Antifreeze Question
 

This is not really about cars, but has to do with antifreeze. I bought a new deck umbrella and it has 4 plastic containers for weights. The idea is to fill them with either water or sand. I tried the sand but it was going to take forever to fill them so water is the only other choice. I don't want these to freeze up in the winter months so I was going to put some antifreeze in with the water. Here's my ?, does antifreeze and water seperate if it isn't mixed around (as in an engine)?

Thx

It won't separate. Not ethelene glycol and water anyway. (the most common) If it were just a mixture then the water molecules would still freeze.

BUT you have to be real careful that nothing can get at the solution once it's in there - - some of those umbrella stands have open holes in them. Antifreeze is a poison and will kill any animal that drinks the water.

The containers have caps w/ washers. Thx.

Shakran's right about the toxicity. I used to be much more casual, flushing the stuff into the street, and stormdrains (egad). Now it goes to our toxic disposal site - twice a damn year - thank you very much Allied Waste. Instead of the toxic hassle I'd probably squeeze the containers to get the 15% expansion space should they freeze. If they're rigid, just leave them under-filled.

I bet you don't need to use anitfreeze and the plastic base will expand enough to not break when the water freezes.

The fill hole in your base must be a lot smaller than I dealt with if you can't fill it with sand. The movable basketball setup I have in my driveway came with a hollow plastic base and I filled it with dry sand by making a little funnel to fit the hole and a large opening on the funnel top so I can pour it in. It filled in a lot less than 1/2hr ...never have to do it again so even longer is not objectionable to me. After it filled with dry sand, I used the garden hose to fill it with water to make it even heavier. I didn't use any antifreeze and after two winters in S.E. PA area, no damage or noticeable distortion from freezing.

If you don't want it to freeze, just leave 1/5 of the space empty and pop the cap so it can vent if it's going to freeze overnight. Ethylene glycol is toxic, not safe for use on some plastics, and a pain in the ass to get rid of. Imagine trying to pour it out into containers for disposal if you ever get rid of teh set or move it.

What about using windshield washer fluid, .99 cents a gallon, and doesn't have that sweet taste that animals love.

In the amount of time you spent reading all of our suggestions, you could be done with the sand. Just use the sand, you will only need to do it once.