# where to buy 99% alcohol?



## harkamus

I read somewhere on one of the replies to my threads that plugs should be cleaned with 99% alcohol. I'd like to clean my plugs, but I can't find 99% for the life of me. Any suggestions? My CVS only carries 91%.


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## Edwood

.........................
 Electronics surplus stores.

 Radio Shack. Sold in a small bottle as tape head cleaner fluid.

 Chemistry supply.

 Often labelled as 100% Isopropyl alcohol
 .........................


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## Iron_Dreamer

Pharmacy should ahve it. That's where I bought mine.


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## spaceman

We use 100% ethanol here in the lab that I work in. If I sold it to you I would be violating a number of federal laws. This stuff is highly regulated, and treated like gold, but it does come in handy as a waterless cleaner, and a few other things


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## Edwood

...........................

  Quote:


 _Originally posted by Iron_Dreamer _
*Pharmacy should ahve it. That's where I bought mine. * 
 

Which pharmacy did you purchase it from?

 ...........................


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## Edwood

...........................

 Most ethanol is laced with a toxin which can make anybody that drinks it sick and possibly blind. Exceptions include the the special 100% pure laboratory version.

 ...........................


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## Trawlerman

Hehehe.... Workers at the local Petrochemical plant have, in the past been known to bring home a flask of Ethanol at Christmas/New Year to add to the punch to pep it up a bit


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## spaceman

In the old days, before they started adding methanol to our ethanol, we would marinate cherries in the fire water and it made for one hell of a "cherry bomb."


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## kelston

Quote:


 My CVS only carries 91% 
 

As someone who regularly has to clean CPU dies and various computer chips for heatsink installation, I needed a ready source of 95-99% Isopropyl or Ethanol.

 I was able to order a bottle of Anhydrous 99% Isopropyl Alcohol from my CVS. I just had to go up to the pharmacy counter and ask if they would place a special order for some.

 I couldn't tell you where to get some actually labelled as pure Ethanol. I have a bottle only because my best friend's dad works at a machining place and got me a bottle.

 99% Isopropyl will probably be much easier to get than 100%. The Anhydrous kind would probably be what you want.


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## harkamus

Quote:


 _Originally posted by kelston _
*As someone who regularly has to clean CPU dies and various computer chips for heatsink installation, I needed a ready source of 95-99% Isopropyl or Ethanol.

 I was able to order a bottle of Anhydrous 99% Isopropyl Alcohol from my CVS. I just had to go up to the pharmacy counter and ask if they would place a special order for some.

 I couldn't tell you where to get some actually labelled as pure Ethanol. I have a bottle only because my best friend's dad works at a machining place and got me a bottle.

 99% Isopropyl will probably be much easier to get than 100%. The Anhydrous kind would probably be what you want. * 
 

Thanks! Did you have to pay extra to have the special order made?


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## kelston

Quote:


 Thanks! Did you have to pay extra to have the special order made? 
 

Nope. They just charged me the price of the bottle of alcohol


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## Demolition

I bought a 1-gallon jug of 99.953% anhydrous isopropyl alcohol for $19 CDN (~$14.50 US) at a local electronics supply house recently.

 I don't know if that was expensive or not. I didn't shop around for a better price.

 D.


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## BANGPOD

HAHAHA.

 I thought this was a drinking thread.
 I also thought that I was alone in this.

 Oh well... 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 BANGPOD


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## harkamus

Quote:


 _Originally posted by BANGPOD _
*HAHAHA.

 I thought this was a drinking thread.
 I also thought that I was alone in this.

 Oh well... 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 BANGPOD * 
 

. Drinking thread eh? As far as I know, the highest alcohol is 151% proof? 75.5% alcohol?

 Not that I drink...though my madre uses Bacardi 150 in her cooking.


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## UberNewb

I've had Everclear... it's pretty much pure alcohol


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## Distroyed

Quote:


 _Originally posted by Edwood _
*...........................

 Most ethanol is laced with a toxin which can make anybody that drinks it sick and possibly blind. Exceptions include the the special 100% pure laboratory version.

 ........................... * 
 

Are the common versions purposefully laced for some political reason?


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## Ozric

Quote:


 _Originally posted by UberNewb _
*I've had Everclear... it's pretty much pure alcohol 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			



* 
 

Yup, it's 195 proof (95% alcohol). Illegal in most states, too.


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## dd3mon

Quote:


 _Originally posted by Ozric _
*Yup, it's 195 proof (95% alcohol). Illegal in most states, too. * 
 

Your numbers don't exactly add up.

 Proof = 2x %.. So, 95% alcohol = 190 proof. This is what's available in most places (yes, it is illegal in some states, but not that many).

 There's another version of Everclear that IS illegal in most states, which is 99% alcohol, or 198 proof. This is much harder to find.

 -dd3mon


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## Ozric

Quote:


 _Originally posted by Distroyed _
*Are the common versions purposefully laced for some political reason? * 
 

Not a political reason; it's simply to prevent abuse. The "toxin" they use to denature pure ethanol is methanol, or wood alcohol.


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## Ozric

Quote:


 _Originally posted by dd3mon _
*Your numbers don't exactly add up.

 Proof = 2x %.. So, 95% alcohol = 190 proof. This is what's available in most places (yes, it is illegal in some states, but not that many).

 There's another version of Everclear that IS illegal in most states, which is 99% alcohol, or 198 proof. This is much harder to find.

