Pink stuff froze
This was a real surprise. Yesterday, winterized the Motor Home. I forgot and left the Pink stuff sitting on the back porch over night. It got down to 21 last night. There was a little over a fourth st...
Forum Discussion
mobeewan wrote:Ethylene glycol and ethyl alcohol are two different very different things. Well, technically, they're related chemically (ethylene glycol is a double alcohol), but they're different chemicals with very different properties.
There are two types of pink RV antifreeze for winterizing your water lines. One is ethylene glycol which has ethyl alcohol and the other is propylene glycol which is alcohol free and the safer of the two for drinking water systems.
You're not going to find any RV antifreeze made from ethylene glycol because it's poisonous. It is commonly used for automotive (engine) antifreeze.
Ethylene (ethyl alcohol, the stuff we drink) is sometimes used in RV antifreeze. To do so, it's "denatured." That is, something poisonous or bad tasting is added to it. Since it's going into a potable water system, poisoning is out, which means it's bad tasting. That makes it hard to get the taste out in the spring, since the bad tasting stuff can get into the plastic of the water lines.
The other RV antifreeze is propylene glycol, as you say. It's non-poisonous, and GRAS (generally recognized as safe). It's also a double alcohol, and is chemically related to isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol).
