Why Is Antifreeze So Delicious?

[Synirr]

I thought this article was very informative and can shed some light on why antifreeze, while being so toxic, is readily ingested by pets and small children. My family uses the safer Sierra antifreeze, which might be something for all of us with pets to think about

http/www.slate.com/id/2103821/

 

[timmystood]

I never use antifreeze! I just use a boiling kettle over the windowscreen!

 

[Puffer_freak]

I never use antifreeze! I just use a boiling kettle over the windowscreen!

Don't use a boiling kettle! You could easily crack your windscreen! just plain cold or lukewarm water is enough to melt the ice, as ice melts and freezes at 0 degrees C.

 

[tidytourniquet]

I dont have a car but antifreeze doesn't have anything to do with the window, deicer is used for the window.

I just watched a show not too long ago about a women who killed her husband with that stuff. She would mix it with some fruit juice and tell him it was a vitamin drink so he wouldn't ever say anything about the taste.

 

[Synirr]

This link explains what antifreeze does. Basically it's for your engine coolant so it doesn't freeze in cold weather. Coolant keeps your engine from overheating, but if the coolant freezes solid you're not going to be able to start your engine in the first place

 

[soritan]

I keep my antifreeze in my truck, and only in my truck, so my animals are never exposed to it. If I can't trust my cat with an open electric chord, how can I trust him with something flavored?

 

[The-Wolf]

I have a vauge memory of some Ex-"eastern-european block" country
flooding the UK market with cheap wine, which turned out to be mostly anti-freeze.

 

[thelastbetta]

My mom uses antifreeze a lot but she puts it in the shed which is locked so no kid or animal can get at it.

 

[Mr.September15]

Mmmmmmmmm...Antifreeze.....

 

[Synirr]

I have a vauge memory of some Ex-"eastern-european block" country
flooding the UK market with cheap wine, which turned out to be mostly anti-freeze.

The article addresses that myth... it was actually diethylene glycol they added to the wine, not ethylene glycol, which is what's in antifreeze and is considerably more poisonous.

 

[Jen]

I have a vauge memory of some Ex-"eastern-european block" country
flooding the UK market with cheap wine, which turned out to be mostly anti-freeze.

That was done in an episode of the Simpsons if I remember correctly. Bart was sent to France on an exchange program.

Ah, the simpsons!

 

[SRC]

You don't have to spill antifreeze or leave it where animals/children can get to it for them to get any and it be devistating.

Cars leak antifreeze all the time..go to any given parking lot (especially in the winter) and take a look around..at all the little green puddles (anti-freeze is generally flourescent green colored). A tablespoon, if I'm not mistaken, is enough to kill a small animal (like a cat, raccoon, opposum, ect.) in a matter of days (irreversable damage is done after only 1 day without charcoal treatment though).

As Synirr said, you need coolant in your car at all times, otherwise your engine will over-heat and it will expire..quickly.
Most people use water during the summer (which they really shouldn't..it doesn't keep your engine nearly as cool as antifreeze, which lessens the life of your engine parts) and use anti-freeze during the winter. It simply keeps the water in your radiator, and water filled engine parts, from freezing and bursting..which will ruin whatever part ruptures. If you drive your car with frozen water in the engine..not only can it crack your radiator but it can also crack the head gasket (due to over heating) whcih will allow water to get into your oil pan, which is very expensive and in most cases not even worth fixing (in older cars, due to the costs, because they have to tear the entire engine apart to fix it).

What we all really need to do is keep a check on our cars. When you pull out from your parking spot...periodically get out and check the ground to see if you are leaking any fluids. If there are any wet spots..find out what it is (you can wipe a papertowel on the spot and smell of it..if it has a sweet odor it's anti-freeze, if it has a more motor-y smell it's probably oil...neither are very good for the environment BTW) and GET IT FIXED!!!

Just because you keep your bottle of anti-freeze locked up away from YOUR pets, doesn't mean you are keeping ALL animals safe from it's effects...that puddle dripping under your car, your neighbors cars, ect...will kill just as readily.

Just some FYI.

 

[beanie.law]

Info in case anyone ever needs it: the antidote for antifreeze is alcohol. This is true btw.

 

[Synirr]

Vets often save a pet from antifreeze poisoning by giving a drug to induce vomiting and then pumping the animal's stomach full of activated charcoal to absorb what's left

 

[timmystood]

I never use antifreeze! I just use a boiling kettle over the windowscreen!

Don't use a boiling kettle! You could easily crack your windscreen! just plain cold or lukewarm water is enough to melt the ice, as ice melts and freezes at 0 degrees C.

I meant lukewarm not boiling! Sorry!