The heat!

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NickM

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We've got an old campaign trunk which sits in a south facing bay window. My wife noticed some "goo" coming out of the dovetails on the window side of the trunk. She thought it was resin, but I'm wondering if it's hide glue melting in the heat!

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Anyway, the shutters have been closed which should keep it out of the direct sun. It's nothing particularly special, but I might have to find somewhere else for it to live.
 

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Take any bottles of hand sanitiser out of your car if they are in direct sun.
We had two which had deformed badly in the heat... there are reports of them catching alight.
 
That would work":ljgd3m3c said:
Take any bottles of hand sanitiser out of your car if they are in direct sun.
We had two which had deformed badly in the heat... there are reports of them catching alight.

False reports, cars can get hot but not that hot.

EDIT: do keep them out of direct sunlight though, you will not do it any good as the alcohol could evaporate.
 
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol ...

The flash point of pure alcohol is 13C and that of a 5% w/w aqueous solution is 43C

In full sun, on a day like today, a localised temperature of 50C or more is easily achievable inside a car.

Also, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_sanitizer says of alcohol-based sanitisers: "...care should be taken as they are flammable..."

I think that a fire accelerated by alcohol-based gel is pretty unlikely but far from impossible. Of course, petrol is somewhat more frightening...
 
Today's Times -


NHS staff have been warned not to leave bottles of hand sanitiser in their cars in the hot weather due to fears that they could catch fire.

The public has been advised to use hand sanitiser regularly if there is no access to soap and water to kill off the coronavirus. Public health officials say that this should have a minimum alcohol content of 60 per cent.

As the temperature rises, however, this is raising a fire risk. NHS Property Services said in a note to staff: “We have received a number of reports of hand sanitiser being the cause of fires when left in vehicles in the hot weather the UK is currently experiencing.

“The alcohol hand sanitiser is becoming heated resulting in flammable vapours being released. These vapours are reaching their ‘flashpoint’ and then ignite in normal air conditions, setting fire to flammable components within the car.”

The NHS body said that motorists should “not leave hand sanitiser in unattended vehicles”.

The note said that when it is 25C outside it can be 55C inside a car. The alert was also published on the Fire Industry Association website.
 
Flashpoint requires an ignition source.

So yeah if you put a flame next to it, it will ignite. But who is going to do that?

Quite simply, don't leave it in the sun because it will evaporate and you will be wasting/reducing it's effectiveness. Otherwise just leave it in the car, it will be fine.
 
Rorschach":2hkcv3p1 said:
That would work":2hkcv3p1 said:
Take any bottles of hand sanitiser out of your car if they are in direct sun.
We had two which had deformed badly in the heat... there are reports of them catching alight.

False reports, cars can get hot but not that hot.

EDIT: do keep them out of direct sunlight though, you will not do it any good as the alcohol could evaporate.

Once had a disposable lighter explode from direct sunlight on a car dashboard. It didn't catch fire, luckily, but went off with an impressive bang. Smoking really IS bad for you.

(Full disclosure: it happened in Crete - it may not get as hot in the UK.)
 
Rorschach":rozg2kve said:
Flashpoint requires an ignition source.

So yeah if you put a flame next to it, it will ignite. But who is going to do that?

Quite simply, don't leave it in the sun because it will evaporate and you will be wasting/reducing it's effectiveness. Otherwise just leave it in the car, it will be fine.

You've heard of static electricity and/or cigarettes? One of those wikipedia articles mentioned static igniting alcohol in a hospital somewhere.
 
Trainee neophyte":88yo3df1 said:
Rorschach":88yo3df1 said:
That would work":88yo3df1 said:
Take any bottles of hand sanitiser out of your car if they are in direct sun.
We had two which had deformed badly in the heat... there are reports of them catching alight.

False reports, cars can get hot but not that hot.

EDIT: do keep them out of direct sunlight though, you will not do it any good as the alcohol could evaporate.

