At the flying school I worked at, we used Aeroshell Compound 07 (an approved TKS deicing fluid) 50/50 diluted with water, and used 10 litre garden sprayers similar to the ones Peter mentioned.
It is widely known that this is mostly ethylene glycol – from the specs:
So we effectively used around 40-50 percent Ethanediol, 2-3 percent Isopropanol, and 50 percent tap water. Given that for external deicing purity (in particular small particle contamination) doesn’t matter, you could probably mix your own more cheaply – aeroshell is around 200 pounds for 25 litres, IIRC.
The sprayers were very cheap ones, kept outside and only emptied by spraying he stuff on the aircraft. They lasted a couple of years.
If you can mix TKS fluid with 50% water, and it still works, that halves the cost.
Otherwise, say 50 quid for de-icing a plane is not a bad deal when the alternatives are considered e.g. 150 quid for a few hours in a hangar at Sion prior to departure; itself that prevents a departure early in the day so it’s not a useful option anyway, so unless one is just popping back to Munich one would pay the full 1 night rate.
I have sent off emails to a few makers of the sprayers, to check alcohol compatibility just in case, and will report. If the good one is 50 quid and the crap Hozelock one is 20 quid, there is no contest.
There’s non-alcoholic TKS fluid aswell. I don’t know the details but i remember that the main supplier offers an alcoholic and a non-alcoholic version (maybe for Saudi Arabia :-))
Interesting… many thanks.
Would you Cobalt suggest re-creating TKS fluid and using that for TKS and (with 50% water) for airframe de-icing, or using ethylene glycol alone with say 50% water and using that just for airframe de-icing?
For my prop-only TKS I have zero incentive to save money, since the 2 litre tank needs to be refilled maybe 3x a year. But someone with full TKS has a huge incentive to make their own TKS fluid because they could get through 40 litres (400 quid) in 1-2hrs.
Incidentally I pour TKS fluid through a fine “professional paint shop” filter because both the Aeroshell and the Kilfrost stuff has plenty of dirt particles in it.
One big caution when using deicing fluid – ensure you clean the flight control surfaces carefully at the end of the day. Deicing residues can pick up water, rehydrate and freeze in flight, jamming control surfaces entirely.
This has happened on multiple types, including the Lear 45 I fly.
I have no idea what purpose the Isopropanol serves, so unless in a mood to experiment I would recreate it approximately getting 25 litres of Ethanediol, 1 litre of Isopropanol, and 25 litres of water, giving me 50 litres of fluid, which is more than enough.
~50 litres of Aeroshell 07 saw us through an entire proper winter with 6 aircraft parked outside.
You only need a lot of the fluid if you have clear ice / frozen water droplets on the aircraft, they are hard to shift. Frost, even hoar frost, does not need that much because the fluid soaks into the frost and melts it rather than running off quickly. So for frozen droplets, undiluted may be better.
Peter, I suspect it only matters for thickened deicing fluids, not the type I.
The residue tends to accumulate in the gaps between the ailerons and the wings. Particularly if the air gap is sealed with some kind of Teflon brush where it can accumulate. It is most visible and easiest to clean if you move the ailerons to the extremes of their travel to inspect, especially from underneath.
I don’t know precisiely which brands and Types of deicing fluid this affects, but given the lack of backups a conservative approach seems sensible. Flying an aircraft with no ailerons is doable, but rather challenging.
