Smelly washer fluid

Rob wrote:

Empty it by using a long bit of tube poked into the bottle and use it as a
siphon, fill with boiling water and drain again.  Fill with 50-50 screen
wash.

On 12/05/2012 11:06, Mrcheerful wrote:

Thanks - didn't fancy the tube siphon (risk of swallowing!) - wouldn't
emptying with the pump be just as effective? On which, I saw a piece of
tube in Halfords with a brass collared end, claiming to siphon if
wiggled. How/does that work (at £8)?

I had thought of adding a cap of bleach to cold water, then pumping that
through. But hadn't thought of boiling water so if the bleach is daft,
I'll give that a try.

Rob

On Sun, 13 May 2012 10:23:37 +0100, Rob wrote:

[...]


You don't need to suck to start a syphon. Immerse the tube in a bucket of
water, place a finger over one end, lift the tube out full of water, and
put the open end in the container.


The pump won't be rated for continuous use, so you risk damaging it. If
the contamination contains solids (likely) you risk blocking the pump.


The bleach may damage the plastics; it's not nice stuff to have around
paintwork either!

If you want to try that, I suggest Milton sterilising fluid.

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

Not all wash systems can cope with boiling water. The pumps are not rated
for use above ambient and may contain components that will soften above
60C. The vinyl tube used will stretch and may become disconnected if warmed
above 45C.


Milton is bleach with added salt. It's not going to be any better than
dilute bleach for paintwork and probably worse for corrosion.

Bleach is probably good enough, provided that it is diluted before use.

if one is scared of bleach there are disinfectants that are milder, but
they are relatively expensive. Dettol spray disinfectant is good for
getting rid of mould from Aircon for example but it costs about 100x as
much as bleach. I wouldn't reccomend Dettol for wash bottles.

Personally, I'd not risk bleach getting onto the paintwork.

--
*Who is this General Failure chap anyway -  and why is he reading my HD? *

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Rob wrote:

A jiggle siphon is an interesting gadget, you immerse the end with the valve
and lift and lower rapidly, the liquid moves slowly up the pipe till it gets
to the high point and then the siphoning starts.  As to sucking to start the
siphon, if you use clear tube you can see the liquid or as Chris says just
fill the whole tube, put a finger over one end and the other into the grungy
water and lower the end with the finger to below the washer bottle, remove
finger and the siphoning should start.

A basic disinfectant would be safer than bleach, but screen wash on its own
should be fine.

On Sun, 13 May 2012 10:23:37 +0100, Rob wrote:


Since water is still going through I'd use a windscreen antifreeze and
pour some neat into the bottle. It does contain an anti-bacterial as
well as the antifreeze and I've not had any bacterial since I started
using it in the summer as well as in winter but at a lower
concentration. The pumps aren't designed for continuous use and you run
the risk of burning it out if you pump the whole bottle through. That's
why I'd put the antifreeze in but use the washers frequently.

I'd not risk boiling water in a washer bottle incase something deforms
due to the heat but if Mrcheerful does it I'd expect it to be ok.

The Halfords tube will have a valve at the end and moving it up and
down forces water up on the downstroke and the valve closes to keep it
there. It will start syphoning after a few goes.

Once you get it emptied bung some screenwash in and it won't come back.
The concentration to use should be on the bottle, at least it is on the
CarPlan stuff I use.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail    rpont (at) gmail (dot) com

rp wrote:

the boiling water takes the stuff off that is stuck to the inside of the
pipe to the tank, I have never had any problems after using it, but I
suppose there could be some circumstance where it will be a problem, in
general though there will always be some old water in there to cool it down
a bit.