91% Isopropyl Alchohol - eat plastic?

[Joe]

Well never, but I would CRY pouring some top end super pure vodka into a computer... thats like pouring a 12 year old scotch into your cars radiator or gas tank... you should be shot for such an act.

[TerraMex]

brrr. hate whiskey and scotch. tastes awful.
i'll take vodka any day of the week. please?
hmm. use the car's cooling system to process cheap ass vodka.
sounds like a plan to me!

right. Ontopic: denaturated isopropyl alchohol at 96% (blue stuff) ?

[Orkan]

don't think so.

Isopropyl = BAD Cracked up my acrylic res in under 4hrs.

read the posts dude. Ethyl = good.

[stev]

OK, here's a place to purchase Ethyl Alcohol Absolute Reag-Spector Grade-1pt for only $1.80 USD. This is lab grade 200% Proof or 100% Absolute and is denaturated clear.

http://www.osustores.com/shop/produc...category_no=46





Also, do not drink this stuff, not even a mouth full. It will give a person one mean headache and their liver will pain them in the side for hours.

My first posting mentioned to use HDPE plastic for the reservoir and tubing like Superthane to handle alcohols.

Hope this helps.

Stev

[pHaestus]

You want HPLC grade ethyl alcohol for drinking purposes.

Or so I'm told

[Orkan]

Stev, A few questions:

1) What percentage of this stuff should I run in my loop?

2) Will it hurt my resevoir like the isopropyl did?

3) Will it hurt my tubing? (Tygon 3603 1/2"ID 3/4"OD)

Thanks in advance

[redleader]

Originally Posted by Orkan

Stev, A few questions:

1) What percentage of this stuff should I run in my loop?

2) Will it hurt my resevoir like the isopropyl did?

3) Will it hurt my tubing? (Tygon 3603 1/2"ID 3/4"OD)

Thanks in advance

Alcohols in general are very similar to water, and to each other. As solvents they're virtually identical. Anything that is damaged by water should be damaged by alcohol, and the other way around too.

I think the explination for your thing cracking posted earlier makes the most sense: the material wasn't actually reacting with the alcohol, rather it was semiperimable to alcohol and either the alcohol sucked the water out, or more likely forced itself in via osmotic pressure and the change in it's composition cracked it.

If this is correct, pretty much anything but water is going to damage it. I'm not sure I would trust such a fragile material, particularly one that is evidently somewhat permiable to water.

[Joe]

Well a simple reason anything damanged by water will be damanged by Alcohols is that they are Hydroscopic and absorb lots of water from the air.

[Orkan]

Ok... thats not what stev said. ... :|

Stev said it cracks because the alchohol "dries it out" and causes it to crack. I just went and got some denatured alchohol from the paint store.

Says it contains:
Methanol, Ketones, and Ethanol.

This stuff work out stev?

[stev]

Originally Posted by Orkan

Stev, A few questions:

1) What percentage of this stuff should I run in my loop?

2) Will it hurt my resevoir like the isopropyl did?

3) Will it hurt my tubing? (Tygon 3603 1/2"ID 3/4"OD)

Thanks in advance

Orkan,

1) As I mentioned in the first post, 10% Propylene Glycol, 10% Ethyl Alcohol, and 80%Distilled Water.

2) If the reservoir is acrylic, yes it will ruin the reservoir. If the reservoir is HDPE you should be safe.

3) Tygon 3603 (PVC) data sheet can be found here: http://www.tygon.com/media/documents...3/tygr3603.pdf
It should provide better and longer lasting properties over the Superthane I had recommended earlier. It's a little stiffer to work with though. The Superthane is limited for the amount of alcohol concentrations to use (The 10% concentration should be fine).

If you have any o-rings in the cooling loop, check out the compatibility of it's material with the ethyl alcohol here: http://www.efunda.com/designstandard...thyl%20Alcohol (I would prefer Buna-N or Butyl personally)

If you're using an all copper cold-block without a plastic or an acrylic cover, you should be fine.

Then the last question to ask, What are the plastic materials of the pump and it's effects with alcohol.

OK, that should keep you busy for awhile.

I got to go home now and check the basement. If it's dry I'm safe, if it's wet, I'll be in the dog house.

Stev

[stev]

Originally Posted by Orkan

Ok... thats not what stev said. ... :|

Stev said it cracks because the alchohol "dries it out" and causes it to crack. I just went and got some denatured alchohol from the paint store.

Says it contains:
Methanol, Ketones, and Ethanol.

This stuff work out stev?

Yikes! Forget using the stuff if it has methanol. Methanol is a nasty substance to a cooling loop and your health too! Just return it for a refund.

It may be denatured, but it has additives. Therefore it's not absolute ethyl alcohol.

Does your local town liquior store sell collector sample bottles of 200% proof vodka? It would be the size of about two shot glasses. Usually that sells for under $5.

As for water and alcohol, yes they have similar effects. It's just that water has the best pH.

Alcohol and ammonia can have similar affects to acrylics. Usually the acrylic surfaces becomes crazed as in the crazing effect. This can happen readily or over night. A good example of this is old plastic car headlamp covers that were once clear. Windex (ammonia) or any other alcohol will do hydroscopic damage. Once the air hits the plastic and the plastic dries out, crazing or cracks will form.

[plywood99]

Look for Everclear at the liquor store. It is very cheap and 190 proof. That's 95% ethyl alcohol, and 5% water...

[ToasterIQ2000]

Wow & Golly!
I've been using a 10/10/80 proylene glycol / grocery store isopropyl alchohol / distilled water mix in a rig with lots of Acrylic and aluminum and all tygon tubing for five or six months now.

Gotta say the Acrylic and tygon look perfectly clear, no hazing or cracking (excepting from some hasty & sloppy lathe / mill during assembly) and the alluminum sure looks nice through the clear acrylics.

I see that the entry (jttp://www.camd.lsu.edu/msds/i/isopropyl_alcohol.htm) from exploring stev's excellent link on ethenol does say that isopropyl alchohol is incompatle with aluminum!

Stev seems quite on top of things and writes well. Let me be the first to say stev knows more about chemistry than me! But gosh, the oxidation on the outside of my bare aluminum components from sitting by a window overlooking the saltwater, while very very minor compared to anything on the aluminum on say a sailboat anchored out front, is far worse than anything that I can see through the perfectly clear plexiglass on the inside of the aluminum parts. When I'm done typing here I'll put a snip of aluminum and a bit of tygon and a piece of acrylic in a canning jar half full of isopropyl, each material half in - half out, and set the jar on a sunny windowsil next to jars of things that have been destroyed by water-wetter over the least several years.

Golly, what to say? What's going on?

[Anonymous]

Originally Posted by ToasterIQ2000

Golly, what to say? What's going on?

Gee and willikers.