send an e-mail to these folks. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine 1600 Clifton Road NE, Mailstop F-32 Atlanta, GA 30333 Phone: 1- 800-232-4636 / TTY: 888-232-6348 FAX: 770-488-4178 Email: cdcinfo@cdc.gov And some information http://www.eoearth.org/article/Public_Health_Statement_for_Ethylene_Glycol_and_Propylene_G lycol | ||
| George M. Todd (George_mc6)
Registered Member Username: George_mc6 Post Number: 875 Registered: 8-2006 Posted From: 64.55.111.6 Rating: N/A |
Most radiator/engine antifreeze is Ethylene Glycol. The RV freshwater "winterizing" type antifreeze is Propylene Glycol. That link to the two types is slick! G | ||
| Tom Christman (Tchristman)
Registered Member Username: Tchristman Post Number: 98 Registered: 1-2006 Posted From: 66.218.33.156 Rating: N/A |
One is the color. Most toxic antifreezes are green. Freightliner uses the non toxic antifreeze in all new trucks and is pink in color. Course that doesn't mean all pink antifreeze is non toxic. Good Luck, TomC | ||
| Don Evans (Doninwa)
Registered Member Username: Doninwa Post Number: 211 Registered: 1-2007 Posted From: 208.81.157.90  Rating: N/A |
Have you ever drained the pink stuff out of your fresh water system on nice grass. Kills better than Roundup and cheaper too. | ||
| john w. roan (Chessie4905)
Registered Member Username: Chessie4905 Post Number: 1518 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 71.58.110.9  Rating: N/A |
you'll probably need to get it tested since there are so many different colors now. Dark green, yellow green, light green, orange, red, purple, pink, etc... Then mixing them can come up with many other colors. | ||
| Cullen Newsom (Cullennewsom)
Registered Member Username: Cullennewsom Post Number: 84 Registered: 2-2009 Posted From: 203.176.193.54 Rating: N/A |
Thanks for the link Bill. Tim, No. There exist non-toxic antifreeze/coolant compounds. | ||
| Buswarrior (Buswarrior)
Registered Member Username: Buswarrior Post Number: 1635 Registered: 12-2000 Posted From: 76.68.122.125  Rating: N/A |
Thanks for that link! That is a great site to exercise your brain on!!! happy coaching! buswarrior | ||
| John MC9 (John_mc9)
Registered Member Username: John_mc9 Post Number: 927 Registered: 7-2006 Posted From: 74.162.75.100  Rating: N/A |
Use the cat. | ||
| R.C.Bishop (Chuckllb)
Registered Member Username: Chuckllb Post Number: 814 Registered: 7-2006 Posted From: 75.209.46.106 Rating: N/A |
 ...... . RCB | ||
| Cullen Newsom (Cullennewsom)
Registered Member Username: Cullennewsom Post Number: 87 Registered: 2-2009 Posted From: 67.159.44.61 Rating: N/A |
John, That's what the dogs said too! -Cullen | ||
| Nellie Wilson (Vivianellie)
Registered Member Username: Vivianellie Post Number: 249 Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 4.248.62.157  Rating: N/A |
Why do we care? More to the point, dear Cullen, do YOU care? I mean - unless you have a tanker full of the stuff - why not just dump it and start with a bottle that's actually labeled? Sorry... just my (seldom used) practical side coming out. Nellie Wilson | ||
| Cullen Newsom (Cullennewsom)
Registered Member Username: Cullennewsom Post Number: 147 Registered: 2-2009 Posted From: 98.200.242.221  Rating: N/A |
Nellie, I care for a couple reasons. 1. The stuff is expensive. I have around 30 gallons of it in my cooling system. 2. If I dump it, it doesn't just disappear. Sure, in the grand scheme of things, 30 gallons is a trivial amount. But it only takes a spoonful to kill a small animal. And it just doesn't make sense to me to pay someone else to pour in in the creek. | ||
| R.C.Bishop (Chuckllb)
Registered Member Username: Chuckllb Post Number: 931 Registered: 7-2006 Posted From: 75.211.122.160 Rating: N/A |
Yep...well stated. RCB | ||
| Sean Welsh (Sean)
Registered Member Username: Sean Post Number: 973 Registered: 1-2003 Posted From: 67.142.130.24  Rating: N/A |
Cullen, I somehow missed this thread when it first came out. The simple answer is: taste it. Of course I don't mean to take a big swig -- a tiny drop on your finger will do, then touch your tongue. Ethylene glycol is so sweet-tasting, you should know if that's what you've got almost immediately. We use the ethylene stuff in both our engine and our hydronic systems, and I use the "taste test" to quickly check if an unknown fluid we've been leaking in tiny amounts is antifreeze or something else. Propylene glycol, by contrast, has almost no taste, and what you will notice in the taste test instead is a harsh chemical taste from the other ingredients, or maybe a metallic taste from the inevitable dissolved metal ions that end up in the fluid. The taste buds on the tip of the tongue responsible for "sweet" are extremely sensitive; it only takes a few molecules to know. Once you are done, immediately rinse the tongue off with plenty of fresh water, and you will not have ingested enough to be harmful -- just don't make a habit out of it. Incidentally, color is not a meaningful indicator of anything here. Both ethylene glycol and propylene glycol are colorless. Color in antifreeze is added later by the manufacturer and is largely a marketing device. -Sean http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com |