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Canadian windshield washer fluid

MarkB_MI

MarkB_MI

Well-known Member
Location
Motown USA
My wife and I made a shopping trip to Windsor, ON yesterday to buy a Hudson's Bay blanket for a Christmas present. Afterwards we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some of her favorite Canadian delicacies, such as maple cookies and maple butter. While she was shopping, I happened to spot some store-brand washer fluid. It's rated at -45C (-49F). None of our stores in SE Michigan carry anything better than -25F, yet in the balmy climate of Windsor (aka South Detroit), the cheap stuff is good to -49F.

If this is what they sell "down south", I have to wonder what you Canadians use up where it actually gets cold.
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Yes, that's good stuff, they don't mess around, and that's not too bad a price! I come up with $2.58 USD? But what size container? Last spring when we were getting ready to head home from AZ to MN I couldn't find anything for freezing temperatures, so I got some rubbing alcohol and dumped in, seemed to work.
 
I buy winter washer fluid at Canadian Tire made by "Rain Away" It leaves the windshield coated just as the summer product does and afterwards rain and slush just run off the windshield leaving it clear , so I use less fluid overall. I also fill a squirt bottle with their product and leave it at the back door. If the truck is frosted over , I go around and spray all the windows and I'm ready to go.
 
I use the same as Michael, "Rain Away" -40C from Canadian Tire. About three years ago Canadian Tire had a sale on $11.99 CND for 4 x 3.87l (1 US Gal) and I still have half a jug in the trunk and one full jug on the shelf. AS Michael says it has some product in it that allows the slush and rain to run off and you end using about 1/4 the amount.
 
> There is so much alcohol in the -49F washer fluid that the stuff burns.

I'd be worried about it stripping the paint off my car.
 
A few years ago I stopped at a convenience store that was remodeling the restrooms. In January. In ND. They had several porta pots outside for
temporary facilities. There was a big sign on the door ?THE PORTAPOTS CONTAIN METHANOL. DO NOT THROW CIGARETTES IN THEM.? You just
know somebody did that...
 
(quoted from post at 07:20:02 12/10/19) The worst part of it all would be to live in a place where -25F fluid won't get the job done.
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You got that right. Last night it got down to -20F and the wind blowing so I cancelled plans of going anywhere. I rarely use the washer fluid in any vehicle. I think I have a jug in the shop that I bought a few years ago. I recall a jug of old washer fluid freezing up in the workshop once. Maybe it had lost it's alcohol to evaporation.
 
Here in northwest Ohio the -25 stuff is very hard to find and the -20 stuff will freeze on the windshield deiving down the road and you try to clean the windshield. and that is a 20 above.
 
It?s too cold for road salt to work most of the winter
in Saskatchewan, and that?s why you don?t really
need much windshield washer fluid. In Ontario,
much like the north eastern states, the roads are
salted heavy first sign of a snow flake, and the salt
spray off the road covers our windows, and rots our
vehicles. With temperatures near freezing much of
the time, road ways would just be ice without salt
 
Ironically Bruce I was into Eastern Ont over the weekend, went up through your part of the world on the way. Was through Newmarket and on to Port Perry on Friday. At times I think I was using more washer fluid than gas.
 
The main reason the high alcohol content is so that it dose not freeze in the pump or those tiny hoses and finally the nozzle. Being that high consecration you can have evaporation of the alcohol over time with the heat in the engine compartment--- and the stuff still flows. Squirting windshield washer fluid on the windshield when it is intensely cold does not really work as once on the windshield it starts to evaporate and cools the windshield . Better to scrape the frost off and allow a warm up period on max defrost . We dont get slushy roads when really cold even with tons of salt dumped on the roads . Yes it does affect the paint at least on my motor home as you can see a stain mark where it dribbles down the front -- on most cars it dribbles down into the air intake for the heater fresh air so we dont see staining.
On my 3/4 ton I run pure alcohol and have a barbecue lighter near each nozzle . This works amazingly well under 10 mph -- over that speed the flame front moves back over the box of the truck and is useless but puts on a good show after dark.( this is a joke of course, but dont tell the guys south of the ohio river)
 
(quoted from post at 08:11:01 12/10/19) It?s too cold for road salt to work most of the winter
in Saskatchewan, and that?s
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No, it seems like the highway can be wet even when its below zeroF some days after the salt spreaders go by. I try to avoid it as much as possible. Made one trip on slightly salty highway last winter with the 81 and I could see the rust starting to get worse. I'd bet the washer fluid tank on that truck is empty.
 
Last year the local home depot stores had the -20? stuff priced at .99cents a gallon. Each store got 6 pallets of the stuff. I bought 20 gallons and only have one bottle left. Used most of it to load all of my lawn and garden tractor tires. They work beautifully. 5his year it is still at the regular price. I keep checking every few days hoping it goes on special again. Here are three shots. The regular stuff and the two higher price spreads. Yes it does go to -20. My freezer holds -10 and it is still a liquid. Oops! That bug remover is for summertime. Don't know how it is listed this time of year. Oh well.
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I don't have a price on it but this is what they sell here. Says -40C. As you can see it is liquid form this morning at -10F and we were down to -22F last night.

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I, too, am in SE Michigan. The Ambassador Bridge to Windsor is about 40 miles away.
I usually buy 6 or 8 gallons of fluid when it is on sale. I keep both +20 and -20 gallon jugs on the shelf in the garage to use, weather dependant. I almost got caught with +20 in my vehicles this fall. A sudden unexpected temperature drop caught me but no freeze ups.
I go through a lot of fluid: I live on a gravel (dirt) road, we get a lot of salt (Mich), other vehicles throw up dirt AND I spray tailgaters (my biggest consumption). I would love to spray some mud or paint.
Thinking about a rear mounted spray bottle.
 
No problems with mud here either. The ground is dry and solid. I just came in from putting a bale out for the cattle. It warmed up to about -8F today.
 
In the South people used to keep a flock of chickens around, they kept everything scratched up around the house and yard and ate whatever they scratched up.No place to build nests no termites.Now days most folks have gotten too high class to have a few chickens so they pay to have termites and bugs sprayed to control them.Plus many people spread mulch around their house great termite breeding grounds.I have chickens,guineas,ducks and geese, no termites and plenty of fresh eggs
 
Everything here in Missouri has always been -20 as far as I know. And it will freeze on the windshield at 0. About 20 years ago I mindlessly picked some up at Wal Mart and put it in my car and a few days later the tank was full of slush. I went and got the Wal Mart stuff and looked. It proudly proclaimed in small print that it protects to 32F. I had paid a lot for a gallon of blue water. I always read lables now, especially at Wal Mart.
 
Termites never have a chance here as the polar bears scratch them out of the house foundation and lick them up. No we dont get any fresh eggs from them but we dont get door to door sales men either ! Had to take the mail man to the hospital once though ---- didnt cost him a cent as we have FREE HEALTH CARE!
 
> Had to take the mail man to the hospital once though ---- didnt cost him a cent as we have FREE HEALTH CARE!

Uh-oh... Here we go...
 
(quoted from post at 08:48:15 12/11/19) Termites never have a chance here as the polar bears scratch them out of the house foundation and lick them up. No we dont get any fresh eggs from them but we dont get door to door sales men either ! Had to take the mail man to the hospital once though ---- didnt cost him a cent as we have FREE HEALTH CARE!
Click to expand...

Nobody pays for that free healthcare ? . With wait times for a hip replacement or a MRI being months .
 
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