# Cheap Vodka For Anit-Freeze In Your Water Tank?



## Beachnut

Hey All









On my last prospecting camping trip, on the way to the "gold fields" with the trailer in tow, I began to worry about just how cold it might get at night, and worried about the potential freezing of the water tank, or water lines... I was stinking over what I could put in the fresh water tank to prevent freezing when I was struck with a Brilliant idea,,







buy some cheap vodka and pour a 5th of it into the 42 gallon water storage tank to up its freezing temperature!







Well, I tried it! It actually made the water taste BETTER than the usual funky tank taste it usually has, and the thought of "bellying up to the fauset" had me laughing every time I got a "drink"!







Alas, it only dropped to 26 degrees (31 at 9pm to a low of 26 at 6am) and I do not think that is cold enough to cause freeze damage as I have gone all the way down to 23 degrees in our 230RS at night with no vodka, and no problems with freezing tanks or lines. I always turn the heater off at bedtime as I am always dry camping, and the heater would kill the batteries before morning as the thermostat only goes down to 55 degrees low! Showers were fine, the water heater did not blow up,, you really could not tell you were bathing in Vodka N water, and it only improved the flavor of the water. (You could not really taste any vodka in it as one 5th into 42 gallons is really a small amount).

*Anyone out there think the Vodka would help as a good drinkable antifreeze for the plumbing?*









It sure helps make for a "happy Camper"!

Beachnut


----------



## NDKoze

Interesting idea.

My question is whether a 5th of vodka is enough to make any difference when it is deluded with 42 gallons of water.

My guess is that you would need a gallon or two to make any noticeable effect.

This is an interesting thread. I am looking forward to hearing responses from more knowledgeable people than me.


----------



## duggy

Being in Canada, I was thinking that would be a terribly expensive way to keep the tank from freezing. Our booze is taxed so high, that even the cheapest bottle of vodka would be at least $25. The sixty pounders of rye that I buy are almost $60.00. It's easy to see why Canadians try to bring all the booze they can, back from the States!
It's an interesting idea, but I think I'd use some $4.00 plumbing anti-freeze, and drink from a bottle of water.


----------



## titanizer

Not to po po on you're parade, but RV anitfreeze if only $4.oo /ga . I've used maybe 2 ga. each yr. What vodka is $8.00/ga? Sure H2O tastes better, but is that your objective?


----------



## cdn campers

i think beach nut has the right idea , in these days of global warming .and there is such an abundence of yellow snow, one cant, be to careful. no one wants to read in the news paper how some one got stuck and died of thirst while winter camping. the vodka is a great idea. and if you put some food coloring in the tank. you could serve shooters. heres to drinking triples, seeing double and acting single. cheers


----------



## Beachnut

The "cheap vodka" I bought was like $9.99 for the 5th, at a very remote, one store town, so I bet I could get it even cheaper in a "real" town with discount stores. (Sorry for those living in Canada). What I am trying to do is add *something* to the fresh water tank that is safe, and drinkable, able to shower in, yet, raise the freezing temp. for the water in the tank and pipes, / hot water heater. So if I am camping in below 33 degree weather, (Like 31 degrees at 9pm, to 26 degrees at 7am, which were sub freezing temps for 10 hours straight), I will not have to fear freezing damage to the trailers fresh water systems.

Is this $4-5.00 RV antifreeze drinkable, and something you could shower in, or is it the stuff you "winterize" your trailer with when it is in cold storage?

Here in Central Coastal California, and out in the desert, We camp year round. But with so much "Global warming" it gets real COLD, (below freezing) for long periods of time, hence the need for a drinkable, good to use in the shower, anti freeze. Hopefully, cheap vodka will work???

Beachnut


----------



## Snow

This is very interesting... Think beachnut just gave us Northern ice people an idea and way to bring back 42 gallons of booze from the States ...

Buy the booze in large quantities at a discount liquor store (like discount liquor in Niagara Falls, NY) and fill your (drained) fresh water tank with it.. when you drive back into the land of high taxes, you claim your one bottle and say nothing of the "water" your carrying ... Once home, just fill up empty pop bottles, water bottles or even those medium sized wine making jugs , just set them under your water tank drain and fill away ...


----------



## raynardo

According to Wikipedia:

80 proof vodka will freeze at approximately -26.95 °C or -16.51 °F.

