RV Antifreeze

[keymastr]

There are two different types of RV antifreeze. The kind that is hard to rinse out, tastes really terrible for a long time after and can make some plastic plumbing parts brittle is a mixture of ethyl alcohol, water and glycol and is only good to -50. The better stuff is pure propylene glycol. No water, no alcohol and is good to -75. Costs a dollar a gallon more, rinses easy and does not leave that awful taste. Don't cheap out on anti-freeze. https://www.walmart.com/ip/STA-BIL-R...eeze/838540502

[pushtrk99]

I will try that next year, I figured as did a thousand others we would not see the cold temps we had, I wondered if the antifreeze got diluted but I blew air through everything & I think it just got colder than the antifreeze was good for-Maybe wind chill factor--OH YEA thats right that don't happen except to human bodies

[IBTripping]

Originally Posted by pushtrk99

I will try that next year, I figured as did a thousand others we would not see the cold temps we had, I wondered if the antifreeze got diluted but I blew air through everything & I think it just got colder than the antifreeze was good for-Maybe wind chill factor--OH YEA thats right that don't happen except to human bodies

If the ambient temperature is 20 F, when you turn off a vehicle engine, it will eventually cool down to 20 F. However, the engine will cool down to 20 F faster if the wind is blowing. In either case, the engine will not go below 20 F.

The impact of wind chill is different on a human because we need to maintain a certain body temperature to stay alive. When the wind is blowing we also lose body heat faster (this is where wind chill is a factor). If we are not wearing enough protection or our bodies can't generate enough heat, we will become hypodermic and die well before our body temperature reaches 20 F. After dying from hypothermia, our body temperature will go down to 20 F, but can't go any lower. Of course, we will be dead and won't care.

[waterman480]

Originally Posted by THenne1713

Really, Real, Really hate to argue this one, BUT if you have ever used a sling psychrometer to measure humidity, or a swamp cooler (instead of a freon-based air conditioner), you (would) realize that water evaporation (re: wind chill) is a VERY, VERY REAL cooling effect that is VERY measurable with a thermometer

Wind chill ( as provided by the weather service) is related to air convection cooling, not cooling by evaporation. Thus it only cools to ambient temperature.

[waterman480]

When I lived in Vermont, I always sprung for the -100 antifreeze, as the -50 turns to slush at much higher temps than the 1-2 week deep freeze we used to commonly get in January. It was cheap insurance.

[pushtrk99]

Maybe next year -100 antifreeze will be the answer-funny I pump 10 gals of pink stuff through system figuring I am way on the safe side. I hope the filter holder that broke is the only problem- another funny thing is I had an extra gal sitting there to use if I had to use the potty and that isn't even slushy, I almost think there was some water left in system- I won't touch the wind chill factor because that is a whole new discussion and it seems there a lot of different thoughts on that

[69Stang]

Originally Posted by keymastr

There are two different types of RV antifreeze. The kind that is hard to rinse out, tastes really terrible for a long time after and can make some plastic plumbing parts brittle is a mixture of ethyl alcohol, water and glycol and is only good to -50. The better stuff is pure propylene glycol. No water, no alcohol and is good to -75. Costs a dollar a gallon more, rinses easy and does not leave that awful taste. Don't cheap out on anti-freeze. https://www.walmart.com/ip/STA-BIL-R...eeze/838540502

Did you read the reviews on that? Reviews complain of broken pipes because it froze and expanded. More expensive doesn't always mean better.

[pushtrk99]

Probably the best solution is triple check that all water is out of system, more I look at the situation , the more I think pink stuff was diluted

[Podivin]

Originally Posted by waterman480

Wind chill ( as provided by the weather service) is related to air convection cooling, not cooling by evaporation. Thus it only cools to ambient temperature.

I agree, car motors, plumbing, other non-living things aren't affected by wind chill.
BUT, wind can push the cold air to places it might otherwise not get to, where residual heat from the day might ordinarily help to keep things warm(er). Causing something to reach max cold faster and stay there long, potentially giving it enough time to freeze and burst - where it wouldn't have on a non-windy day. Now *I* don't call that 'wind chill', but it's definitely cooling as a result of the wind.

[CharlesinGA]

Wind chill is a number that indicates what the temp would FEEL like if the air were still.

If its -20 and the wind is blowing and they say the wind chill is -30, then in a NO WIND condition it would have to go to -30 to feel the same as what it FEELS like at -20 with that certain amount of wind blowing. (on bare skin).

Weather channel explains it pretty well here.................

https://weather.com/science/weather-...nter-explainer

Charles

[NRR]

Four gallons of AF into a fresh water tank does not make it pure AF. There is always some water in the fresh water tank I think.

As cold as it has been. That could have caused the problem.

Lord knows it was cold around here.

[THenne1713]

Originally Posted by waterman480

Wind chill ( as provided by the weather service) is related to air convection cooling, not cooling by evaporation. Thus it only cools to ambient temperature.

and you say wind chill and evap cooling not the same?
Yet, goto Utah and try a t-shirt/ shorts in 30-deg weather w/ no jacket vs trying same in TN?
Evaporative Cooling is exactly what causes Wind Chill; birds don't sweat

https://www.google.com/search?q=evap...hrome&ie=UTF-8

[KanzKran]

Originally Posted by THenne1713

and you say wind chill and evap cooling not the same?
Yet, goto Utah and try a t-shirt/ shorts in 30-deg weather w/ no jacket vs trying same in TN?
Evaporative Cooling is exactly what causes Wind Chill; birds don't sweat

https://www.google.com/search?q=evap...hrome&ie=UTF-8

Just by way of clarification, the North American model does not take relatively humidity into account (it's assumed to be low), but the Australian model does. But the NWS does use a simplified Australian model for heat index calculations, where a variable relative humidity is, of course, necessary.

[paddykern]

Originally Posted by THenne1713

Really, Real, Really hate to argue this one, BUT if you have ever used a sling psychrometer to measure humidity, or a swamp cooler (instead of a freon-based air conditioner), you (would) realize that water evaporation (re: wind chill) is a VERY, VERY REAL cooling effect that is VERY measurable with a thermometer

If it is -15 F there will be no liquid water to support evaporative cooling.
If the wind is blowing 100 mph and the temperature is -15 F the RV can not get any colder than the ambient temperature. It will get to ambient temperature faster than with no wind.