how long will alcohol and pesticide actually expire?

[kenny1999]

I know that the "expiry date" or "best before" may not actually reflect that a product will actually expire after such date. In fact, how long will isopropyl for household disinfection and pesticide will usually expire to a certain extent that it is considered useless after its manufactured and put in the containers?

[StringJunky]

If you are concerned about it stick to the BB date. That's what it's been tested to. Storage conditions matter, so it's a 'How long is a piece of string' sort of question.

[exchemist]

9 hours ago, kenny1999 said:

I know that the "expiry date" or "best before" may not actually reflect that a product will actually expire after such date. In fact, how long will isopropyl for household disinfection and pesticide will usually expire to a certain extent that it is considered useless after its manufactured and put in the containers?

In the case of IPA, if it is just the pure alcohol not much is going to go wrong with it over time. If there is any long-term oxidation it might generate a bit of acetone, that's all.  The main risk would probably be degeneration of the container, if it is plastic rather than glass. 

Pesticides may however be a different kettle of fish, being more complex molecules that may possibly break down or oxidise in a variety of ways. So for those I would probably not want to exceed the stated shelf life too much, not by more than a year or two at most. 

[kenny1999]

2 hours ago, exchemist said:

In the case of IPA, if it is just the pure alcohol not much is going to go wrong with it over time. If there is any long-term oxidation it might generate a bit of acetone, that's all.  The main risk would probably be degeneration of the container, if it is plastic rather than glass. 

Pesticides may however be a different kettle of fish, being more complex molecules that may possibly break down or oxidise in a variety of ways. So for those I would probably not want to exceed the stated shelf life too much, not by more than a year or two at most. 

Then what could be the possible problem of expired pesticides that have broken down or oxidized? Just render useless or be bad to health?

[exchemist]

19 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

Then what could be the possible problem of expired pesticides that have broken down or oxidized? Just render useless or be bad to health?

No idea. I am not an expert on pesticide chemistry. 

[CharonY]

5 hours ago, kenny1999 said:

Then what could be the possible problem of expired pesticides that have broken down or oxidized? Just render useless or be bad to health?

I think pretty much all pesticides are bad for health to various degrees to begin with.

[StringJunky]

I think IPA is hydrophillic, so as one keeps opening the bottle and the liquid diminishes, the air volume increases and, so, water concentration increases as it draws moisture from the air space.

Edited November 11, 2023 by StringJunky

[kenny1999]

19 hours ago, StringJunky said:

I think IPA is hydrophillic, so as one keeps opening the bottle and the liquid diminishes, the air volume increases and, so, water concentration increases as it draws moisture from the air space.

It is kept in the original plastic bottle and it is most of the time closed with the lid, in that case, will the IPA last much longer than the stated expiry date (i.e. two years after manufactured)?

[Sensei]

In the case of IPA, it evaporates:

https://www.google.com/search?q=IPA+evaporation+time

..electronics engineers often use it to clean circuit boards, so it's pretty well measured.. there are YouTube videos that compare several different fluids..

 

On 11/10/2023 at 8:05 AM, kenny1999 said:

pesticide

This is not a single compound. Too ambiguous. Find the name of the compound, then review articles about it.

 

39 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

It is kept in the original plastic bottle and it is most of the time closed with the lid, in that case, will the IPA last much longer than the stated expiry date (i.e. two years after manufactured)?

..I would use it without any serious doubts..

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by Sensei