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you have two choices really - move to Scotland where you can get real water that hasn't passed through 8 people first straight from the tap or go Asda, Tesco et al and buy their own brand mineral water for approx 17p for two litres.
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L'escargot, surely you must be making the screenwash up too weak. I make mine up in advance too, and keep it in a cupboard, and have never had algae or anything like that. I would've thought with a mixture containing alcohol, that algae wouldn't grow?!
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I would've thought with a mixture containing alcohol that algae wouldn't grow?!
I'm lead to believe that algae will even grow in underground diesel storage tanks so I don't suppose a little alcohol will deter it.
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L\'escargot.
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AAh, Ok. Me understand! My car grew some lovely black smelly stuff in the washer tank too!
The double-edged sword is obviously that the stuff which will kill smelly organisms will either pong itself (Dettol) or devour your paintwork (bleach).
I've got into the habbit of blasting the inside of washer bottle (under the bonnet) with the hose every time I wash the car, and then refilling, adding a bit of bleach to kill any nasties, rinsing and refilling with clean water/screenwash.
Obviously wouldn't work on rear washers, though.
What do you use as an antifreeze for washer bottles, By the way? (Not a problem this side - just curious)
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A few drops of Zoflora. Kills bugs, smells nice, cheap.
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Top tips - thanks. I think the combination of low use, in the summer, and the high temperatures then, and in the engine bay can cause all sorts of unpleasant life forms to grow in the washer fluid. I have put in a bit of Dettol and then I shall run to empty and give the reservoir a good blast thru as suggested above.
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What do you use as an antifreeze for washer bottles By the way? (Not a problem this side - just curious)
I just use the screenwash from the pound shop(!!) and its freezing point is hopefully lower than 0 celsius. However when it's REALLY cold, or the car's got an inch of snow on it, the washers don't tend to be very effective.
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>>I've got into the habbit of blasting the inside of washer bottle (under the bonnet) with the hose every time I wash the car, and then refilling
>>
Unless you have a Focus. It has a wonderful design of bottle neck that has two 90 degree bends so no chance of blasting it. :-((
( I miss the simple rubber dip stick on my old Sierra.)
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"the bottle always gets algae forming in it"
Most of which will stay in the bottle and continue to grow. It needs a good clean with a bottle brush, if you can get at it, with some bleach in the water. Flush this out and make up new solution with plenty of wash mixture to discourage further growth. Tap water is a better bet than mineral, because it will have been chlorinated already (to prevent the same problem in pipes and storage).
Using the washer more often might help, too...
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All Seasons Screen Clean from the local supermarket - just up the concentration in the winter.
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I use about 10% Halfords screen wash, bit stronger in freezing conditions.
Never had any unwanted pongs or algae. I do have to use front and back washers regularly on the Passat estate.
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I use distilled water during the summer and a 50/50 distilled water and screen wash in winter.
I found using a mix all year round caused the small filter at the bottom of the washer bottle to gunk up and block.
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I use distilled water during the summer ..........
So how close to distilled water is water from a condensing tumble dryer?
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L\'escargot.
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So how close to distilled water is water from a condensing tumble dryer?
No idea, I buy mine from the supermarket.
A gallon for £1 and I get a (free) container to dump used engine oil in afterwards :)
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People seem to be forgetting than distilled water (otherwise known as de-mineralised water) is NOT the same as mineral water!!!
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People seem to be forgetting than distilled water (otherwise known as de-mineralised water) is NOT the same as mineral water!!!
This is marked and sold as distilled water for topping up batteries and using in irons etc...
It's a hard water area with a lot of chalk deposits so people rely on this stuff to keep their household appliances and cars/motorbikes happy.
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gmac what part of the country do you live in?! Glad you're buying the right stuff, unfortunately someone further up the thread isn't, if they think Tesco's 17p mineral water is the same as distilled water. The water here in County Durham is fairly soft, my kettle still has a nice shiny element after 3 years of use.
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gmac what part of the country do you live in?! The water here in County Durham is fairly soft my kettle still has a nice shiny element after 3 years of use.
When I'm up in your neck of the woods I use tap water (Northumbrian waters finest). However down in Wiltshire it's a white cloudy mix and over in Germany a kettle can die in a matter of months if not regularly decalked.
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>> So how close to distilled water is water from a condensing tumble dryer? No idea I buy mine from the supermarket.
Having said that, I did use the condensed water from our aircon unit and that worked with no problems. Not sure I would use it in a coolant change but for the windscreen it was fine.
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I thought the discusion centered around screen washers - where does distilled water come into that????
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where does distilled water come into that????
Well because it's hopefully more-or-less pure H2O. Hence it shouldn't be a breeding ground for algae. The OP is basically distilling his own water (i.e. condensing steam), and wanted to know if it was OK to use in his washer bottle as a purer alternative to his tap-water.
