[NHCOLL-L:4984] Summarization: methods of dispensing ethanol in lab

[Alexandra M Snyder]

Thanks to all of you who responded.  Greg Watkins-Colwell 
and Kirsten Nicholson asked that I  summarize the 
responses received.

All who responded (11) are using spigots and carboys to 
store and dispense ethanol.  The carboys are either 
Nalgene low density polyethylene, stainless steel, or 
coated steel and range from 19 liters to(giant-do not know 
capacity) cistern-like containers at the Canadian Museum 
of Nature fluid prep lab.  A couple of respondents 
suggested that I use the red safety cans (about 19 liters) 
for flammables (fire marshals love them).  Unfortunately, 
these would not work for our purposes because we process 
quite a number of collections in ethanol and would spend a 
fair amount of time frequently refilling these containers. 
(We use 35%-50%-70% ethanol concentrations.) Other 
suggestions included using some type of 
catchment/reservoir to hold spillage or attaching tubing 
with a clamp to the nozzle, thereby having two ways to 
turn off the flow.

The fact that I cannot come up with an alternative to the 
gravity fed dispensing of ethanol may be good enough for 
this fire marshal. (In my dreams.) It is worth trying to 
pursue. My main point of discussion is that the amount of 
spilled ethanol in this room should not pose a fire 
threat, given the air exchange (100% every 3 hours, I 
believe) to handle vapor and a floor drain.  The room is 
about 1015 sq. ft. and the amount of 70% ethanol that 
would flood at one time would be 100 liters, 50% ethanol 
at 50 liters, and 35% ethanol at 50 liters. (The other 8 
carboys are filled with formalin or isopropanol, which do 
not constitute a problem for him.)  In my opinion, 
spillage is not excessive for this size room.

Thank you again for your input.

Lex

**************************************
Alexandra M Snyder
Collections Manager-Fishes
Museum of Southwestern Biology MSC03-2020 302 Yale NE
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131 USA
PH/FAX 505.277.6005
amsnyder at unm.edu
http://www.msb.unm.edu/fishes/index.html