Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Where can i find good storage bottles?

Db33 - 23-12-2016 at 21:44

I am looking for good storage bottles. For liquids and solids. Id like to get amber glass bottles, but im also looking for any other good cheap options for storing various dry powder chemicals and various solvents and liquids. on eBay for some reason the only containers i can find for this are too expensive, does anyone have a link or a suggestion where i can get good bottles for storing chems?

gdflp - 23-12-2016 at 22:34

I understand the feeling, putting your newly synthesized compound in a recycled plastic bottle doesn't quite give you the same satisfaction as a proper container, does it? This thread might give you some places to look. I would get a few more than you think you need, it's always handy to have some laying around.

PeterC - 24-12-2016 at 05:52

For small samples of non corrosive things you can use cheap vials off of aliexpress (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/12Pcs-1ml-2ml-3ml-5ml-10ml-M...) but for anything that will react with plastic or try to escape its container you should use a media bottle with a teflon cap.

Dr.Bob - 24-12-2016 at 07:30

I have a variety of clear and amber bottles and vials available, they are not quite as cheap as plastic, but depending on what you want, I have lots of smaller ones available for pretty low prices. The vials are as little as $1 per handful (a small ziplock bag full), or about $5-15 per case (cases vary from 72 to 200, depending on the vial size). And I have clear and amber bottles, many with PTFE lined caps, for $1-3, depending on the size, type, and quantity. I have shipped several people here an assortment of 50-60 bottles and a few vials for $50-60 in a medium sized flat rate box, which is about $13 postage. Most of these are brand new, only a handful of sizes do I have any used, which I sell for less. If you want to see what I have, I can send a sample pack as well, for a small amount.

Sulaiman - 24-12-2016 at 08:12

or, if like me you want to economise,
remember that far more money/research/development/testing goes into food containers than reagent containers,
to collect enough bottles/jars/containers to make matching sets of reagent containers,
you may have to switch brands for a while ......... suffer for your art

P.S. welcome to the world of the damned ...
amateur chemists, doomed to roam the aisles, perpetually seeking 'useful stuff' :P

[Edited on 24-12-2016 by Sulaiman]

Corrosive Joeseph - 24-12-2016 at 21:14

Quote: Originally posted by Sulaiman  
P.S. welcome to the world of the damned ...
amateur chemists, doomed to roam the aisles, perpetually seeking 'useful stuff' :P

[Edited on 24-12-2016 by Sulaiman]


This is so funny coz it's true...............

And I am definately guilty of switching brands just for the containers they come in. Have been collecting these for a long time now but I now possess quite a stack of crates of beautiful 330ml amber glass bottles, 500ml clear glass bottles (originally containing fruity soft drinks) and a ton of square coffee jars. I love the fact my containers are all uniform, made of glass and FREE. It's quite pleasing actually.

My therapist says I am working my way through it...................

/CJ

(That last statement is actually sarcasm and NOT true) :D

Db33 - 26-12-2016 at 06:41

does anyone have any opinion on all of the glass vases and stuff they sell at Michaels/Joanns fabrics as vases? They are clear/amber/green glass mostly with corks. I was thinking of using some of these.

Also does anyone have any idea on printable labels? Is there a program or something i can buy that i can use to print out or buy labels to make my own chem labels?

PeterC - 26-12-2016 at 07:20

You can use Avery print out labels (they won't stand up to much), but I prefer to make a Quartzy for my lab and just use a small label-maker to put a name/serial number on each bottle.

PirateDocBrown - 26-12-2016 at 08:37

For ordinary dry chemicals, that aren't corrosive, oxidizers, or volatile, it's hard to go wrong with ordinary Mason jars. They are cheap, come in many useful sizes, universally available, have standard size closures, (which are themselves easily replaceable) and are completely airtight.

JJay - 26-12-2016 at 22:05

This is actually a very serious problem, I've found. Good reagent bottles usually cost more than good flasks.

I do have several ground glass reagent bottles, but most of them are still sitting in their packages. They have to be sealed with joint grease to be airtight, and I worry about them getting knocked over or broken. Also, I am not confident that they will do a good job of handling substances with a high vapor pressure, though they seem to be appropriate for acids or very short-term storage.

I have found that soda bottles make extremely poor containers; the plastic ones are slightly permeable and removing all of the food ingredients from even the glass ones them seems to be impractical. Vinegar jugs are better.

There are many substances that you can store in repurposed solvent containers, empty hydrogen peroxide bottles, Mason jars, spice bottles, Ziplock bags, etc. You can find HDPE lids for Mason jars if you shop around.

You'd think that the hardware store bottles that sulfuric acid comes in would be good storage containers, but many of them have foil-lined caps.

One of the best ways to store chemicals is in a Duran (or other brand) media bottle with PTFE caps, but the bottles aren't cheap, and PTFE caps are extremely expensive. You can get PTFE-lined caps at far more reasonable cost.

You can also get PTFE-lined caps for Boston round bottles; Qorpak makes good caps that are really quite economical. An amber Boston round bottle with a PTFE cap can be used to store many liquids. Qorpak makes a lot of good storage containers.

Boston round bottles and media bottles are sometimes available in shatterproof and/or amber versions.

Dr. Bob is a trustworthy source for containers.

[Edited on 27-12-2016 by JJay]

Estal - 28-12-2016 at 00:07

You all should look on uline. It's where I get all my containers as they're always cheap. They even have amber jars/bottles ranging from $1 for the small up to $2 for large ones.

https://www.uline.com/BL_755/Amber-Wide-Mouth-Glass-Jars?key...

JJay - 28-12-2016 at 00:51

Uline carries Boston round bottles... they don't seem to carry PTFE caps, but they do have a wide range of containers.

Herr Haber - 28-12-2016 at 04:05

Arent Boston / Winchester bottles GL 45 threaded ?
If so, finding PTFE / PTFE lined caps should be easy.

Morgan - 28-12-2016 at 06:15

I've bought Teflon sheets before which aren't too expensive and wondered if you could just cut some neat disk shapes out and make your own. It's fairly soft and would probably take an impression of the rim of the bottle if tightly screwed on.

JJay - 28-12-2016 at 06:51

Boston round bottles aren't GL 45 threaded, but the caps are easy to find and much cheaper than GL 45 caps.

Db33 - 28-12-2016 at 08:22

is there a program i can download so that i can print out my own labels for the bottles? Im no sure if they make printing paper that you have sticky backs that you can make them into labels but if anyone has any ideas id like to know.