Plastic Lab Ware

[FranklinNewhart]

I don't just use my Lab for making alcohol. I also distill biofuel so my lab has labware that most distillers would not have.
I save my fore shots from my alcohol runs because it is usefull else were in the lab as a disinfectant or for making regents and the like.
So here I was making very high 180 Proof 90 % ABV alcohol from my saved fore shots with a laboratory glass distillation set.
Everything is running fine but I decide to check the ABV with the hydrometer so I grab a graduated column. Lab quality plastic. Every Lab uses them.
I put some alcohol in it and put my hydrometer in it and it is sitting there. After a few moments I notice the column is leaking and I see a crack in it.
Damn, so I pour it out and look at it. Sure enough, cracked. No problem, things do wear out, grab another one, check it and see that there are no cracks.
Put that 90 ABV alcohol into the second cylinder to make sure I am still producing high end stuff. After a few minutes it begins leaking as well.
Same problem, the cylinder is completely cracked worse than the first one. This is not some stupid plastic bottle, this is lab ware that is supposed to be chemical safe.

Note to self and to the users of this forum. Use only Lab Glass to deal with high ABV alcohol. This stuff will destroy lab quality plastic that is supposed to be safe.

[Bushman]

Thanks for sharing that story as it reinforces what we have been advocating here on the forum since before I joined 7 years ago.

[Still Life]

I can testify 62% will scar and etch a plastic cylinder.
But that's before I hooked up here.

[rad14701]

Total confirmation of Rule #8 of The Rules We Live By... High proof alcohol is well known to cause crazing of plastic test cylinders around here... You'd think lab technicians would know better than to use plastic labware for any applications... Maybe those white lab coats don't make them as smart as they think they should...

[FranklinNewhart]

Total confirmation of Rule #8 of The Rules We Live By... High proof alcohol is well known to cause crazing of plastic test cylinders around here... You'd think lab technicians would know better than to use plastic labware for any applications... Maybe those white lab coats don't make them as smart as they think they should...

Maybe I should rethink the white lab coat too. I use the disposable kind that are some kind of Paper/Plastic stuff. Good for a week and then toss it. I get solvents on it all the time. Maybe I should be wearing a cotton one that costs like $60.00 and gets stained and has to be washed and the stains don't come out but it is not some Plastic/Paper stuff.

[Truckinbutch]

Wardrobe and style are secondary here . I could give a shit what you wear .
What I am impressed with is your professional confirmation of the reason for NO plastics exposed to alcohol . Thank you for that .

[FranklinNewhart]

Wardrobe and style are secondary here . I could give a shit what you wear .
What I am impressed with is your professional confirmation of the reason for NO plastics exposed to alcohol . Thank you for that .

The reason I mentioned the lab coat is because it is that Plastic/Paper disposable stuff. Perhaps it would be best to removed it from the picture the same as the plastic lab ware. But there was a bit of fecitiousness there too.

[Truckinbutch]

Wardrobe and style are secondary here . I could give a shit what you wear .
What I am impressed with is your professional confirmation of the reason for NO plastics exposed to alcohol . Thank you for that .

The reason I mentioned the lab coat is because it is that Plastic/Paper disposable stuff. Perhaps it would be best to removed it from the picture the same as the plastic lab ware. But there was a bit of fecitiousness there too.

If we lose our sense of humor we defeat our reason for being here .

[FranklinNewhart]

Wen t to Value Village and found a few straight column glass flower vases. Look just like graduated columns but without the graduations. Bought all three for a buck 99 each. Sure beats 20 smackers for the same column in Boricilate glass. Problem solved.