Re: How to flush coolant system?


"FFF" <nobody.nothing@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:qHCDf.3413$Iw6.299650@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Nobody Important wrote:
>
>> Leonard Caillouet wrote:
>>
>>> Do a little research and you might find that coolant is really not an
>>> environmental hazard. After a few days it is usually broken down by
>>> organisms in the soil or sewer systems. They spray essentially the same
>>> stuff on airplanes to de-ice all the time. The environmental effects
>>> have been negligible.
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>> There may also be other additives in newer formulations that may be a
>>> problem.
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> You have identified the problem in the second excerpt, but you minimize
>> it. Manufacturers of airplane deicing fluid do not make their recipes
>> public - yes, it's mainly ethylene and propylene glycol, but there's a
>> bunch of other stuff in there too. The airport in Toronto, Canada, has
>> spent millions on a deicing facility that recycles the fluid instead of
>> allowing it to go straight into the groundwater. They would not do this
>> if it was harmless.
>>
>> The same problem exists in automobile coolant- the recipes are top
>> seekrit and the consumer and municipality has no idea what they're
>> dumping into the sewer, which in most places goes with minimal treatment
>> into the surface water.
>>
> Aircraft deicing fluid is VERY TOXIC, Ottawa Canada's airport also spent
> millions building an aircraft deicing center to recover the fluid, even
> if the aircraft are deiced on the gate a vacuum truck appears minutes
> after push back to remove the fluid. If a dog or cat drinks the fluid it
> will die within 24 hours of kidney failure. DO NOT leave an open
> container of this fluid in a place where animals can get to it as it will
> KILL them.

No doubt ethylene glycol is toxic. That was not the point. The point is
that it it is broken down by organisms in soil and sewer systems within a
couple of days in most cases. Many airports do not recycle the fluid.

Certainly, it is best to recycle it and one should be aware of local
requirements. The point is that one should also not get in a panic if it
gets flushed down the toilet.

See the link

http://www.inchem.org/documents/cicads/cicads/cicad_22.htm#PartNumber:1
which uses these references:


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