100 proof vodka will freeze at approximately -40.43 °C or -40.78 °F (Pure ethanol, the active ingredient in vodka, freezes at -114.3 °C).

I'm sure you can lower the freezing point of the water in your tank based upon the percentage of vodka to alcohol.

But you must still consider the holding tanks and their tendency to freeze as well: the grey water should remain the same percentage of as the original percentage of the water tank, but the black water would not since the human body processes the alcohol quite effectively (I should know, I became a chemical engineer in my retirement, effectively converting alcohol to urine). Of course if one flushes copiously, the black water alcohol content should remain effective, and thereby lowering the freezing point.

The previous has been brought to you as a public service announcement.


----------



## Beachnut

I am surprised Vodka could freeze at such a high temp.. I do not usually drink "the hard stuff", but I have seen friends store their vodka in the freezer, and it is never frozen. I think freezers are much colder than -26 degrees, but maybe not. It sounds like I would need more votka than a non Russian would want in his drinking water to accomplish the "antifreeze" I am hoping to achieve... Maybe I can try it in an experiment... Take a gallon milk jug of water, then add say 1/42nd of a say *2* 5ths, or even the largest cheap jug of vodka, then stick it in the freezer and see if it freezes...









I was not worried about the black or gray tanks, as they both have something other than just water in them. The gray would have soap in it, and I actually use a porta potty for liquids while camping in the out back, as that allows me 3 weeks + space in the black tank for just "solids", (less liquid)... (I always totally fill the black tank with left over water so it gets all sloshed around on the trip home).. I know, too much information.... But I think the black and gray tanks are less likely to freeze in California LOW temps than the potential for the water lines, or fresh water tank.

I think the BEST idea on this thread is "importing" 42 gallons of booze across the boarder, in an RV tank!!!








I wonder if it is already being done? Ever see a boarder agent "sniffing" at a fresh water tank???

Beachnut


----------



## rsm7

I think the idea has some merit and we should probably do alot more testing.


----------



## CdnOutback

And hope the customs officer does not smoke while walking around the RV.....


----------



## willingtonpaul

I have winterized with vodka in the past. I added red food coloring and pumped it into the lines like RV antifreeze. Then in the spring, using water to flush out the lines the same way, we mixed up martinis and had an opening party. I got this trick from a sailboat owner; they did it every year. I took about 5 1.75L bottles of vodka, which were like $12 a piece IIRC. Not cheap, but that is not the point.

We only did it once, but will do it again sometime. The hardest part was being able to plan the opening party and have both good weather to do it and enough people around so the vodka did not go to waste.

I see little value in adding it to the fresh water tank, personally.


----------



## Gazel_le

Beachnut said:


> Hey All
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On my last prospecting camping trip, on the way to the "gold fields" with the trailer in tow, I began to worry about just how cold it might get at night, and worried about the potential freezing of the water tank, or water lines... I was stinking over what I could put in the fresh water tank to prevent freezing when I was struck with a Brilliant idea,,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> buy some cheap vodka and pour a 5th of it into the 42 gallon water storage tank to up its freezing temperature!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I tried it! It actually made the water taste BETTER than the usual funky tank taste it usually has, and the thought of "bellying up to the fauset" had me laughing every time I got a "drink"!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Alas, it only dropped to 26 degrees (31 at 9pm to a low of 26 at 6am) and I do not think that is cold enough to cause freeze damage as I have gone all the way down to 23 degrees in our 230RS at night with no vodka, and no problems with freezing tanks or lines. I always turn the heater off at bedtime as I am always dry camping, and the heater would kill the batteries before morning as the thermostat only goes down to 55 degrees low! Showers were fine, the water heater did not blow up,, you really could not tell you were bathing in Vodka N water, and it only improved the flavor of the water. (You could not really taste any vodka in it as one 5th into 42 gallons is really a small amount).
> 
> *Anyone out there think the Vodka would help as a good drinkable antifreeze for the plumbing?*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It sure helps make for a "happy Camper"!
> 
> Beachnut


I am curious about the actual freezing temperature on this mixture?
Thanks


----------



## raynardo

When you dissolve any liquid in water, you lower the freezing point of the water. This phenomenon is known as freezing point depression. It is possible to freeze vodka, but not in a typical home freezer. The freezing point of 80 proof vodka is -26.95° C or -16.51° F, while the temperature of most home freezers is around -17° C or 1.4° F.


----------

