thors.lab
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Safe storage of DCM
Hi,
I just worked with DCM for the first time and realized, quite to my surprise, that DCM has no smell to me. This is rather concerning. Giving
it's high vapor pressure I'm concerned I won't be able to smell it if it's leaking from its container into my house. I *could* store it in a shed
outside, but this shed is not very well insulated and it gets rather hot where I live. It's also not insulated from rain or rodents.
I had a similar problem with my diethyl ether. That little rascal refused to stay in any container no matter what I did. Eventually I evaporated it
all away because I couldn't find a safe way to store it that didn't produce gnarly fumes constantly.
Any thoughts on safe storage of this solvent?
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greenlight
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Interesting, dichloromethane smells sweet to me.
It does have a tendency to just get up and fuck off from whatever container it's put into indeed haha. I stored 5 litres in a HDPE chemical container
once and I ended up with 1.5 litres.
At the moment I have it in a schott duran blue top glass reagent container and it seems to be holding fine so that might be the go.
Be good, otherwise be good at it 
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Fery
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You can weigh your bottle to know whether the content is escaping at significant rate. It should not escape significantly from original bottle. For
low boiling / hygroscopic / oxygen sensitive solvents/liquids I cover the small gap between the cap and the bottle with few turns of PTFE tape (cca 1
EUR per 10 m of the tape in shops for plumbers).
Smell is very variable sense among people, few hundreds of genes involved and few hundreds of various smell receptors.
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FrenchChemist
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Only borosilica glass with crew cap from PBT
High leak tightness through use of PTFE coated silicone seal. More chemically resistant than PP screw cap.
Chemical chart of HDPE says is not suitable for the storage of DCM, ether and others.
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FrenchChemist
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Ohh i want to add something else because I forgot.
Out of curiosity, I checked the resistance of PP to dichloromethane and it seems completely satisfactory:
https://www.calpaclab.com/polypropylene-chemical-compatibili...
I also came across glass bottles with PP stoppers but I didn't have them for too long to observe a "loss" in the product. But if manufacturers ship in
such packaging, they should be fine.
but as I mentioned the post above for a longer storage period I always had better quality bottles - for over a year and no loss
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TriiodideFrog
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I always thought my DCM smelled something sweet or ether-like.
I keep my DCM in an amber bottle with a tight lid in a cool and dry cabinet.
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Dr.Bob
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I can smell DCM and CHCl3 readily, and quite distinctively.
I find the 100 ml Qorpak narrow mouth bottles work well for ether, DCM, and simialr solvents, as well as acids, if you use the green PTFE lined caps.
I have been storing solvents in these for years and the have been fine for a year or more of storage. I still have a few of these from a group buy
for people in the US, I have 60, 100 (really 120 ml), and 250 ml bottles with these caps, some are clear, some amber, and a few 100 with plastic
coating, for $2-4 each.
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mackolol
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Quote: Originally posted by greenlight  |
At the moment I have it in a schott duran blue top glass reagent container and it seems to be holding fine so that might be the go.
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Yeah, the blue cap bottles do great job here. They're not expensive, but I'm storing my DCM for few years in such a bottle now and all I can tell is,
that not even 1ml has escaped from it. Even in summer...
I believe that for ether it's the same.
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SuperOxide
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Damn this blasted thread. 
Since DCM is rather expensive (I paid $41.51 for 1L), and chlorinated solvents are my favorite, I consider my DCM to be rather precious (I
recycle/distill/dry every bit I can after use). I read this thread last night right before crashing, then I was thinking "holy shit... I haven't used
it in like over a year... what if it's all evaporated and escaped the bottle..." all damn night.
Whew... It's all there!  I'll probably weigh or mark the bottle now that yall
have got me paranoid about the damn thing, lol.
[Edited on 3-2-2021 by SuperOxide]
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monolithic
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I store my DCM indoors, never had any issue with it evaporating or leaking. My storage solution for solvents (or liquids in general) is ordinary amber
glass bottles from Amazon and PTFE lined caps from here: https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23577&...
Best to check the manufacturer specifications but in general:
1 oz is 20/400 cap
4 oz is 22/400 cap
8 oz is 24/400 cap
16 or 32 oz is 28/400 cap
1 gallon is 38/400
The PTFE liner on the caps is soft and compressible (foam backed) so it tends to form a very good seal on its own, but you can always add a layer or
two of PTFE plumbing tape around the threads of the bottle for an even better seal.
[Edited on 2-4-2021 by monolithic]
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SuperOxide
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| Quote: Originally posted by monolithic | I store my DCM indoors, never had any issue with it evaporating or leaking. My storage solution for solvents (or liquids in general) is ordinary amber
glass bottles from Amazon and PTFE lined caps from here: https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23577&...
Best to check the manufacturer specifications but in general:
1 oz is 20/400 cap
4 oz is 33/400 cap
8 oz is 24/400 cap
16 or 32 oz is 28/400 cap
1 gallon is 38/400
The PTFE liner on the caps is soft and compressible (foam backed) so it tends to form a very good seal on its own, but you can always add a layer or
two of PTFE plumbing tape around the threads of the bottle for an even better seal. |
Great link! I actually have some glass amber bottles that I got from amazon, and I did have a problem with some solvents leaking from them... then I
noticed that unlike the similar amber glass bottles that I actually get solvents shipped in, the caps were plastic and cracked very easily. So I may
end up buying some of those caps.
