Acetone: good, bad or just needs care?

[vyv_cox]

Many, many years ago, long before H&S was so prevalent, I worked in a laboratory where Acetone, Trichlorethylene and Toluene were everyday solvents, used in HUGE quantities - we got through many litres a day, and it arrived in 44 gallon drums! The laboratory was working with coal tar and asphalt, and these were far and away the most effective solvents for cleaning glassware and other equipment, as well as hands! A mixture of industrial detergent and Toluene was the preferred mix for getting tar off your hands. Once, when I had a heavy cold, I repeatedly washed my handkerchief in acetone - it dried off in less than a minute, so that was perfect!

I wouldn't recommend this regime, but I lived through 6 months of it and the rest of the staff were permanent employees and they seemed to take no harm from it. I suspect that actually, the nastiest stuff we handled was the tar itself (not counting the mercury still in the corner of the lab )

Acetone is EXTREMELY volatile, it's boiling point is 56 degrees C; in any reasonable working conditions it will evaporate off in a few minutes. I wouldn't worry about leaving it on fibreglass - it will be gone long before it could do any harm. It is safe enough for routine domestic use for removing nail-varnish.

In my first job I used to do bitumen acid values, dissolving the bitumen in benzene in the open laboratory. In fact, in that lab we didn't even have a fume cupboard. Whenever we had splashes of bitumen on our faces we always used benzene to clean it off. It is now virtually impossible to obtain benzene, even in specialist laboratories, regarded as extremely carcinogenic.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

In my first job I used to do bitumen acid values, dissolving the bitumen in benzene in the open laboratory. In fact, in that lab we didn't even have a fume cupboard. Whenever we had splashes of bitumen on our faces we always used benzene to clean it off. It is now virtually impossible to obtain benzene, even in specialist laboratories, regarded as extremely carcinogenic.

You didn't work for the Coal Tar Research Association, did you? That was where I encountered coal tar and bitumen - when I worked for them, Coal Tar was just ceasing production because of the switch to natural gas, and we were mainly looking at the implications for road surfacing materials of switching to bitumen instead of coal tar (coal tar has much better properties for spreading on roads, but bitumen could be "improved" by adding stuff like PVC). Other parts of the organization worked on the chemistry etc. of the stuff.

 

[MASH]

Since it's so volatile where does the panel suggest I store a part-used tin? I keep my petrol cans on deck (under the dinghy), should I be taking the same care with acetone or is it ok in a locker as long as the tin is sealed?

Store as petrol.

 

[vyv_cox]

You didn't work for the Coal Tar Research Association, did you? That was where I encountered coal tar and bitumen - when I worked for them, Coal Tar was just ceasing production because of the switch to natural gas, and we were mainly looking at the implications for road surfacing materials of switching to bitumen instead of coal tar (coal tar has much better properties for spreading on roads, but bitumen could be "improved" by adding stuff like PVC). Other parts of the organization worked on the chemistry etc. of the stuff.

No, I worked for Flintkote, ex Colas, subsequently bought out by Shell as Shell composites. They made bitumen emulsions for concrete addition and cutback adhesives, for Marley and others.

 

[johnwest]

When i need to replenish my supply of acetone i look for the local fibre glass works and take my own brown glass bottle. It's the cheapest way.

j

 

[Greenheart]

Seems odd that my quarter-litre is so expensive...what can the reason be? I'm thinking I'll get a refund, and a bottle of scotch, as well as the same quantity of acetone.

 

[prv]

Seems odd that my quarter-litre is so expensive...what can the reason be?

Some people will pay it?

Pete

 

[MASH]

Dan, you bought it from a swindlery! Even so, thirteen quid for a half pint of a very ordinary industrial solvent might have rung alarm bells...

We live in a world of swindlers but also one where you can check very easily.

Look at the cost of meths in the swindlery or hardware shop. Then look on ebay. Not twice as cheap, nowhere close. One tenth? One twentieth the price?

Sikaflex at £insane per tube, or something by Dow for sealing conservatory windows that is identical if not better at £3?

Caveat emptor.

 

[Greenheart]

I shall certainly beware next time. I'd never bought acetone before...I believed the real deal was nothing like the pink stuff for SWMBO's nails, and I paid readily, for purity.

 

[William_H]

It is tempting when using acetone with a rag to continue to use the same acetone soaked piece of rag. However as said the acetone dissolves the dirt glue or whatever and transfers it to the rag then the acetone evaporates. So you need to use clean rag often.
One of the worst jobs is using acetone to clean glue from sail numbers on sail. It becomes obvious that you are simply dissolving the glue and moving it on the rag to other parts of the sail. You need slots of rag and lots of acetone.
Do be careful with soft plastics that it will damge things like vinyl. good luck olewill

 

[Greenheart]

Thanks for mentioning sails - I've some very odd, partial numbers/insignias which I'd like to remove, though that's just my vanity. Doesn't 20-30 year old nylon or polyester sailcoth suffer, if acetone is used on it?

 

[Tony Cross]

Store as petrol.

That's what I thought. Thank you!

 

[macd]

My Blue Gee acetone was £12.95 for 250ml, at a popular chandlery. That does seem wildly overpriced compared with France, especially if it's identical stuff.

Streuth. Be much cheaper, if more sacrilegious, to use a single malt. Even by the standards of marine rip-offs, that's a tasty one.

To the OP: hope you realise that cleaning with acetone (or anything else) is not a substitute for abrading to get a good key.

 

[Cantata]

I bought some here http://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk last week, similar price to ebay. Very useful supplier for GRP materials.

 

[William_H]

No concerns about acetone damaging dacron sail cloth. However I have never really succeeded in getting a sail clean after removing numbers. Perhaps I am too miserly with acetone. It seems to me it would be better top leave what is stuck on. I advise people joining our club to try to get a club number where they can just add to numbers existing with minimum removal. good luck olewill

 

[aquaplane]

We use acetone for washing up, it's cheap as chips.

Yellow Marigolds are OK, the blue disposables swell and split PDQ.

Perspex goes opaque very quickly if you try to wash it with acetone.

Main health issues are degreasing skin (causing dermatitis) and damage to eyes, so sensible precautions are good enough.

 

[Spirit of Glenans]

Sticky Moments

I use Acetone everyday, but always have latex gloves on, sometimes 2 on each hand, so when thongs get a bit sticky or hairy I simply rip off the offending sticky glove and carry on.

The mental images that this conjures up are just too torrid to dwell on