Is there a, "best," pink anti-freeze???

[DennisT]

Silly me I picked up 3 gallons of antifreeze at RnR RV in Liberty Lake, WA. Sticker price: $8.99 per gallon. Camco brand.

Then every place I went had various pink stuff for $2.95. Is there a best brand of anti-freeze????

One other brand was, "Splash," and another I don't remember. I also think I saw the same Camco stuff at a much cheaper price.

The big dealers sure run big prices. We're new at this, so live and learn.

Dennis

[Festus2]

When I go shopping for RV antifreeze, I use these criteria:
1) good for temperatures to -50. Not that it ever gets that cold here but I know that, undiluted, it will be more than adequate for our lowest winter temp.
2) good for both plastic and metal pipes. I know that almost all of the RV lines are plastic but there are some metal components in the water pump, toilet, valves and a couple of other small items. Maybe not necessary but I buy this type.
3) Cost --- if the 2 criteria above are met, I get the cheapest I can find.

I've never seen any RV antifreeze ratings or testing of the pink stuff that would provide me with any factual and reliable data so I go with what has worked in the past for me.

[golfpro]

I worked at a RV dealership and we sold it for amount $10 a gallon. the office girl would say the stuff we sold was super to the cheap stuff. don't know if I believed her or not. this stuff was suppose to not discolor the toilet or any of the other stuff it touched. Me? I use the cheap stuff too.

[SteveC7010]

I've never heard of any RV antifreeze comparisons. So just check the ratings as Festus suggested.

I usually shop for a bargain at some place like Wal-Mart, but this year, rather than drive 15 miles or further, I just picked up two gallons from the local hardware store for $5 each. They are just a couple blocks from my house. They buy it by the pallet full to take care of all the summer homes around the lake here so there is no travel time or cost for me to go back to get more if I need it.

[Bluewater]

Hi and welcome from Spokane Valley there Dennis.
I go for the cheapest also but once a few years back I bought some from the General Store on Division that had a very powerful fragrance that was hard to rinse out in the spring.

[cathcartww]

The cheapest RV antifreeze is propylene glycol based and also usually contains some pH buffers and trace amounts of other chemicals to minimize corrosion. Price is pretty much dependent on the concentration: 30% propylene glycol is good to 5 degrees F, 40% to -20, 50% to -35, 100% to -50. Remember that the label doesn't necessary state the freezing point, it usually states the "non-burst" point meaning that the solution will get slushy, but not hard enough to expand and split the pipe.

More expensive antifreeze may be a combination of propylene glycol and glycerol and/or denatured ethanol (ethyl alcohol). These are usually formulated for even lower temperatures, and probably have more of an advantage in food service equipment, boilers, etc. than for blowing out an RV water system.

Personally, I use the cheapest I can find - usually like $3 a gallon on sale.

Read the label!

[Jay D]

I've been using the Walmart stuff for the last 3 years, so far so good.