Making hand sanitizer

[Muse]

I have 16oz of 99+% isopropyl alcohol, 26oz of 91% isopropyl, more than a quart of 70% isopropyl (i.e. standard rubbing alcohol). I have never bought hand sanitizer and won't even bother looking, all I hear is that everybody's sold out. Lots of info on making your own online/TV, basically maybe 90+% isopropyl alcohol mixed with aloe vera gel, I guess

I realize that adequately washing your hands with soap and water is preferable to using hand sanitizer in disinfecting your hands. Around the house, I'm washing my hands. Can't do that in the car. Could use hand sanitizer to disinfect a cart in a store or a door knob at home, etc. with a paper towel or kleenex.

Recipes?

Well, I don't have the aloe vera gel. So, I guess that's what I'm lacking. Suggestions what/where to get it. PREFERABLY ONLINE (Amazon's offerings are kinda confounding, haven't look at ebay's yet)! Acceptable, in reasonable quantity (I'm thinking at least a pint, a quart is better, 64oz even OK), best bang for the buck as long as it's acceptable quality.

Or is hand sanitizer available online yet, reasonably?

Thanks for info, ideas!

 

[lxskllr]

I'd just put the 70% in a spritz bottle and use that. No point in getting too fancy.

 

[Red Squirrel]

A different approach is to dilute to 70%, though sounds like you already have that, so just put that in a normal spray bottle and you can spray it on things or yourself. It will dry up your skin though but it will work in a pinch. You can add some kind of essential oil or gelatin type product to it so it does not dry up as much but that's not the kind of thing most people will have on hand.

For aloe vera, think this is what you need:

Foodaholic Aloe Vera Soothing Gel 99% 500ml : Amazon.ca: Beauty & Personal Care

Find Foodaholic products at low prices. Shop online for bath, body, cosmetics, skin care, hair care, perfume, beauty tools, and more at Amazon.ca

www.amazon.ca

Problem is that is going to take a long time to ship now days. You may be able to get an aloe vera plant at a store like Home Depot locally as they are still open, could send someone to go buy it for you if you rather not go out.

 

[Icecold]

Or is hand sanitizer available online yet, reasonably?

Thanks for info, ideas!

https://www.froggysfog.com/addition...-s-simply-sanitizer-hand-rub-formulation.html - 50 Gallon drum for only $1300.

 

[Muse]

I'd just put the 70% in a spritz bottle and use that. No point in getting too fancy.

Actually, I have had spritz bottles of 70% all over the house for years. Handy stuff. I think I heard that just that won't kill the spores unless it douses for 30 seconds or something. Seems nutty. Just don't know. Obviously spraying and wiping would have to be a lot better than nothing. Maybe not as good as HS on a shopping cart, though?

 

[Red Squirrel]

I ended up making some at home just now as I realized I have a spare spray bottle. Ordered two a while back as I wanted to make sea salt spray for my hair to experiment and figured I'd buy another in case I can use it for something else... worked out. I just need to make sure I label it properly so I don't end up putting alcohol in my hair lmao.

Will be handy for hands but also to sanitize surfaces before touching, like gas pump. Still do hands after, and then still wash them once I get home, but I figure it at least minimizes risks in the mean time as I need to touch other surfaces like my car and debit card etc in the process.

Another thing to keep into mind is if you go outside it's good idea to sanitize your car handles as well as house door knobs. Thieves check them nightly, and also check everyone else's. Good way to spread the virus. In the cold it will last days on metal surfaces.

I think it does take a bit of time for alcohol to work but if it just sits I think it will work decently well. Think the reason it has to be diluted is that when it's 99% it will evaporate too fast, where too low won't be effective, so 70% is the sweet spot.

The germaphobes must be laughing now at all these thought processes everyone has with this virus. "See we were right!".

 

[Muse]

The germaphobes must be laughing now at all these thought processes everyone has with this virus. "See we were right!".

It's not the germaphobes who will be laughing at your thoughts, it's the anti-science people. The science isn't clear on this and I don't disagree with any of your thoughts. I will add that you can use a tissue at the gas pump (then discard) and save yourself some trouble.

 

[Spacehead]

Recipes?
There are some links in the non political thread somewhere but you'd have to search thru that. I'm sure there are recipes if you search the web but beware of sources.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Basically, I took a spray bottle, filled it with water, dumped the water into a beaker just to see how much it holds, rounded to the closest line just to make life easier. For me it came up to 175ml. I then times that by 0.7 which comes up to 122.5ml. I just rounded that to 125 because of the lines on the beaker. Dump out the water, dump 125ml of 99% alcohol in it, then fill it to 175 with water, then dump it in the spray bottle and shake. I wrote down the values on the label so I can do it faster when I need more.

