After reading the following post from Del Pearson in May and
thinking about it and the dangers of denatured alcohol, I am
wondering if there is a safer substitute that we can use? “Denatured
alcohol is Ethanol (pure grain alcohol) to which Methanol has been
added to make it poisonous, hence the name “denatured.” Methanol can
easily cause death or blindness. Please, as you use it, remember that
you are dealing with a deadly chemical.” With reasonable ventilation
is it OK??
Thank you,
"Denatured alcohol is Ethanol (pure grain alcohol) to which Methanol has been added to make it poisonous, hence the name "denatured." Methanol can easily cause death or blindness. Please, as you use it, remember that you are dealing with a deadly chemical." With reasonable ventilation is it OK??
Both methanol and ethanol as well as propanol are readily available
for home or industrial use and all fairly cheap to produce.
Denatured alcohol basically means ethanol has been made undrinkable
by various additives, sometimes methanol, sometimes other alcohols or
derivatives thereof. Partly because of taxation, solvent instead of
beveridge and partly to keep people sober on the job 
Methanol is the lightest (molecular wise) and evaporates easily and
is often used for cleaning purposes. It is poisonous but mostly if
you drink it. At first you feel dizzy, then you vomit heavily and
you risk losing you eyesight if you don’t get medical care at that
stage. Then you die. Methanol is a byproduct when distilling alcohol
and this is where most accidents happen, poorly distilled booze. The
was a case in Norway recently where several people died from buying
unclean illegal alcohol.
Ethanol is not dangerous in this way, people drink it freely and
have no adverse effects until the day after! The bottles are
expensive, even cheap vodka cost. Vodka and whisky are usually around
38-44 % ethanol (I believe this equals 76-88 proof) whereas
commercial denatured alcohol is higher, approx 70%, medical 96%
(still denatured) and ethanol for analytical purposes 99.5% not
denatured. Ethanol does not evaporate as fast as methanol and is a
populae solvent.
Propanol is more of an industrial solvent/cleaning agent often found
in printing house, engineeing workshop, chemical industries. I use
it mostly for cleaning because it evaporates more slowly than the
others snd is cheaper in the long run. Also, I get less vapors in the
air. It is not benign to ingest.
Most of the above I learned in chemistry class but percentages might
differ from country to country, my references are to Sweden. These
chemicals are not really dangerous as long as you are aware of their
characteristics and act accordingly. As for ventilation, well,
you’re only supposed to breathe air not smog, tobaccosmoke,
carbonmonoxide (cars) and all the other stuff that’s around us today.
michaela, trying to put a brake on my brain
After reading the following post from Del Pearson in May and thinking about it and the dangers of denatured alcohol, I am wondering if there is a safer substitute that we can use?
Everclear alcohol in the liquor store (US country) is cheap and
effective.