Isopropyl Alcohol as degreaser
 

I have always wiped my chain down with a rag dampened a little bit with odorless mineral spirits after every ride in my quest to keep the chain a little bit clean in-between the full degreasing with OMS I do. I was just wondering if I can substitute isopropyl alcohol for the mineral spirits, as I have quite a bit of that on hand.

Any issue(s)?

IPA is a fair grease solvent but what you buy in drug stores is not 100% IPA, but about 88% with the balance water. You can buy 100% (anhydrous) IPA but it's a chemical supplier specialty, not a household item.

Alcohol is a poor solvent for petroleum oils. It may help a bit, but you might as well stick to the few drops of OMS needed on a rag to do a better/faster job.

And the alcohol really intoxicates the chain, making run wobbly and slur over the cassette gears.

alcohol stove fuel is more concentrated . 200 proof 'White Lightning' will burn too..

Most consumer IPA is 70% by volume, 90% occasionally found but not common. As noted it is a poor degreaser, but makes a good water remover .

The azeotrope is 87.7% IPA/13.3% water W/W and 91% IPA/9% water V/V so the drugstore bottles labeled 90% are that composition.

Note to fietsbob: There is no "200 proof White Lightning". The most concentrated drinkable ethanol is 95% Ethanol or 190 proof which is the azeotrope. Getting to 200 proof (100% ethanol) requires a ternary distillation or chemical drying, both of which make the resulting alcohol unfit to drink even if diluted below a dangerous concentration. For that matter, 190 proof Ethanol cannot be drunk as is.

I wouldn't expect IPA to work nearly as well as mineral spirits but it won't harm anything either. Couldn't hurt to try if you have a lot on hand. If you are satisfied with the result go for it.

I just looked. The one I have on hand are from Costco. They are labeled 91% Isopropyl Alcohol, if it matters.

Spray or drip some of your usual chain lube in some isopropyl alcohol.

See what happens.

Try mixing the two.

If they are readily miscible (mixable) then that suggests that the isopropyl alcohol is sufficient to clean your chain.

If not - i.e. they stay separate (think oil and water) then that suggests you need something less polar. Like OMS.

For god's sake, don't use IPA! If you are going to wipe your chain down with beer, use something cheap - maybe Miller High Life. But India Pale Ale? I'm pretty sure there's a law against that.

Read all about it: All about Solvents: Non-Polar, Polar Aprotic, and Polar Protic Solvents ? Master Organic Chemistry

I'd use an IPA brew; only the best for my chain...

I was searching for some info on chain lube, and happened across a link to an article about using chlorox wipes to clean a chain and cassette, tried them on a filthy chain I planned to wash out anyway, totally amazing how well they work :-).

That is worth a try! I might just have some on hand.

If only because IPAs aren't fit for consumption even by inanimate objects. I pity everything they touch from the brewery to the poor saps that drink them.

Yes. Unfortunately one of my first experiments with alcohol back in high school involved the 100% (absolute) variety before I learned that the drying process can leave trace amounts of benzene and other harmful compounds. None of us consumed enough to cause detectable harm but it wasn't the best substance to drink.

Bull****. I drank 190 proof ethanol all the time my freshman year of college. :lol:

The real problem with 200 proof ethanol is keeping it that way -- it's so hygroscopic that it will pull in whatever moisture it can when exposed to the air.

There was a period when I thought double shots of 151 rum were "cool". We really never had any everclear tho, if we had, I would have drank it.

Bill

I pity the folks who ride behind me after I've had one :)

IPA can be bought in different percentages. Buy the highest percentage you can find, usually above 90%.

BTW I carry a small bottle of IPA in my trunk pack to clean my hands if I have a break down.

It seems there's a trade off between the weaker cleaning power of alcohol, which evaporates, and the stronger OMS, which probably leaves residue in my chain? I realize I can burn out the OMS if the chain is off the bie but for a quick wipe, it seems alcoh might be preferable?

Beg to differ, but that's a whole other story...

We use IPA 70% in our shop as a general cleaner/light degreaser. Not on chains, but to wipe down a frame which is not completely filthy, may have spattered chain lube, triathlete sticky snot around the bottle cages where they keep their goop, dried on bugs, brake pad dust, etc. Decent all purpose solvent. And where chains are concerned, not a bad choice on a rag, after lubing, to wipe the exterior of the chain clean -- since IPA is not the best petroleum solvent, as long as you don't completely soak a rag, will leave more lube on the chain where it needs to be.

Nope. True mineral spirits evaporate completely as well.

You are telling me you drank Everclear (190 proof Ethanol) directly from the bottle without diluting it with anything? My turn to say Bull****. It's perfectly fine if diluted to a safe concentration but drunk at the full 190 proof it's deadly dehydrating.