Comments on: Anti-freeze

By: rightwingprof

rightwingprof — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:34:59 +0000

I understand it tastes more or less like sugar syrup. That would be undetectable to anyone from Atlanta, or Charleston SC.

By: John Hardin

John Hardin — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:18:33 +0000

BobG: snarf!

By: Ravenwood

Ravenwood — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:16:28 +0000

I wonder if a person can add a bittering agent themselves�

Alciblades, I was thinking that same thing. At the liquor sto’ they sell stuff called “bitters”. I would imagine that you could easily bitter your own anti-freeze to protect fluffy from your leaky radiator.

By: Cactus Jack

Cactus Jack — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:06:59 +0000

“Or, you know, you could put the anti-freeze out of reach of children.”

That would require not so common, common sense Uncle.

By: sean

sean — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:40:04 +0000

“Anti-freeze in coke or sweet tea is undetectable.”

Not if you’re born and raised in Atlanta. We take Coke and sweet tea seriously.

By: sean

sean — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:14:48 +0000

Sierra is the brand name.

By: SayUncle

SayUncle — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:14:22 +0000

Now, Alcibiades, we can’t go adding personal responsibility to the equation when it’s easier to just pass a law.

By: Alcibiades McZombie

Alcibiades McZombie — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:11:40 +0000

I wonder if a person can add a bittering agent themselves…

By: rightwingprof

rightwingprof — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:05:52 +0000

The bittering agent would make it harder to use ethylene glycol to poison somebody else — and that’s happened more than a few times. Anti-freeze in coke or sweet tea is undetectable.

By: Standard Mischief

Standard Mischief — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:50:35 +0000

There is a (or was) a form of anti-freeze that wasn�t harmful like the majority of the stuff. I can�t recall it�s name right now�

Propylene glycol, though I can't recall the brand name. It's been out for a while and I haven't heard anything too bad about it. Costs a bit more. I haven't bought any antifreeze for a few years having scored a few bottles on sale, but I suppose I'll give it a shot. Wikipedia antifreeze

By: _Jon

_Jon — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:36:36 +0000

There is a (or was) a form of anti-freeze that wasn’t harmful like the majority of the stuff. I can’t recall it’s name right now…

By: BobG

BobG — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:52:52 +0000

“In TN, there�s a proposed law to add a bittering agent to anti-freeze so it doesn�t taste good to dogs and kids:”

Dogs: this is an animal that routinely licks it’s butt, and happily eats things that smell bad enough to make a normal person puke.

Kids: kids have been known to eat cleanser, matches, and drink kerosene. The only way to get them to not drink anti-freeze would be to flavor it with spinach.

By: Joe Huffman

Joe Huffman — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:00:06 +0000

Yeah, it's a good idea to make it less likely to poison kids and animals, but it shouldn't be a government mandate. And I hope the bitter stuff doesn't interfere with my ability to make it into explosives.

By: Standard Mischief

Standard Mischief — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:48:04 +0000

If a manufacture decided to put a bittering agent in the antifreeze, and then advertise that fact, and then perhaps hike the cost of the stuff a few cents, I would voluntarily buy that brand over the others. Then the manufacturer could buy ads in say Dog Fancy to tout it’s brand superiority, and other brands would follow suit. After a few years of testing, we could be sure that the additive did not have any unforeseen drawbacks. Only then would I carefully consider a goverment mandate.

Or we could just roll with a knee-jerk goverment mandate like when California lead the nation in low-sulfur diesel at the pump. The process of removing the sulfur also removed lubrication that the injector pumps needed. It also removed some of the more volatile compounds in the mix that happened to keep the rubber gaskets soft and pliable. So you suddenly had a bunch of expensive-to-repair vehicles on the road leaking engine oil all over the pavement. Not exactly what the feel-good knee-jerk environmental regulations were shooting for.

By: FFLLiberty

FFLLiberty — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:47:04 +0000

Honestly, I would MUCH rather see legislation requiring that possession and distribution of anti-freeze be regulated by a federal agency. You should be of good moral character to possess such a dangerous chemical. Hmmm … perhaps you’d have to notify your state agency within 24 hours of spilling antifreeze on the floor of your garage? You know … it’s for the children and all.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:46:17 +0000

It is leaking radiator fluid that frequently kills Fluffy and Spot out in the garage, without ill will or misconduct on anyone’s part. I have had to stop my dog from licking up spilled glycol during changes of radiator fluid; a bad taste would likely stop animals and kids from lapping the stuff off the floor. The comparison to the smelly scent added to natural gas is very apt, although that is done to increase the ability to detect the gas, not to prevent or inhibit inhalation. And if it stinks along with tasting bad, the additive will increase owner awareness of readiator leaks. I’d buy antifreeze with such an additive.

By: Jim W

Jim W — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:06:16 +0000

Actually that is a brilliant idea. We basically do the same thing with natural gas, which would be odorless but for the aromatic hydrocarbons we mix in.