I would guess 25 litres because they quote 8 drums for carriage.
I would appreciate any more tips on where to buy this stuff.
The lowest price I have found is the above mentioned Ultrablue / Wittig but (a) they are asking a huge amount for delivery (even though they deliver free of charge to other parts of Europe which are even further than the UK) and (b) when I asked if we can arrange a collection they said they deal only with DHL (which must be the most expensive way to send 200 litres of fluid).
One can get much cheaper delivery services than DHL, of course.
There is a company in England that sells Lab grade glycol 200Lt. drum which I was going to use. Mix it with 5% Ethanol and 10% ionized water and Woilà you have TKS fluid. I have to dig out the info. which will take some time.
I’ve had some quotes for bringing this stuff over from Germany:
1) Going through DHL directly: £402.57
2) using DHL via Keuhne & Nagel : £474.
3) Using Keuhne & Nagel (a German company) is £155!
I will put this forward to the Ultrablue / Wittig guy and see what he says. One would think a German shipper would be acceptable to a German company.
I’ve got about 10l tks fluid I used for the Cirrus. If anybody is interested it can be picked up anytime from Biggin Hill Airport.
https://www.chemicals.co.uk/ethylene-glycol
Just called them and they no longer supply it in 200 Lt drums. the 25Lt cost 83.66 pounds a significant increase from when I last checked with them.
Ultrablue /Wittig won’t accept Keuhne & Nagel even though they are a German firm. Only DHL, so €400 or so is the cheapest way! Can’t believe this way of running a business… The customer is arranging his own collection, and you refuse it???? And he has been doing free delivery elsewhere in the EU, although he has claimed that in that case it was built into the price of the fluid. His ex works price is €3.28.
I will cross that one off my list and keep looking.
Maybe you can use the “free” delivery to a Keuhne & Nagel (or their supplier) hangar at a port?
I realise this thread is over a year and a half old but it is still of interest every winter
prices for TKS have like everything else gone up. Wittig/ULtrablue respond to my enquiries with a curt ‘no cant do that’ whether it be shipping to CI or FoB – sounds similar to Peter’s experiences
I was interested in the suggested formula 85% ethanediol 5% isopropyl alcohol and 10% distilled water is interesting I have read elsewhere that its all about the filtration down to 0.5 micron but I have a question for anyone who is more chemically clued up that me – Mono ethylene Glycol (ethandediol) freezes at -12.9 whereas mono propylene glycol freezes way lower somether -60 MPG is three times the price of MEG and lab grade NOG well forget it. Is this why TKS is so expensive? should the formula be 85% MPG 5% Isopropyl Alc and 10% water ? OR does addinghte Isopropyl Alcohol substantially lower the freezing point of MEG?
FWIW from my researches Dec 2022 it seems that for-fly.eu is one of the best offers in bulk – I am awaiting info on their shipping costs
Just had some 10 hours of flying across europe and icing is very much on my mind!!!!
A ethanediol-water mix has a much lower freezing point than pure ethanediol, the lowest is around -50 Celsius around 70% ethanediol and 30% water.
The specific water / isopropyl alcohol / ethanediol mix used for TKS fluid is < 60 degrees (according to the advertised TKS fluid specs).
By the looks of it, adding isopropanol helps lowering the freexing point to that level.
