Disposal of old Anti-Freeze

jac

jac

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I must confess that in the past I have always being the most environmentally friendly and will use the old water/antifreeze mix to flush out the salt water cooling with the inevitable result that some ends up in the water. (most seems to end up all over me but that's a different story.)

What do others do? Is their a decent way of disposing of it or am I being over sensitive.
 
jac said:
I must confess that in the past I have always being the most environmentally friendly and will use the old water/antifreeze mix to flush out the salt water cooling with the inevitable result that some ends up in the water. (most seems to end up all over me but that's a different story.)

What do others do? Is their a decent way of disposing of it or am I being over sensitive.
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Its a hazardous chemical waste toxic to wild life, pets and children. Sweet tasting therefore attractive to drink!

Via a licensed toxic waste disposal contractor is I am afraid the proper way.

Local councils don't seem to be able to help but your friendly local garage should be able to take it.

Most I guess goes down the drains into the sewerage system or onto waste ground but it shouldn't.

be sure to use a non toxic (propylene glycol based) antifreeze in future
 
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stick it in a sealed container and take it to a car workshop. They have processes in place to sell it off to licensed chemical waste companies.

And yes, it is pretty bloody toxic to animal life.
 
jac said:
I must confess that in the past I have always being the most environmentally friendly and will use the old water/antifreeze mix to flush out the salt water cooling with the inevitable result that some ends up in the water. (most seems to end up all over me but that's a different story.)

What do others do? Is their a decent way of disposing of it or am I being over sensitive.
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Does anti freeze ever get old? I have never changed mine on any engine.
 
birdseye said:
Does anti freeze ever get old?
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Er, yes. It deteriorates over time, losing anti-freeze, anti-boil and anti-corrosion properties. It can also become acidic and contaminated by rust, ultimately becoming a horrible brown crud. Some 'long-life' versions are reputedly good for 100,000 miles, but most are very much less. Your engine handbook should give recommended change intervals. It's not the most riveting of reads, but well worth the trouble.
 
birdseye said:
Does anti freeze ever get old? I have never changed mine on any engine.
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Modern stuff in car engines for the last decade or more should last the life of the car, I believe. But boat engines may well be using older low-tech stuff that I think is meant to be changed every two or three years. The issue hasn't arisen for me yet as the old boat was raw-water cooled and the new one has twice needed draining down and refilling for other reasons anyway.

Pete
 
prv said:
For my '99 Polo, provided it was using the purple VW coolant which it was, the recommended change interval was "never".
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Then if birdseye's boat is powered by a '99 Polo engine with purple coolant, he's got nothing to worry about. Might be a bit of a long-shot, though ;)
(I think that Polo also has an aluminium block, which may have a bearing. Well, most blocks have bearings but you know what I mean...)
 
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macd said:
Then if birdseye's boat is powered by a '99 Polo engine with purple coolant, he's got nothing to worry about. Might be a bit of a long-shot, though ;)
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Hence post #8 :)

The fact you said "miles" rather than "hours" implied you were talking about car engines, though. And I don't think what you wrote is accurate any more, for cars.

Pete
 
The most toxic thing in antifreeze is probably the methanol they put in cheap antifreeze to save on glycol, be it ethylene or propylene glycol.

Ethylene glycol is at worst hazardous, multiple prolonged exposure may go for your kidneys of liver.

The LD 50 (rat/mice/guinea pig all similar) is 5000mg/Kg so an 80Kg bloke would have to drink nearly a pint of neat antifreeze or half a gallon of 20%, it's no a credible scenario.

Do wash it off you if you get splashed though, especially if it's neat.

A gallon of 20% to 50% antifreeze isn't going to kill anything before it's diluted enough to not matter, unless the little fishes are swimming up your exhaust pipe and then they will have bigger worries than some glycol.
 
jac said:
I must confess that in the past I have always being the most environmentally friendly and will use the old water/antifreeze mix to flush out the salt water cooling with the inevitable result that some ends up in the water. (most seems to end up all over me but that's a different story.)

What do others do? Is their a decent way of disposing of it or am I being over sensitive.
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It degrades fairly quickly - over 24 hours - in seawater and the average engine's worth is below hazardous levels by the time it has spread a metre from the boat. Dumping it overboard ain't perfect, but in the grand scheme of things it's not too bad.

Edit: that's assuming good old fashioned ethylene glycol based antifreeze. The modern orange stuffs are rather nastier.
 
aquaplane said:
The most toxic thing in antifreeze is probably the methanol they put in cheap antifreeze to save on glycol, be it ethylene or propylene glycol.

Ethylene glycol is at worst hazardous, multiple prolonged exposure may go for your kidneys of liver.

The LD 50 (rat/mice/guinea pig all similar) is 5000mg/Kg so an 80Kg bloke would have to drink nearly a pint of neat antifreeze or half a gallon of 20%, it's no a credible scenario.

Do wash it off you if you get splashed though, especially if it's neat.

A gallon of 20% to 50% antifreeze isn't going to kill anything before it's diluted enough to not matter, unless the little fishes are swimming up your exhaust pipe and then they will have bigger worries than some glycol.
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JumbleDuck said:
It degrades fairly quickly - over 24 hours - in seawater and the average engine's worth is below hazardous levels by the time it has spread a metre from the boat. Dumping it overboard ain't perfect, but in the grand scheme of things it's not too bad.

Edit: that's assuming good old fashioned ethylene glycol based antifreeze. The modern orange stuffs are rather nastier.
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Not so sure than methanol is used these days although at one time it was possible to buy antifreeze that was entirely methanol based. All the specs you see now call for a glycol based antifreeze. modern engines tend to also require the OAT type.

Ethylene glycol does degrade ....... to form oxalic acid which ITYWF is in part at least responsible for the toxicity.
 
VicS said:
Not so sure than methanol is used these days although at one time it was possible to buy antifreeze that was entirely methanol based.
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IIRC methanol antifreeze was only used, or only intended to be used, as laying-up protection. It boils at 65oC, so the first time an engine runs up to temperature for any length of time, any methanol boils off.
 
VicS said:
Not so sure than methanol is used these days although at one time it was possible to buy antifreeze that was entirely methanol based. All the specs you see now call for a glycol based antifreeze. modern engines tend to also require the OAT type.
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Correction: . What I used to buy for a short time in the 1970s was a mixture of methanol and ethane diol
 
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