Once had a disposable lighter explode from direct sunlight on a car dashboard. It didn't catch fire, luckily, but went off with an impressive bang. Smoking really IS bad for you.

(Full disclosure: it happened in Crete - it may not get as hot in the UK.)

It's supposedly hotter here today than it is in Ibiza...
 
Woody2Shoes":x6tyqmcu said:
Rorschach":x6tyqmcu said:
Flashpoint requires an ignition source.

So yeah if you put a flame next to it, it will ignite. But who is going to do that?

Quite simply, don't leave it in the sun because it will evaporate and you will be wasting/reducing it's effectiveness. Otherwise just leave it in the car, it will be fine.

You've heard of static electricity and/or cigarettes? One of those wikipedia articles mentioned static igniting alcohol in a hospital somewhere.


Well cigarettes don't burn hot enough to ignite fumes, you can't even ignite petrol with one. And a static discharge capable of ignition happening in just the right location seems unlikely.
 
Rorschach":3tcae1g7 said:
Woody2Shoes":3tcae1g7 said:
Rorschach":3tcae1g7 said:
Flashpoint requires an ignition source.

So yeah if you put a flame next to it, it will ignite. But who is going to do that?

Quite simply, don't leave it in the sun because it will evaporate and you will be wasting/reducing it's effectiveness. Otherwise just leave it in the car, it will be fine.

You've heard of static electricity and/or cigarettes? One of those wikipedia articles mentioned static igniting alcohol in a hospital somewhere.


Well cigarettes don't burn hot enough to ignite fumes, you can't even ignite petrol with one. And a static discharge capable of ignition happening in just the right location seems unlikely.

I'll repeat: "I think that a fire accelerated by alcohol-based gel is pretty unlikely but far from impossible. Of course, petrol is somewhat more frightening... " I don't think either of us can say how unlikely it actually is, but I hope we can agree that it's possible...
 
Woody2Shoes":l26o1h3r said:
I'll repeat: "I think that a fire accelerated by alcohol-based gel is pretty unlikely but far from impossible. Of course, petrol is somewhat more frightening... " I don't think either of us can say how unlikely it actually is, but I hope we can agree that it's possible...

Yeah ok, possible, but so unlikely I wouldn't worry about it. I have carried it in my car for years (in the boot) and for the last 6 months I have had it in the front of the car but out of the sun.

Here are some non MSM articles and sensible talk for anyone interested.

https://fullfact.org/health/hand-sanitiser-fire-NHS/

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/fact ... 247418002/
 
Rorschach":vg0qlad1 said:
.....Also Mythbusters did an episode on it. Under no circumstances were they able to ignite petrol with a cigarette.

So the Nature article saying that the hottest bit of a burning cigarette is around 800C is wrong?
 
Woody2Shoes":2sbi8fjf said:
Rorschach":2sbi8fjf said:
.....Also Mythbusters did an episode on it. Under no circumstances were they able to ignite petrol with a cigarette.

So the Nature article saying that the hottest bit of a burning cigarette is around 800C is wrong?

Nope, and it seems my original statement was wrong too. A cigarette burns hotter than the auto-ignition temperature of petrol, but it's not as simple as that as experiments show.
One of those odd things where the theory indicates it should be possible but the real world scenario makes it a whole lot more difficult. Just do a google search, I wasn't able to find a single case of it happening.
Please note that doesn't mean I advocate smoking at a petrol station.
 
Don't they bring this story out each year. Usually when it's hot.

2010 "deodourant blew my car to smithereens"
2011 "my reading glasses blew my car up"
2012 "I left my sparkly handbag in my car and it caused a fire"
2013 "man leaves lighter in car, comes back to burnt out wreck"
2014..............


2020 "hand sanitizer destroyed my car"
2021 "Perspex head bubble focused suns rays and started car fire"

I'd be more worried about a can of coke left in a car.
 
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