Oolite Bulletins

Random question - I use a contraption to clean the cutting heads on my Philishave electric shaver. The fluid refills are no longer available, and I am about to run out.

The ingredients on the refill bottle are 85% ethanol, 14% 2-Propanol, 1% Octydodecanol

if any knowledgeable person could point me in the direction of a cheap equivalent for the above concoction, I would be much obliged. Maybe something like this?

Isopropyl Alcohol, used it forever to clean my philishave rotary blades. Never had a problem and the last shaver I had died before the blades did! Not so sure about using any contraptions. They usually have warranties that void easy. Just take the blades out, put in a small glass with Isopropyl Alcohol and swish them around by moving the glass in a circular motion. Presto! Oops! The blades disintegrated! How did that happen......

It seems to be a mixture of alcohols.
Ethanol is regular alcohol like you get in beer and spirits, and 2-Propanol and Octydodecanol are also alcohols.
The denatured ethanol might contain other chemicals, so may not be suitable.
Buying industrial alcohols in the UK is tricky because of customs legislation.
Try your local pharmacy and explain what you need it for and try to get some isopropyl alcohol or something they're allowed to sell you. They may need to dilute it down for sale to the public, but my guess is it would still clean your shaver without harming it.

isopropyl alcohol - fab.

It seems i can get this on amazon.co.uk marketplace, in small quantities, for not so much £.

one more question if I may (probably impossible to answer definitively but what the heck) : I pour the Philips-brand cleaning fluid into a reservoir in the base of the plastic-y and rubber-y cleaning contraption and it sits there, being changed for fresh only every 12 months. Now, if I used the 99.9% isopropyl alcohol, would I be able to do the same - or would it have some deleterious effect on the plastic and rubber over time?

ah, the other thing is that the contraption accepts the whole shaving head, metal cutting parts and plastic retaining parts. So, similar sort of question occurs to me as the above.

if I was not being so lazy, I could just do as CommonSense says and take out the 3 sets of blades and swish them around in a glass.

cheers (not in the drinking sense)

Yeah you know I believe that the other 2 ingredients(other than 85% ethanol) are there either to keep you from drinking it or for lubrication(or both).It's probably best if you consult the manufacturer(Philishave) at thier website to see if they recommend a replacement cleaner. If they don't it's the old case of make something obsolete so you have to buy the latest model and I don't subscribe to that philosophy so I would in that case procede to MacGuyver it. They probably wouldn't use ethanol and have to add something to poison it if they could get away with isopropyl alcohol so I'm going to guess that using Isopropyl will likely damage the plastics and/or rubber bits in the shaver and possibly also not provide the lubrication required. Just a guess. And if the last cleaner for that shaver is no more and you still want that convenience that you paid for just use the isopropyl alcohol 100%(no water) and if it's drying up the plastic/rubber bits add trace shaving gel maybe? Use it till it drops and the next time buy the simplest car you can find(roll up windows and no AC). On a side thought perhaps just get the strongest clear drinkable spirit you can buy and use it straight. How strong is tequila? You're looking for minimum 50% or 100 proof. And if the shaver quits you can always drink the unused portion. Yeah, I like that idea the best. Have your cake and drink it to!
Cheers!

Philishave recommend replacing with one of their water-based cleaning fluids now. But that seems a bit of a poor solution (no pun intended).

[moan] it's the classic case of improving (over-engineering) a basic (ingeniously designed, effective, and cheap) product, for the benefit of the consumer (company's profit margins). Of course, the progenitor of the new product then has to be made obsolete, or nobody would take up the ridiculous new offering.

I see this happening more and more these days, in the name of 'better products'. Are corporations so daft as to think consumers don't notice? MacGyuver rules, I say. Except that the know-how that is required to MacGuyver effectively is becoming more scarce (thank goodness for knowledgeable people who are willing to share, and t'internet)

What also vexes me is the relatively new trend for bagged or packeted products to be sold with less product, but still in the 'original' sized bag. So that bag of 25 crackers that I used to buy now has only 22 crackers plus a 3-cracker sized air space. But am I paying 12% less? Um, don't think so! Inflation by another means.

oh boy, you can tell it's a Monday morning. I will cheer up after my coffee.
[/moan]

Sorry if this seems overly obvious, but have you tried emailing Philips customer services or seeing if they have an online forum or (luddite that I am) phoning them to ask if they have anything suitable or even any advice?

Philishave recommend replacing with a water-based cleaning fluid. can't be as good as the alcohol-based.

Denatured alcohol will do fine, normally the stuff they add is aether (sp in English?) just to make sure you won't drink it.

Octydodecanol is probably used to keep the solution working longer: disperse the oily substances in the fluid.

you can omit that, just change the solution more often (it will be cheaper)

80% alcohol (ethanol, don't use cheaper methanol, that stuff is toxic !) will do the job just right.

higher than 80% will cost you more.

Don't worry about the plastics and rubbers, they'll be fine.


(I used to be in art-conservation)

wow, thanks Rxke

I had a google but I struggled to find the 80% alcohol. I can source the 99% isopropyl alcohol though. Would that also be ok for the plastics & rubber?

art conservation - who'd've thought there was such a close link between that and shaving...?

Normally that'll be allright too. It's pretty much used everywhere in the electronics industry. It is a little bit toxic, though, so don't drink it! (Oh, and it smells, might be a problem if you can't seal that container)



You guys can't buy even denatured methanol @ the chemist? Are the laws that strict?

Heehee, you should've seen with what kinds of nasty stuff I managed to get at the chemist around the corner. Saying you're into alternative photographic processes was like a magic spell

well, I couldn't find the 80% online. Local chemist may be different. Although I once went to local chemist to buy those mild acid crystals that dissolve in water and can be used to de-scale kettles (and baby bottle warmers) and the response was: "oh no, you can't buy that here", like I was asking for heroin or something. creeping nanny state

lfnfan wrote:

wow, thanks Rxke

I had a google but I struggled to find the 80% alcohol. I can source the 99% isopropyl alcohol though. Would that also be ok for the plastics & rubber?

art conservation - who'd've thought there was such a close link between that and shaving...?

Isopropyl alcohol will be fine for the plastics and rubber - there's already 14% of it in the solution you've been using. If you want to mimic the effect of the higher molecular weight alcohol, you could try a small amount of a glycol - ethylene glycol or propylene glycol. Again, don't drink (unless you're wanting to sweeten an Austrian white wine ) In reality it's best just to use the ipa and change it a little more often.

Cheers
- 15 years working in the polyurethane chemical industry. Now a singing teacher, which is far more fun!

tenorman1971 wrote:

- 15 years working in the polyurethane chemical industry. Now a singing teacher, which is far more fun!

Now that's a career change!!!!

Turning your back on petrochemicals and modern industrial values...what kind of a role model are you??!!