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From: Bridget Morris <0000193824b50d68-dmarc-request**At_Symbol_Here**LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Evaporating of flammable liquid in a fridge
Date: Mar 10, 2026 21:05 UTC
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
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Hello all, I could use some advice!
I have a researcher who is wanting to evaporate some methanol from some samples over the course of a few days at low temp (~4C). They had planned on doing this inside their fridge, but luckily was in a safety meeting where I mentioned that flammable liquids should not be stored inside a non-flammable rated fridge and reached out to me for an alternative.
They were thinking of getting a small mini-fridge (think like one of those soda can fridges) and sticking it inside a fume hood with a straw or something else stuck into the door crack to allow for some ventilation. After doing some back of the envelope math, at fridge temps the saturated concentration of methanol would be around 53000 ppm, which is a bit too close for the LEL of methanol (around 60000ppm) for my comfort. I’m not sure what else would be a good alternative.
Anyone have any thoughts on this? Would this be an acceptable level of risk? Has anyone dealt with a flammable liquid evaporation scenario at low temps (or any temps) like this before? Appreciate any input!
Regards,
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DREW PEMBERTON |
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