anybody use auto antifreeze in your drains

wvcampers wrote:
There are different types of auto antifreeze now. The original one is ethylene glycol. I work in a chemical plant that did manufacture it. It is the poisen if consumed. It has a reportable quanity if spilled of 5000lbs. If it were as bad as some of you believe we would all go to jail when a radiater hose on the truck split open. The amount used to protect a drain from freezing won't come close to that. Just make sure that it is not emptied where animals can come in contact with it. It has a very sweet taste and they will drink all that they can find.

I agree the OP is talking minimal amounts. However a leak caused by a radiator hose break is unintentional and unavoidable.
It is a very different scenario than deliberately using it to winterize an RV.
Again the OP is using minimal amounts that I imagine will not cause any significant issues nevertheless there are other safer alternatives than auto anti freeze

Uncle Gordon always used gin in his boat's freshwater tank and drains. Come spring he drained the system into his highball glass...

LOL Lantley, that kind of anti-freeze is too good for the drains! I am aware of the toxicity of ethylene glycol and the propensity for pets to drink it. Again, I am not talking about using it instead of the pink stuff. I knew the leaky skylight put a lot of water into the shower trap, but I didn't have more pink to add to it...looking at the weather last night, it was 25* and headed down, so I was looking around the garage for something to use right now, not something I needed from the store.

I am hoping for a relatively warm and sunny day so I can get that skylight replaced...the parts have been sitting on the couch ion the TT for 2 months now....

Are you somewhere where you can't buy a $2 jug of RV antifreeze?

You can save the rest for next winter if you are worried about wasting it.

Way back in the 1970's when we used to change our antifreeze every year or two I would save my old antifreeze. I would use it in my drain traps. Never had a problem.

Just out of curiosity, where do you folks who use auto antifreeze dump your tanks later?

It's illegal to put it in any type of drain or sewer in almost every state, including the OP's home State of KY.


Windshield washer fluid is a roll of the dice at best. It uses alcohol as the freeze protection because it's intended to evapourate very quickly. If the alcohol evapourates out of the open drain, or the stuff that made it to the holding tank, you would have a trap or drain valve full of straight water.

Please be careful!
Auto antifreeze is poison to wastewater treatment systems. If you must have an emergency antifreeze, use salt water at saturation rates of 26%. It will give freeze protection to 0 deg. F
A pound of ice melter salt dissolved in 3 qts. hot water will thaw most ice plugs in drains.
The OP has learned the hard way that trickling water can prevent freezing of supply, but at what cost? How many hundreds of gallons of water were wasted trying to keep water running only to have it freeze up the waste pipe and flood the rig.
Now the flooring, underbelly insulation are compromized with the moisture.
RV cold weather# 101. do not trickle. It causes more trouble than it solves.

There are different types of auto antifreeze now. The original one is ethylene glycol. I work in a chemical plant that did manufacture it. It is the poisen if consumed. It has a reportable quanity if spilled of 5000lbs. If it were as bad as some of you believe we would all go to jail when a radiater hose on the truck split open. The amount used to protect a drain from freezing won't come close to that. Just make sure that it is not emptied where animals can come in contact with it. It has a very sweet taste and they will drink all that they can find.

I'm probably a bit late with my comments.
I'm no environmentalist. But I would avoid using auto anti freeze simply because it is so toxic/poisonous to animals or anything else that might accidentally ingest it. Granted you are only using a small bit in a pinch.

Burbman I know you have some Vodka,Jack Daniels or some kind of Booze stashed somewhere! Use the bottle stashed under the drivers seat...LOL
Alcohol will work in a pinch.

use the Banfrost 2000,if you are worried about it diluting .