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Killing yourself with solvents (Alcohols and Hydrocarbons I have loved)

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jogri:

--- Quote from: duak on May 14, 2020, 06:40:58 pm ---In the mid 80s I moved to a small company and with a real can-do attitude got a 5 gal drum of the same stuff to clean the few boards we built.  After about 5 years, that drum became a problem to the company so I just took it home and put it in the garage.  Great for cleaning car and bike parts and getting grease off clothes.  One day I went out to get a splash of it to clean up a spot and found that it had all evaporated through a small crack in the flexible pull-out spout.  The garage was not air tight and I never smelt it and I have two normal (??) kids so I think I'm OK...  I also grew up in the age of leaded gasoline and surrounded by tobacco usage so it would be hard to say what caused what anyway.

--- End quote ---

It probably didn't affect you much as solvents that contain halogens (like chlorine or fluorine) are much denser than air-> it will form a layer of gas on your garage floor and just flow out under the garage door or through vent holes at the bottom. As long as you don't live under your garage you are fine. Btw, if you want something that can degrease parts and isn't as toxic try MEK and ethyl acetate (the acetate sucks at removing grease in bulk but is great for getting the last 5% off).

helius:
Ethyl lactate can also be used as a less-toxic degreaser.
And then there's alkylbenzene sulfonate, which some of you may remember as DuPont No. 7 Car Wash. There are a lot of choices for aqueous cleaning, but this works pretty well on plastics and painted parts.

TerraHertz:
In Australia there is (was?) a solvent sold in hardware stores called "White Spirits." It's a clear liquid somewhat like mineral turps, but smelled quite different. I recall the contents were just listed as 'hydrocarbons' or something like that. I don't have any of it any more so can't check a label.

It was very good for general cleaning of grimy dust, like when restoring old 2nd hand electronics equipment cases. I used to use it frequently, holding a soaked pad of tissue in bare fingers as a wipe.

End result when doing this a lot over a few months - pretty bad peripheral neural damage. It seemed to be diffusing up along nerves in hands, arms, up to the shoulders. A gradually progressing ache going up the nerves, and numbness of fingers.
After I realized what was happening and stopped using White Spirits as a solvent, the symptoms took nearly a year to get better.

Whether it's still available I don't know. Probably just the name is enough to make SJW types have a fit.

Does anyone know what 'White Spirits' actually consisted of?

coppercone2:

--- Quote from: TerraHertz on May 18, 2020, 12:40:45 am ---In Australia there is (was?) a solvent sold in hardware stores called "White Spirits." It's a clear liquid somewhat like mineral turps, but smelled quite different. I recall the contents were just listed as 'hydrocarbons' or something like that. I don't have any of it any more so can't check a label.

It was very good for general cleaning of grimy dust, like when restoring old 2nd hand electronics equipment cases. I used to use it frequently, holding a soaked pad of tissue in bare fingers as a wipe.

End result when doing this a lot over a few months - pretty bad peripheral neural damage. It seemed to be diffusing up along nerves in hands, arms, up to the shoulders. A gradually progressing ache going up the nerves, and numbness of fingers.
After I realized what was happening and stopped using White Spirits as a solvent, the symptoms took nearly a year to get better.

Whether it's still available I don't know. Probably just the name is enough to make SJW types have a fit.

Does anyone know what 'White Spirits' actually consisted of?

--- End quote ---

a boiling point fraction of crude oil probably


--- Quote ---1.1  Properties of white spirit

         White spirit is a clear colourless solvent with very low water
    solubility and a characteristic odour (odour threshold: 0.5-5 mg/m3).
    The most common variety of white spirit is a mixture of saturated
    aliphatic and alicyclic C7-C12 hydrocarbons with a content of 15-20%
    (by weight) of aromatic C7-C12 hydrocarbons and a boiling range of
    130-230°C.  The C9-C11 hydrocarbons (aliphatics, alicyclics and
    aromatics) are most abundant, constituting > 80% (by weight) of the
    total.  This ordinary white spirit is designated  white spirit, type
     1, regular grade, as three different types and three different
    grades exist.  The type refers to whether the solvent has been
    subjected to hydrodesulfurization (removal of sulfur) alone (type 1),
    solvent extraction (type 2) or hydrogenation (type 3).  The
    hydrodesulfurized type contains less than 25% aromatic hydrocarbons,
    the solvent-extracted less than 5%, and the hydrogenated less than 1%.
    Each type comprises three different grades: low flash grade (flash
    point: 21-30°C; initial boiling point: 130-144°C), regular grade
    (flash point: 31-54°C; initial boiling point: 145-174°C), and high
    flash grade (flash point: > 55°C; initial boiling point:
    175-200°C).  The grade is determined by the crude oil used as the
    starting material and the conditions of distillation.  Type 0 white
    spirit is defined as a distillation fraction with no further
    treatment, consisting predominantly of saturated C9-C12 hydrocarbons
    with a boiling range of 140-220°C.  The low flash grade possesses the
    highest vapour pressure of approximately 1.4 kPa (10.5 mmHg) at 20°C.

         A USA variety of type 1 is called Stoddard solvent and is a
    petroleum distillate defined according to its boiling range of
    149-204°C and the absence of rancid or objectionable odours.
--- End quote ---

http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc187.htm#SectionNumber:1.1

ChristofferB:
I've always been a fan of heptanes as a solvent for all that is tacky and oily. Here, it's sold under the name of "purified gasoline" for stain removal, etc.

I don't think it's "just" heptanes, probably a low-aromatics hydrocarbon fraction around the boiling point of the heptanes. Works great for oils/fats/waxes and other sticky residue.

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