Intercool® Biogreen B Glycol?

LorenAmelang

Time for a good cleaning and new antifreeze in my solar/gas/wood-sourced hydronic system. I notice a bit of brown slime settling out of the drained ten-year-old coolant. There is too much wood floor between me and the tubing, so in cold weather it likes to run above 160F. I suspect hotspots in the woodstove get hotter than the glycol is comfortable with.



So I just stumbled across this Intercool® Biogreen B Glycol, which is 1,3 propanediol (Susterra™) made from corn sugar instead of 1,2 propanediol from petroleum. If you believe the vendor, it is better than propylene glycol in every way - less viscous, more tolerant of high temperatures, less likely to decompose into acids, and lower requirement for inhibitors, but still non-toxic.



<a href="http://bit.ly/pysfKA"> Manufacturer Data</a>



<a href="http://www.2hsc.com/biogreen.html">Berkeley CA Distributor</a>



Is this stuff just too new, or too "Left Coast", or is there some _reason_ I don't see anyone talking about it here? The high temperature part seems perfect for my application, and the "green" part is a welcome bonus. But no presence here is a big minus...



Should I try it?

LorenAmelang

Finally Installed...

I let the Rhomar 9100 cleaner run as long as possible before winter. Looked like it worked - it went in pale yellow and came out nasty brown with really fine suspended sediment.



I couldn't see paying shipping on the pre-diluted Bio-Green, so I've replaced the fluid with full-strength Susterra ($25/gal on the web), DI water, and a bit of azole. Will be interesting to see if this works...



The azole took me right back to the kitchen of my childhood! In the 1950's, Jell-O Butterscotch Pudding, the kind you had to cook, came with what I'm pretty sure was called a "Flavor Bead" in the envelope with the powder. I remember them bragging about it on the outside of the package. It was like a small pearl, off-white and about 1/4" diameter. I remember thinking even as a pre-schooler that its aroma was not exactly that of milk or butter or brown sugar, it wasn't really like food at all. But since it accompanied butterscotch pudding, I accepted it as a good thing.



My heat transfer fluid now smells like butterscotch pudding!