Last eve, my plane was left with 1/4 in of ice on wings and windshield as the temp dropped. I am parked at an unimproved airstrip and have no access to a heated hangar and would like suggestions on de-ice formulations (heated Type I polyethylene glycol/water, etc) or other suggestions.....

Thanks

msanger wrote:Last eve, my plane was left with 1/4 in of ice on wings and windshield as the temp dropped and would like suggestions Thanks

Start scraping..... Bring wing covers next trip

Gump

Prestone sells de-iceing fluid in one gallon containers. That and the old fashioned type of mop has worked well for me, but I rarely have an ice problem living down south. How would you heat enough of it to make a difference at a remote strip?
Don't think it would work on 1/4" of clear ice though.

Don't waste money on de-icing fluids if you got that much ice on the wings! Try to remove the ice by hand first and then get the rest(frost and small icy chunks) with heated glycol/water.

If you try to de-ice with that much ice, it will waste the fluid and your money too.

When I de-ice a jet on our line at Santa Fe, if there is chunks, layers, or pools of ice, snow, re-frozen snow.. etc.. The de-icing takes a lot of fluid. If it's just a frost layer, possibly with small pieces here and there, de-icing a small aircraft shouldn't take more than 3 gallons, maybe 4.

If you have to cut the glycol, don't cut it more than 50 percent. Glycol's freezing temp drops as you add water up to a 1/1 mixture, then the freezing temp rises again. Usually our de-icing fluid is kept at 150-170 degrees F.

Also, if you get a semi-warm day right at freezing, don't try to mop off the soft ice and snow. It comes off but behind is left a thin layer of water that will quickly refreeze.

I hope my experiences help, I do a fair amount of De-icing here in Santa Fe.

Don't know about actual ice (as in a 1/4" worth), but frost can be scrubbed off with a softish rope flung over the wing. It's hell on VG's though.....