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a few dropes of vinegar prevent algae and clean screen
madf
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a few dropes of vinegar ...
Good for chips in the windscreen as well, I'm sure...
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well as I said before - move north - I have never ever had algae or anything else in my washer bottles in over 25 years of car ownership.
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I've used water from a dehumidifier in cooling systems and screen washer bottles for years without problems. I recently found a 4 litre plastic container in the garage full of such water (with no additives) and it was completely clear. It had been there at least two years
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well as I said before - move north
I see a business opportunity here! I could bottle my nice "Northumbrian Water's Finest" and sell it to you southeners who have chalky water! Excellent! Imagine the savings you'd make in terms of washing-up-liquid and shampoo as well... ;-)
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Don't encourage them. They'll be clogging up our roads and pushing up the house prices. And I bet they'll complain about the whippets. :-)
JH
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We filter tumble dryer condensate through muslin for the steam iron and trap significant amounts of fluff - enough to block the muslin altogether if we dont keep moving it in the funnel.
Use the washer regularly is amongst the best advice on this thread. Cars round here tend to pick up dust from the fields, pollen, and cr*p from railway/motorway so that washing is a year round activity. And the Berlingo has a washer pump that wouldn't disgrace a power shower so goes through 5 litres in 10 days even in summer. Never get gunk in the bottles
If L'escargot is getting algae in home made pre-mix he might try cleaning out the storage jerries with Bruclens or similar.
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If L'escargot is getting algae in home made pre-mix he might try cleaning out the storage jerries with Bruclens or similar.
I've even tried bleach (in addition to scrubbing) but the algae still keeps coming back. The mixture is 10% Halfords Screenwash, 90% Anglian Water tap water and the container is sealed and kept in a cupboard. As a last resort I'll try Bruclens or similar.
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L\'escargot.
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What about using rain water? I collect it for washing my car. Mind you, the rain over here is probably quite pure and not contaminated as it probably would be in a large town.
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Distilled water will allow algae grow in your washer bottle as surely as tap, mineral or tumble dryer water. But if you're making the screenwash up to the correct concentration, the alcohol content should stop algae growing.
If you already have algae in the bottle, you need to clean that out first to prevent the residual growth colonising the new solution when you add it.
Don't use mineral water or hard tap water - the limescale in either will clog the washer jets over time. Likewise, water from the tumble dryer condenser is likely to contain fluff, detergent residue etc. If scale is a problem, use either distilled water or boiled water from the kettle (boiling removes the so-called "temporary" hardness caused by calcium bicarbonate; "permanent" hardness is caused by calcium carbonate and needs an ion-exchanger (aka a Brita water filter!) to treat it. Rain water works too (unless you live in an area prone to smog) and is good for fish tanks too, by the way.
If you can't get a brush into your washer bottle to clean it, try dilute bleach solution first. Failing that, a solution of 70% alcohol in water (made with the cheapest bottle of own-brand vodka you can find in the supermarket) should do the trick without damaging the paintwork if you end up spraying some of it on the windscreen.
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In many cases, bottled mineral water is EXACTLY the same as tap water. Some of the water boards are making a fortune bottling the same water they put in the mains. Most supermarket bottled water is no better, nor worse, than tap water.
"Hardness" of water shouldn't affect washer bottles - the deposits only come out at higher temperatures - that's why your hot water system and kettles will scale up, but not the cold system.
I've only ever used cheap washer concentrate, at double strength, and never had any problem even on cars kept 8-10 years from new. In winter, I triple the strength and add a measure of meths (de-mineralised methylated spirits).
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In many cases bottled mineral water is EXACTLY the same as tap water.
No it's not. Tap water is treated, mineral water isn't, and the source of the water is different.
A few companies do bottle tap water but it ends up being worse than tap water mainly as it has a lot of the chlorine removed. Coca-Cola had a PR disaster with their purified tap water, Dasani.
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Advice from Scotland on Smelly Windscreen Washers- we do not have hard water in Scotland so not advice on chalk.
If you have smelly washers try adding a few spoons of Milton (steriliser / disinfectant for babies bottles) or the tablet equivalent.
No babies in the house? Try a neighbour with young kids as they will have a bottle at the back of a cupboard or some tablets in a drawer.
Works well and should clear the smells - only needed once and should be a smell free washer bottle for many months (if not years).
HJ's solution in the DT last week was attack the washer bottle with a hose and clean it out with the force of the water - Milton/Tablets is a lot easier and less messy.
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Bill Payer - South Staffordshire Water Company use the same source of water for bottling and local mains supply - Elmhurst Spring and Maple Spring - from a Trades Description point of view any water coming from boreholes can be called mineral water.
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