 -dd3mon * 
 

You're right, I mistyped. It should be 190 proof. There's no 198 proof Everclear as far as I'm aware, only 190 and 151 (75.5%). We get only the 151 proof stuff here in California.


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## emelius

Quote:


 _Originally posted by kelston _
*As someone who regularly has to clean CPU dies and various computer chips for heatsink installation, I needed a ready source of 95-99% Isopropyl or Ethanol.

 I was able to order a bottle of Anhydrous 99% Isopropyl Alcohol from my CVS. I just had to go up to the pharmacy counter and ask if they would place a special order for some.

 I couldn't tell you where to get some actually labelled as pure Ethanol. I have a bottle only because my best friend's dad works at a machining place and got me a bottle.

 99% Isopropyl will probably be much easier to get than 100%. The Anhydrous kind would probably be what you want. * 
 

pure acetone (not nail polish remover) from a hardware store is actually better for this...just be extra careful how you store it...


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## guzzler

Quote:


 _Originally posted by emelius _
*pure acetone (not nail polish remover) from a hardware store is actually better for this...just be extra careful how you store it... * 
 

 don't do this if you've got plastic anywhere near the jack as the acetone will eat right through... I hate the smell of acetone as well, ug!

 g


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## Howie

Isn't methyl hydrate (stove alcohol) commonly found in the paint thinner second and also called denatured alcohol at pharmacies essentially pure alchohol? I mean it says 99.9% on the box. Would that be safe on contacts?


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## emelius

Quote:


 _Originally posted by guzzler _
*don't do this if you've got plastic anywhere near the jack as the acetone will eat right through... I hate the smell of acetone as well, ug!

 g * 
 

on a cpu/heatsink--NOT anywhere near the audio equipment....


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## Distroyed

Quote:


 _Originally posted by Ozric _
*Not a political reason; it's simply to prevent abuse. The "toxin" they use to denature pure ethanol is methanol, or wood alcohol. * 
 

That's a political reason


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## Music Fanatic

If you can't find it at one pharmacy, try another. I see 99% alcohol around frequently.


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## blipblop

But the real question is why it needs to be anhydrous? That touch of water shouldn't make a damn bit of difference.


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## Demolition

Quote:


 _Originally posted by blipblop _
*But the real question is why it needs to be anhydrous? That touch of water shouldn't make a damn bit of difference. * 
 

 For harkamus' purposes (cleaning plugs), a bit of water isn't harmful as long as it evaporates away. He could probably get away with using a formulation as low as 70% (although it might contain various solvents like acetone -- so keep that stuff away from plastic).

 It's only an issue when you use it on something like a tape head. If residues are left behind after the alcohol has evaporated, then the tape can stick to the head and gum up the works.

 D.


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## blipblop

Hey Dem!

 I understand, but water won't leave any residue any more than any other pure solvent.


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## kelston

Quote:


 _Originally posted by blipblop _
*Hey Dem!

 I understand, but water won't leave any residue any more than any other pure solvent. * 
 

Don't know. I just figure... water = rust, and audiophiles are arguably more anal about their contact quality than CPU freaks.

 I think 99% Anhydrous is easier to find simply since it can't rationally be used for drinking since it contains Benzene to force out the water naturally found in Isopropanol. The anhydrous kind seems to dry up much faster (yes, i'm impatient, I can't wait the extra second that Hydrous Iso takes to dry).

 I don't recommend acetone myself since it is rather harsh and usually, from what i've found, leaves a residue (at least on my heatsinks), so I always follow up acetone with 99% Iso. The only reason I use acetone is to remove things that are harder to remove like mesh-reinforced thermal greases/thermal pads and thermal tape and stuff.


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## Demolition

blipblop,

 Yeah, I didn't follow the line of my own reasoning far enough. Basically, as kelston said, the absence of water prevents oxidation. This is a good thing, especially in perpetually humid environments (like where I live 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





) where the water may hang around for a while before evaporating.

 D.


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## Sovkiller

If you can find a Drug Emporium, around home they have it, on the rest the highest I have seen is is 91% that IMO should be good enough...


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## Sovkiller

Here you can get it, not cheap though.....

http://www.artcochemical.com/Product...ls.htm#Ethanol


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## loveheadphones

just wanted to say...
 the fact that there is some methanol in your "almost pure" ethanol doesn't really have to do with the toxicity of it. a very common industrial operation is the binary distillation of methanol and ethanol. they have very close boiling points (relatively) so it takes a lot of equilibrium stages in a distillation column to get high purity ethanol. there will always be a little bit of methanol in there if it was in the starting feed. 

 so your ethanol has measurable quantities of methanol because it's cheaper to make it that way 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 less stages = smaller distillation column = less money to run


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## guzzler

Quote:


 _Originally posted by loveheadphones _
*just wanted to say...
 the fact that there is some methanol in your "almost pure" ethanol doesn't really have to do with the toxicity of it. a very common industrial operation is the binary distillation of methanol and ethanol. they have very close boiling points (relatively) so it takes a lot of equilibrium stages in a distillation column to get high purity ethanol. there will always be a little bit of methanol in there if it was in the starting feed. 

 so your ethanol has measurable quantities of methanol because it's cheaper to make it that way 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 less stages = smaller distillation column = less money to run * 
 

 true, but technical grade lab ethanol is deliberately laced with methanol. Pretty much any industrially produced ethanol with have methanol as you can never acheive 100% seperation (of anything for that matter)

 g


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