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Toxicity differences between various grades of Isopropy alcohol ?

U

Unlucky

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 26, 2007
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I wanted to buy medical grade Isopropy alcohol from the pharmacy to clean my herbal vaporizer for cannabis use but the pharmacy's in Australia are not allowed to sell the item without a prescription so instead I purchased alcohol swabs used for skin prep for iv but this was insufficient for cleaning my "Volcano Vaporizer"...

So today I went to the hardware store and got some %100 isopropanol from the cleaning and paints section but I am a bit unsure whether this may leave any toxic residue when cleaning my vaporizer. So my question is: Is all Isopropyl the same or is there any major difference in regards to toxicity between medical grade, industrial grade and the ones you can buy at the hardware store? If there is no difference then why is the same product illegal to buy over the counter at the pharmacy when you can get it at an electronics shop or hardware store ?

According to Wiki isopropyl alcohol poisoning can occur from ingestion, inhalation, or absorption and around 15 g of isopropyl alcohol can have a toxic effect on a 70 kg human, but is this refering to a specific grade of isopropyl or is it a general statement ?
 
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Yep, I love my Volcano =D

The alcohol from the hardware store is %100 isopropanol,

The alcohol from the pharmacy is %99 isopropyl but I cant get that without prescription...

and the alcohol skin swabs are %70 isopropyl.

Now my question is not so much about the "%" but more about the comparison between "medical grade %99 isopropyl from a pharmacy" vs "industrial grade %99 isopropyl from a hardware or electronic store", is there any difference between those two in regards to toxicity ?
 
use 70% from the pharmacy and it will work fine.

i would not use industrial grade since it is not meant to be put in or in the body. it is probably ok, but no guarantees.
 
Ffs

you are vaporising stuff, probably more risk from that just use the IPA and then wet cloth to remove residue.
 
agreed we in canada can actually get the 99% no problem ya just ask for it,but when yer done cleaning with whatever yer useing just use soap and water anyway???
or i have found believe it or not that scope works good.i use the green regular original typw.
But realy if ya need to clean it out whats wrong with dish soap and hot water ??
 
Yea good advice I will just use water to rinse the parts after using isopropyl to get off all the resin. I dunno bout soap though, the volcano vaporizer has a lot of small attached parts to clean and to be honest I dont want to be tasting soap when I vaporize.

So from what I understand so far there is no difference between various isopropyl alcohol formulas or brands other then the concentration of the alcohol to water ratio and the whether it was made in a sterile environment is what determines the difference between medical and industrial grade ?
 
I really don`t think you have anything to worry about. Isopropanol has a low toxicity. I can`t imagine there being any real toxic impurities in 99% isopropanol. Hell, I`d be perfectly content using over-the-counter 70%. It`s really mild stuff.

You have to, you know, start drinkin` it to really get poisoned from the stuff. ;)
 
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