Saturday, August 15, 2015

Odorless, colorless, tasteless

There was a puddle under the Rolling Steel Tent when I came out of the store. A liquid was dripping from the van, in about the same location and manner as condensation from the air conditioner. Except the AC hadn't been on in weeks, since I left Redmond.

Hmmmm.

I popped the hood. It's a lot harder to tell what's going on with a van engine since it's way back in there. But there was no steam, no smell of hot coolant, no chemical mist. The area under the windshield washer reservoir was dry (though the fluid was rather low). Everything looked dry.

Okay.

I got on my knees, reached under the van and caught a couple of drops. It moved and felt like water. No color, no smell, so it wasn't coolant, engine oil, transmission fluid or washer fluid. By now I was fairly certain it was just water, so I tasted it. Nothing.

Okay, it's water. But why is it dripping from the van?

Cool metal + fog = condensation.

4 comments:

  1. YOU tasted it !!! What if it's poisonous ??

    ReplyDelete
  2. You probably had the "defroster" on, that will cycle the a/c on and off. The a/c helps pull moisture from the van.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There ya go! I had been using the defroster to defog the windshield.

      Delete