A debatable sentiment grows concerning eco-friendly versus regular cleaning products. There is a question over how powerful the “green” ingredients can be, and if they can be as strong as regular ingredients. This is no different when regarding environmentally friendly windshield wiper fluid.

Another concern grows amongst auto enthusiasts over these synthetic chemicals damaging the exterior of their beloved cars. As you know, the typical ingredients used to clean the dirt and bugs off of windshields are theorized to cause damage to car paint, the roads and the environment.

For years there have been attempts to use existing household products to create a make-shift windshield wiper fluid, but even those were not so “green”. There just had to be a safer alternative to methanol that could be as strong in dirt-cleaning power.

Apparently, Daimer Industries, which is a green-minded manufacturing company, has created a windshield wiper cleaning fluid. With plant extracts as the sole ingredients for this green solution, the company has made three versions of the fluid to cater to the hot and cold weather in addition to a combination of the two.

They apparently have concentrated versions (which probably need to be diluted) as well as ready-to-use (RTU for short) versions. All of their Eco-Green line is for all transportation and automotive vehicles.

It would be interesting for the eco-friendly folks to try out this option, since it does not have any volatile organic compounds (also known as VOCs).

The windshield wiper fluid’s contents are also said to be fully biodegradable. This is especially nice for the eco-minded car drivers who are fond of recycling everything and restoring things back into the earth.

If you have seen those metal cylindrical trucks that hold gasoline, you would be sure to see those red, yellow, blue and white diamond shaped labels in the back with a particular number in each one. That is actually a symbol to denote how safe the contents are. For this eco-friendly washer fluid, all of the numbers are 0, which mean safe.

For precaution tips on windshield wipers and their cleaning fluids, please read Ryland Jing’s blog on antifreeze and windshield washers.

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What seems to be common knowledge that every car driver should know is rather uncommon for the car driver newbie. It is best to share this “common” knowledge with everyone just to be sure that they are fully equipped with the skills to refill their windshield washer fluid.

In an ideal world, the reservoir would fill itself up, but this is the real world. That is why you will have the privilege to enrich yourself with the knowledge of where to locate the receptacle, where to look at the current level of windshield wiper fluid, and how to refill it!

Naturally, there is a lot of dust, debris, dirt, smog, and all sorts of pollutants in the air. Floating all about the sky, it comes from both man-made things as well as naturally from mother nature. There are also bugs, birds and all sorts of flying objects that will somehow be in the path of your car or releasing their waste from up above. This is unavoidable, and you are bound to have to clean that off your windshield as you need full visibility driving on the street.

It’s with that bluish liquid that the windshield wipers shoots out from its tubes and onto the windshield as the blades swoosh across from arc to arc while they squeegee off those acts of mother nature.

What’s really nice for some newer models of utility vehicles is that there’s an added rear windshield wiper blade. Now, you can make sure your visibility is clear for both the front and the back. I myself don’t use it that often, but it is nice to have in case there is a lot of dirt.

Most of the time you will find some anti-freeze included with your windshield washer. It’s good to have that if you are worried about the fluid freezing up in the reservoir. This worry is reasonable when you live in freezing climates and have to deal with snow. You definitely also want to make sure that when you are using your wiper blades that the fluid won’t freeze on the windshield itself.

It is this time now that I would recommend that you grab the owner’s manual to your car and read up on where that darned tank is, and walk on over to your car to check it out. Get a feel for where the cap is, and take a look at how high the fluid level is. Go ahead. Enjoy.

To read up on quality windshield wiper fluid, come take a look at Ryland Jing’s blog on car windshield wiper fluid tips.

In some cases, there is a mistakable observation that the color of windshield wiper fluid looks just like blueberry Kool-Aid.

It was written all over the internet last year that a day care staff member had mistakenly poured cups of the anti-freeze combo for less than a dozen of the day care children to drink.

With a question of how she didn’t notice the smell of the methanol, or the labeling of the bottle, she could have caused a lot more damage to the children with her mistake.

What are the effects of ingesting windshield wiper fluid? In fatal cases, the heart could go into respiratory distress, and may stop completely (a cardiac arrhythmia). In extreme cases, the heavily toxic methanol can cause coma and blindness. The acidic nature somehow kills the cells in the retina of the eye, and in the brain.

What the methanol does in your body once it reaches the liver, is it starts breaking down the existing ethanol in your system. The byproducts from the ethanol metabolism are what becomes very toxic.

The toxic byproduct from the ethanol breakdown is called acetaldehyde. This causes extreme kidney and liver damage after a certain amount passes through.

Carbon dioxide starts building up from the formation of this formic acid.

In moderate cases, the chemical element causes headaches, pain, nausea, throwing up, sleepiness, and staggering around. It is very important that all precautions be taken so that no one ends up dealing with these after effects.

You should take quick action to call the poison control center and/or 911. While they guide you and what you should do before the EMT arrives, the EMT will arrive and most likely inject into the IV a dose of ethanol to counteract the methanol.

The main lesson out of all of this is to always store household and automotive maintenance products completely separate from food and beverage products. Pay attention to the packaging and labeling. Windshield Wiper Fluid is not the same thing as Kool-Aid. Kool-Aid would not have child-safety/child-proof caps on.

Before deciding which antifreeze and windshield wiper fluid concentrate to buy, check out Ryland Jing’s blog for tips.