Canberra got cold last night. Officially it was -4° where we are, but my thermometer recorded -8°. Needless to say, extensive frost, frozen water etc. I photographed a white golf course this morning. Now, tonight and the rest of the week supposed to get even colder. Canberra Airport ATIS says 7.5° now, but 2° felt.
Now the funny part. I was born in the NT, threw up in QLD. I know nothing about cold weather car ops. The rear of the car was frosted over this morning and there was a light frost on the windscreen...doofus QLDer applied the sprayers and windscreen wipers...yup, instant slush freezing from the super-chilled water hitting the sub-temp glass. I stopped and scrapped it all off
(while my 8 year old laughed her head off).
So, would adding a good dash of methanol or ethanol be sufficient as anti-freeze in our relatively mild winter? No, I am not stupid enough to add engine anti-freeze to my washer water (don't need glycol paint stripping the car!).
I have technical grade methanol and ethanol, so wondering which is better - I believe the old anti-freezes used methanol before people started drinking it...