Homemade Windshield Washer Fluid, Recipe Considerations

Disclaimer: If you blow yourself up, burn your face-off, or in any other stupid way find out that products with hydrogen in them can burn, do not try to sue me. You make your own choices. If you don't understand what I explain, then just don't screw with the stuff (or get someone that truly understands to help you out). This isn't to scare anyone, but rather for people that don't know any better that might hurt themselves.

Searches for Homemade Windshield Washer Fluids are quite prevalent of late. I decided to help come up with a method for deciding how much methanol, ethanol, or White-Vinegar, etc. to mix with water for custom designing your own solutions. First of all, methanol is the most common anti-freeze liquid used in windshield wiper fluids today. Common 'Rain-X Ice-X, TM' is made with a 20% methanol, 80% (Water and other stuff). Other 'stuff' is for quick removal of window crud, (Di-Butyoxyethalene). Only a teaspoon of Di-Butyoxyethalene is needed, however a small amount of surfactant (dish soap) will do in the case that you can't locate any (it is a little more difficult to find).

Water and soap are the main ingredients for cleaning road grime (especially guts) off your windows that you will encounter in the winter. In the summer however, is when bugs come out, at which time putting in a sparing amount of Vinegar in with the water will more than suffice for green (and other color) guts that you might see splattered on the windshield. Vinegar is not much better than water as far as freezing properties go, so it's pointless to use Vinegar in the winter (rather than pure water) IMHO (In my humble opinion).

Why did they use 20% methanol instead of 100% or just 5% you ask? Well, here is a chart about Methanol with some key information which I will briefly explain.

Keep designed concentrations well within the temperatures of your working environment if you don't want the solution to freeze, or worse, explode. This comment will be explained a little further on.

Methanol (METHYL ALCOHOL) Conc.
Vol.% ---Freezing Point,F ---Flash Point,F

0----------32f--------No Flash
13---------20f --------130f
24---------0f ---------110f
35---------15f---------95f
46 --------40f---------85f
56---------65f---------75f
66---------95f---------70f
75---------115f--------60f
83---------125f--------55f
92---------130f--------55f
100--------144f--------55f

What is a 'flash point'/freezing point?
- A 'flash point' is a temperature at which a particular liquid changes from liquid, to steam. For instance (from the above chart), if one mixes 24 parts Methanol with 76 parts water, then the liquid will freeze at 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and start turning to steam at 110 degrees Fahrenheit. So with the above mentioned mixture at a temperature of 110 degrees Fahrenheit, some of the Methanol will turn into steam and thus be liable to combustion (blowing up) if it is introduced to a spark or open flame, etc. So if you love your face, (or even if you don't really care for your face) you should make sure that the mixtures you use will coincide with natural temperatures of the environment in which the liquid will be stored (don't forget about engine heat too if that could be a problem).

For instance, in Arizona in the summer you could probably do with just water and dish soap or detergent in your windshield wiper reservoir. For cold snaps that get down to say, 20 Fahrenheit in Arizona, just use a 13% solution, but remember to dilute the solution before you get up above 130 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer otherwise the fumes produced may burn at a most inopportune time.

If you were in Alaska (as I am), you would be okay with a 65% solution in the winter which will give not freeze before -71 Celsius (-95 Fahrenheit), but at the same time won't start flashing to steam until 70 Fahrenheit. Such a solution would give you plenty of time to lower the solution down to less than say 35% Methanol concentration for the summer weather (-15 Fahrenheit-Freezing, 95 Fahrenheit Flash).

The reason you would want to 'do-it-yourself' for naysayers is so that you have a reliable mixture to clean your windows during any bad weather that you might encounter. I have to travel 45 miles on some of the nastiest mud/salt highway mixture in the world Monday through Friday on my work commute. Seeing is a necessity. If you buy over the counter remedies sometimes they don't work...often they freeze. So I rely on myself to design my own. By the way you can often buy methanol at a nearby race-track (its used in race cars and go-carts). Just make sure that you mark your canister well because you don't want someone to mistake Methanol for Gasoline.

Here is a link to another blog that does a good job ( and that I referenced to get some of my information).

http://madscientistmatt.blogspot.com/2006/02/homemade-windshield-washer-fluid.html

For warmer climates there are other cheap options such as;

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_make_homemade_windshield_washer_fluid

But such solutions as (windex mixed with dish soap and water do not take cold into account) and so in my opinion defeat the purpose of windshield washer cleaner because it is cheaper (or at least close to the same price to just buy it from the store if you don't care if it freezes).

I hope this helped.

Interview Thoughts and Notes

Today I was contacted by Portage Inc., an Environmental Engineering firm based out of Idaho Falls, but located all over the United States including Anchorage, Alaska (where our family is contemplating a move to). I thought I could use this opportunity to record some thoughts and notes that will help me do well in the interview.

My most favorable and important attribute that I can offer as a potential entry-level hire is not my technical expertize, but rather my passion for Mechanical Engineering. So the question is how do I demonstrate my extraordinary passion in the interview?

1. Show enthusiasm for the job
2. Come up with behavioral examples of situations which resulted in favorable outcomes in the form of results.
3. Show a drive for achieving excellence and a "can do" attitude.
4. Show that you can be relied upon to do what you say you will do.
5. Incorporate the actual words, "positive attitude", "striving to do my best" and "Passion for excellence" into the interview.
   

Yesterday, I went to the Internship and Career Center at the Kimball building on the BYU–I campus in order to have a mock interview. During the interview the first thing that stood out to me is that I don't have a descent answer for the "Tell me a little bit about yourself.", statement. So a 30 -Second Sound bite about who I am is the first thing that I am going to work on here. I will focus on a few different points of description of my work background.

1. It should be tailored to the job description and the culture of the company.
2. It should include such things as work experience, special skills, education, and training.
3. It should include your most positive points.
4. In as short a statement as possible tell them the measurable results you deliver, and who you deliver them to. Then shut up.
5. Don’t try to tell them EVERYTHING in one breath. Tell them something that is so powerfully grabbing that they just have to ask you for more, and even then when you respond keep it short, keep them asking for more.

Over the last couple of days I realized that the amount of information that I came up with in my excel spreadsheet that I made was way too much for a "30 Second Elevator Pitch". So, I will post a picture with my excel spreadsheet here. My pdf with answers incorporating the aspects that were spoken of above will be introduced in the next post.

So Much to Love; Or, Why I Love My Wife

To be continued......

Place Yourself in a Safe Position and then Resolve to Never Move

As a boy of five or so, it was my father who first expressed to me the importance of maintaining ones position when one is correct. Acquiescing a position in order to appease an aggressor belies noble character. This philosophy has helped me to become a very idealistic if inherently stubborn person. In the past, if I thought my view was correct, I would doggishly hold on to it no matter what the consequences. To the extent that my view was truly "correct", such a stance, I thought was noble and somehow enabling even in the midst of adverse consequences.

Sometimes however, my view was correct from my vantage point, but my vantage (I found out later) was myopic. In such cases it can be very easy to have a false view of "truth". Because of the fact that my view is myopic, there must needs to be an unchanging measure of true and false understandings.

My belief is that life's understanding must be based on true principles that do not change. The only set of principles that I know of which do not change are contained in the Gospel. Heavenly Father has the big picture of the universe. Heavenly Father has purposefully placed over us a veil, so that we do not have the full view of eternity in our grasp. We can thus learn to choose the right even outside the direct presence of our Heavenly Father. The set of principles upon which I have chosen to place myself are those of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These principles are true and unchanging. This I know to be true.