Forum Discussion

Explorer II

Oct 04, 2013

Does your RV Antifreeze contain Ethyl Alcohol?

Maybe I've been living underneath a rock, but I didn't know ethyl alcohol was ethanol. Ethanol is widely known to degrade rubber/plastic seals and hoses in older engines, especially older boat engines. It's for this very reason NON-ethanol gas is widely available in marinas around the country.

This thread was started in the Toy Hauler forum of rv.net and I thought it might be appropriate to make it available here in the Tech Issues forum.

Me, I don't want to take any chances with the rubber seals in my faucets and toilet, so I returned my 3 gallons of Wal-Mart branded RV antifreeze that contains ethyl alcohol and purchased 3 gallons of Prestone RV Waterline Antifreeze which contains only propylene glycol. It cost almost twice as much, but it's worth it for my peace-of-mind.

mrekim
Explorer
Oct 05, 2013
I was going to use this:

It has rust inhibitors, but they must be "safe" ones?
BB_TX
Nomad
Oct 05, 2013
Read the labels. Some contain ethyl alcohol, some contain only propylene glycol, some contain a mix. I use the ones with only propylene glycol.
NEOK
Explorer
Oct 05, 2013
Last year I think DOW and Prestone antifreeze didn't contain and ethanol. Not sure about this years batch
hammer21661
Explorer
Oct 05, 2013
The alcohol really screwed up the seals and check valves in the boat toilets. Eventually the spigots and stuff would start leaking. We get the camco freezeban -50 at the marina. It doesn't have alcohol in it the -100 does.Well did a few years back.

We used to have a customer who used CHEAP vodka.
ktmrfs
Explorer II
Oct 04, 2013
Dr Jay wrote:
The rv safe antifreeze I use and am familiar with are made of propylene glycol.

that was real common a few years ago. More and more take a look at the label. Many that used to be just propylene glycol now have a mixture of propylene glycol and ethyl alcohol.
Dr_Jay
Explorer
Oct 04, 2013
The rv safe antifreeze I use and am familiar with are made of propylene glycol.
mlts22
Explorer
Oct 04, 2013
Yep, ethanol in RV antifreeze is pretty common. It allows it to be cheaper, and provides a germ-killing effect as well.