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From: James Kaufman <jkaufman**At_Symbol_Here**LABSAFETYINSTITUTE.ORG>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Evaporating of flammable liquid in a fridge
Date: Mar 11, 2026 13:59 UTC
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
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James A. Kaufman, PhD
Founder/President Emeritus
The Laboratory Safety Institute (LSI)
A Non-profit Educational Organization for Safety
in Academic, Industrial, and Government Laboratories
101 Oak Street, Wellesley, MA 02482 (MA Office)
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Teach, Learn, and Practice Science Safely
--- For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.orgHi Drew,Cole Parmer makes circulating heating & cooling baths, (I'm sure they aren't the only ones). Depending on the vessels and setup for the experiment, maybe that could work in a fume hood.Even if they got a flammable-rated refrigerator, you may still have a face full of methanol fumes to deal with when the door is opened, if the volume is significant.On Tue, Mar 10, 2026, 4:55 PM Pemberton, Drew (apemberton**At_Symbol_Here**uidaho.edu) <0000231dd2f469c4-dmarc-request**At_Symbol_Here**lists.princeton.edu> wrote:--- For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.orgHello 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,
DREW PEMBERTON
Laboratory Safety Officer
Environmental Health and Safety
apemberton**At_Symbol_Here**uidaho.edu
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