At least I think I'm in the right ballpark here, someone correct me if I'm wrong. This is an aerosol sanitizer and not a typical hand gel type, but it works for hands too. I tried it and it's actually not too bad to use, but I would advise to use hand lotion too at some later time throughout the day just to keep your hands from drying out. I figured this style is easier for DIY since I don't know where you would buy an empty sanitizer style dispenser but sprayers are easier to get or you can use old ones from cleaning products.

There are recipes to use aloe vera too if you want more of a gel style one.

 

[Spacehead]

I just remembered i bookmarked this.
https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...navirus-thread.2575795/page-136#post-40097180

I'm almost positive someone linked to a site with a recipe in that thread. 'Wired' maybe, cant' remember.
If nothing else you could probably carry around some household cleaner/disinfectant & clean the things you need to touch & not so much you hands till you get home to wash.

Bonus points for making a "holster" on your belt to carry said cleaner bottle

 

[lxskllr]

2stroke mix should kill bacteria/viruses, and it has a manly scent. Bonus is the oil will stick to surfaces providing lasting protection.

 

[Muse]

Basically, I took a spray bottle, filled it with water, dumped the water into a beaker just to see how much it holds, rounded to the closest line just to make life easier. For me it came up to 175ml. I then times that by 0.7 which comes up to 122.5ml. I just rounded that to 125 because of the lines on the beaker. Dump out the water, dump 125ml of 99% alcohol in it, then fill it to 175 with water, then dump it in the spray bottle and shake. I wrote down the values on the label so I can do it faster when I need more.

At least I think I'm in the right ballpark here, someone correct me if I'm wrong. This is an aerosol sanitizer and not a typical hand gel type, but it works for hands too. I tried it and it's actually not too bad to use, but I would advise to use hand lotion too at some later time throughout the day just to keep your hands from drying out. I figured this style is easier for DIY since I don't know where you would buy an empty sanitizer style dispenser but sprayers are easier to get or you can use old ones from cleaning products.

There are recipes to use aloe vera too if you want more of a gel style one.

Um, you're looking to produce 70% alcohol from 99% alcohol? Well, I know you're Canadian. Here in USA most of the rubbing alcohol (isopropyl) is sold in 70%, so nothing to do. I managed to find some 99.9% IIRC isopropyl, in reagent bottle, likely from a chemical supply house locally some 12+ years ago, probably have only removed the cap once or twice. I have a couple containers mostly full of 91% isopropyl.

Now, when I measure water by volume I never use volume measurements anymore. I have several small scales, kinda kitchen scales, bought off Ebay from Asia for the most part. Very adequate for most purposes. They automatically start at 0.00 and I keep them on ounces, but can switch between 5 or so different weight units, cycling through them by pressing a button. Water's nice in that 8 ounces weight is equivalent to 8 ounces volume!

 

[randay]

can you imagine all the people out there making their own sanitizer and doing it wrong? taking a bottle of perfectly good alcohol and making it useless?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Well 99% is close enough to 100%. If you want to be safe aim for like 71% when diluting. If you find it already diluted then yeah you don't need to do anything.

 

[nOOky]

I made a gallon with some 70% and some sunburn aloe gel we had laying around, that also had a small amount of lidocaine in it. I mixed it at 3/4 alcohol and 1/4 gel plus a few drops of red food coloring just to be different. It's very runny, so I put it in a couple spray bottles.

I took one to the barn where we board our horse yesterday. The wife said today that someone already stole it.

 

[WelshBloke]

Water's nice in that 8 ounces weight is equivalent to 8 ounces volume!

Use the metric setting. 1g of water is 1ml, 1kg is 1litre.

 

[Muse]

I was never able to find it, so I made my own:

90% rubbing alcohol (had already)
aloe vera (ordered off Amazon)
Shake.

I have about 2oz in a small plastic bottle.

 

[KillerCharlie]

Most stores here have hand sanitizer in some form. I bought a 28oz bottle of Purell-like stuff at home depot for $7.

 

[ondma]

Most stores here have hand sanitizer in some form. I bought a 28oz bottle of Purell-like stuff at home depot for $7.

Yea, OP, I dont know where you live, but pretty much every major store where I live has sanitizer: Target, Costco, Lunds, Cub for instance. I try to minimize the number of stores I go to, but those are the ones I visit most often, and they have all have had sanitizer in stock consistently. I bought one large bottle, and a couple of small bottles to carry around, which I can refill from the larger one.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I still just use iso alcohol diluted to 70%. It dries the hell out of your hands and makes them cold but it's only to carry you over until you get home. Then I use soap. I have not run out yet but I think some electronics stores will sell it as it's used to clean PCBs and stuff. There are some breweries that have switched to making hand sanitizer but think it's mostly going to healthcare workers who need it most, and not on store shelves.

One thing we will learn from this pandemic is to not take sanitation and cleaning products for granted lol.