Two (2) litres of "forbidden lemonade" (Prestone #Screenwash, distributed by #Holts of #England ) at around 30-50% dilution, tests at around -7 degrees Celsius on the #refractometer - should be enough not to freeze in the jets during the next few days of cold #weather

#Motoring #RoadSafety #cars

This "Proudly Made in Britain" #screenwash (from QD) is nowhere near -5 ° C protection ; more like - 2,5 ° C when checked on the #refractometer - they are skimping on the alcohol (its not even taxed that heavily due to being denatured), the only reason I was using it is it was gifted to the driver of one of our fleet cars (hopefully it will be just enough to avoid freezing up in the jets during the next few days which are cold round here)

This arrangement kind of makes sense - IPA is used less in #screenwash as it costs more, and is also more likely to strip protection such as wax from your cars paintwork.

Also tested Tesco screenwash which read same as #Holts (-7 to -10 Celsius) - not surprising, its made by them (this info is buried in the Holts MSDS website) and Prestone concentrate (also Holts) at -18 Celsius (so label is true).

Which means the cheap stuff should be OK for fleet cars in winter if appropriately diluted..

I double checked the #screenwash scales of the #refractometer with spiritus (denatured ethanol), diluted from approx 92% (according to Tesco) to 60%, which should have a freezing point of -37,5 degrees Celsius

I did also try diluted IPA but readings were way off, it seems like *both* the scales on this one are for ethanol mixtures and you are supposed to take an average reading (this isn't mentioned anywhere in the instructions for this or similar models, even the pricier ones!)

The Holts #screenwash concentrate often sold at the village shop (I'd bought some a while back for a fleet car) shows about -7 to 8 Celsius freezing point when used neat (rather than -10 as claimed on the label) - apparently the left hand screenwash scale is used for ethanol mixtures and the right for isopropyl alcohol - I checked the MSDS and its mostly ethanol in Holts, with a very small portion of IPA and ethylene glycol added more to stop folk attempting to drink the stuff!