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NaK
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Some sellers - limac for example - ship DCM in HDPE because they ship everything in HDPE. That doesn't mean you should store it in HDPE but you need
to transfer it to a glass bottle. I made the mistake of just letting it in the plastic bottle and after a year half of it was gone. Never again
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SuperOxide
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| Quote: Originally posted by NaK | | Some sellers - limac for example - ship DCM in HDPE because they ship everything in HDPE. That doesn't mean you should store it in HDPE but you need
to transfer it to a glass bottle. I made the mistake of just letting it in the plastic bottle and after a year half of it was gone. Never again
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Oh wow. That sucks...
When I first got into amateur chemistry, I found out there was a chemical supplier that's only like 6 miles from my house that sells to hobbyists
(DCM, ether, chloroform, all the usual acids, etc, great stuff!). I purchased some ether from him, but didn't end up opening it for a while. Then as I
read the MSDS online and found that it needs to be stored in amber bottles because the light can cause it to form peroxides. But he gave it to me in a
clear glass bottle O_O
Luckily when I tested it for peroxides it was a null result, perhaps he had some stabilizers in it. But still, now I make sure the container it's
given to me in is what the MSDS recommends, at least.
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Chemorg42
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I get my solvents from hardware stores, so they come in those rectangular metal cans, so far, nothing seems to be evaporating from them (though I have
only used acetone so far.)
Should I be concerned?
Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood a single word. (attributed to Niels Bohr)
I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics. (Richard Feynman)
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SuperOxide
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| Quote: Originally posted by Chemorg42 | I get my solvents from hardware stores, so they come in those rectangular metal cans, so far, nothing seems to be evaporating from them (though I have
only used acetone so far.)
Should I be concerned? |
I haven't had any problems with it. However, if you store them in one area, you will eventually start to smell the solvents, which to me indicates
that it's getting out of the cap somehow. I usually use teflon tape on the seals just to ensure it's at least somewhat sealed.
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zed
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DCM used to be sold in Gallon cans. Same as DCM paint stripper. Used it a lot.
Very volatile, nasty chemical smell, burns your fingers. Tweaks your liver. Makes you feel nauseous. Bad stuff.
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alive&kickin
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I know that DCM is getting harder to find in the USA. SuperOxide, $41 for a liter!!! If anyone is interested there's a company in Canada that sells
it for $36 for 4 liter. I think shipping to Florida was $20, if I remember right. http://plasticworld.ca/product/methylene-chloride-dichlorome... Hope this helps someone.
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mr_bovinejony
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Here's a us company that sells it 60 for a gallon with free shipping
https://www.stellarchemicalcorp.com/product-page/methylene-c...
I keep it in the white jug they ship it in and it hasn't given me any problems.
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SuperOxide
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Yeah, that's pretty crazy, right? So when I see videos of people just wasting their DCM (cough *Explosions&Fire* cough), I get a little
jealous. I recycle every bit I can (then re-purify it via distillation, then dry it), and only use it for the synth's that absolutely require it.
Also though, I prefer working with chlorinated solvents. I think DCM and chloroform are just super easy to work with, don't have to worry about
catching on fire, they evaporate easily and distill quickly.
That's a hell of a deal! I'll keep that in mind. Thank you for sharing.
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Tellurium
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Wow these are high prices, that you have in america, I pay about 60 bucks for 10L!
I guess the prices are that high, because of some enviromental fee/tax or something? At least I heard, that with Tetrachloroethylene this is the case,
so maybe also with other chlorinated solvents due to high greenhouse effects compared to CO2? Even though the effects from DCM are way way lower, than
for example CCl4 or N2O.
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SuperOxide
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| Quote: Originally posted by Tellurium | Wow these are high prices, that you have in america, I pay about 60 bucks for 10L!
I guess the prices are that high, because of some enviromental fee/tax or something? [...] |
Pretty much...
| Quote: | | The United States Environmental Protection Agency has moved to place a ban on methylene chloride (dichloromethane, DCM) citing associations to
a higher risk of cancer and neurological and liver problems. |
Its funny looking at videos of
amateur chemists getting it so easily from paint stripper (then wasting it! lol), I wish I could get it that easy. I mean it's not "difficult" to get
online, but it's not as easy as going to Ace Hardware or Walmart anymore.
| Quote: Originally posted by Tellurium | | [...] At least I heard, that with Tetrachloroethylene this is the case, so maybe also with other chlorinated solvents due to high greenhouse effects
compared to CO2? Even though the effects from DCM are way way lower, than for example CCl4 or N2O. |
Actually, I have some Tetrachloroethylene, that was very easy to get. It's just in brake cleaner, and it's used in dry cleaning I believe. That's very
easy and cheap to get. (I have absolutely no idea what I plan to use it for, but I have some, lol).
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Mateo_swe
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DCM doesnt do well in HDPE?
Hmm, i got two 5L pails of DCM, i must go check on them so it doesnt escape the pails that most likely are HDPE.
If it does escape i must buy more of the blue cap storage bottles, they usually are good but little expensive.
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SuperOxide
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| Quote: Originally posted by Mateo_swe | DCM doesnt do well in HDPE?
Hmm, i got two 5L pails of DCM, i must go check on them so it doesnt escape the pails that most likely are HDPE.
If it does escape i must buy more of the blue cap storage bottles, they usually are good but little expensive.
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You mean the GL45 type storage bottles? Yeah I agree. I have one from Pyrex (orange cap) and one from some generic brand (blue cap). They work well
for this (I keep my recycled DCM in them). The pour rings that come with them always seem to loosen up and fall off. I know they're supposed
to be able to be removed for cleaning, but mine all just fall off when I pour now. Extremely annoying.
But you have two 5L pails? Holy crap, that's awesome. I would recommend something other than glass bottles for that, lol. Perhaps a metal
container. Just an idea.
[Edited on 1-3-2021 by SuperOxide]
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