# Denatured alcohol



## Jamenstall (May 18, 2004)

What are the pro's and con's with going with denatured alcohol vs acetone. My gallon of acetone is finally running out and I'd like to move away from it.

Larry


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## Smokebikes (Feb 2, 2008)

It's what I use after cleaning the tubes with "Simple Green"........seems to work great as a final wash.


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## bobbotron (Nov 28, 2007)

I use denatured alcohol (methyl spirits) for my camp stove, and for cleaning at times. I think it's a little less of a powerful solvent than acetone. I believe it's still rather not good for you, avoid skin contact and wear a respirator while you're working with it (sadly, for the longest time I thought it was as safe as rubbing alcohol, and used it as such. Sorry liver.) :/

Cons, I believe it has water in it, as opposed to acetone.

I'm trying to move to using rubbing alcohol for degreasing and cleaning where I can, working with acetone and denatured alcohol safely is annoying.


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## Cracked Headtube (Apr 16, 2006)

I use it for weld prep, it removes what needs to be removed. It's move expensive than acetone, and I can't REALLY notice a difference between the 2. I'll be going back to Acetone, or rubbing alcohol once my Denatured runs out.


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## Linnaeus (May 17, 2009)

Denatured alcohol is simply ethanol with some methanol (+/- other additive) added as a preventative to avoid people imbibing it. Although it contains water, this should be minimal (ethanol and water make an azeotrope preventing 100% ethanol from being easily made). Although methanol is indeed toxic, the amount you are exposed to from denatured alcohol should be minimal compared to a toxic or dangerous dose. This of course would assume you don't drink it, are using it in a well ventilated area, etc.


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## Jamenstall (May 18, 2004)

Linnaeus - I use it in my garage which unfortunately has all kinds of ventilation leaks. 

I thought I read somewhere that denatured alcohol was a little less toxic than acetone. But it doesn't seem to be any better as long as you don't try to drink it.


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## Linnaeus (May 17, 2009)

Softbutt - to be clear I do think that denatured alcohol is safer than acetone, because it is mostly only exposure to ethanol. Interestingly, the human body actually makes acetone under certain physiologic and pathologic conditions, so we all have some exposure anyway. Acetone is still a strong organic solvent so breathing it in moderate or large doses is not a good idea.


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## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

I thought I'd chime in because I used to work in a chemical plant where we used acetone in copious quantity. 

If denatured alcohol is a strong enough solvent for your application then use it. 

Acetone is a nasty chemical that on its own is a neuro-toxin. In addition to this method of poisoning it is also a strong carrying agent, meaning simply that anything dissolved in it is carried along with it into the blood stream.

On my last shift worked at the plant (20 years ago) I witnessed a coworker get a 55 gal drum of the stuff chucked in his face. He only got splashed, not hit. Nevertheless he was blind and hospitalized for a week. 

The drum had about 30 years worth of lead, cadmium, cobalt and other heavy metal sludge in the bottom.

We would occasionally drain off some of the dirty acetone and replace it with fresh. Who knows what entirely was in that drum.

If I'm not mistaken, acetone is quite a bit more flammable than denatured alcohol too.

Play safe!

Drew


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## bobbotron (Nov 28, 2007)

Arg, I'm a moron, I know methyl hydrate isn't denatured alcohol, why did I say that? :/

I did a bunch of looking into denatured alcohol vs methyl hydrate - apparently, here in Canada it is sometimes cut as much as 55% with methyl hydrate. Yuck! Except for camping and the possible wood working application, I've decided to use rubbing alcohol where ever possible. I can't see a big difference between it, acetone, and denatured alcohol in terms of cleaning power on steel.


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