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Supplies WD-40 & new VOC requirements

Supplies
P

PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
I've been hearing products like WD-40, brake cleaner, other solvent type reducers are having to comply with new VOC regulations coming into effect shortly. Even some talk of panic buying & stocking up. Can't speak to other products but sounds like for WD-40 at least it will still be available. Not sure what they will change or if it will work as well. Some think you have already been using the new stuff without knowing it.

nationalpost.com

WD-40 says it will not be banned, will change formula to satisfy Ottawa's new rules

Canada's federal government has imposed new restrictions on the compound used in WD-40's original formula
nationalpost.com nationalpost.com
 
The original WD40 is actually pretty close to conforming already... I *really dislike brake cleaner, but I know others that have the opposite view. The current ones are far better than MEK and tricloroethane. Now *those* are really effective but nasty!
 
Amazing what 17 years of retirement can do. Once upon a time I would have been waist deep in the Ottawa horse crap over this. Today, I didn't even know about it till you posted this.

I skimmed the new regs just now. I don't think our lives will change "MUCH".

I notice that there is no "stop sale" clause. So whatever is on the shelf can stay there. If I just happened to have any special needs I would consider hoarding.
 
Here is the stupidity, you all remember the sweetener issue many years ago, the replacements we use today are way more toxic.

ROHS is another one, the replacements to make lead free work are way more dangerous.

Freon as a cleaner, well, 12lbs not used caused how much exceptional toxic fuel to be release and cause how many deaths...

Government knee jerk reaction is more dangerous to our health and well being, short term or long term than almost anything else.
 
I'm not sure about knee-jerk reaction, this has been in the pipe for a long while. In terms of WD-40, I was a bit worried until I heard that apparently the US formulation of WD-40 has been compliant to our new regulations for quite some time, owing to existing California laws going back to 2010. I doubt I'll notice much of a difference.
 
I talked to one of my suppliers a week ago. They are getting 3 trailer loads of brake cleaner. I'm going to stock up a bit. Now that I'm retired I don't use nearly as much, but it's nice to have once in a while. I never was a big user of the stuff anyway.
 
Six O Two said:
I'm not sure about knee-jerk reaction,
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I'm not worried about WD40 which as you say has been in Calif for ages. I am worried about good brake cleaner. I plan to horde enough to last the rest of my life.


garageguy said:
I talked to one of my suppliers a week ago. They are getting 3 trailer loads of brake cleaner. I'm going to stock up a bit.
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@garageguy - Who is your supplier. I'll go get a case too.
 
Susquatch said:
I'm not worried about WD40 which as you say has been in Calif for ages. I am worried about good brake cleaner. I plan to horde enough to last the rest of my life.




@garageguy - Who is your supplier. I'll go get a case too.
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You can order 20L pails of it from Tenaquip. Not cheaper than the spray cans when they go on sale but handy if you have one of those refillable pressurized sprayers.
 
cuslog said:
Usually keep a gallon or 2 of Acetone in the shop too - may buy another hand squirter for that to replace the Brake Clean ?
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I buy wd40 and acetone by the gallon too. But I've never thought of using the acetone in a hand sprayer. I'd be too afraid it would all be gone by the next time I reach for it. Also a bit worried about the seals and O-Rings in the hand squirter. Has anyone actually tried this with good success?
 
I've used acetone in a regular PTFE squirt bottle for ages so I know that plastic withstands it. Spray bottles can be iffy because they use different plastics in the head & the odd seal. But if you find the kind that are advertised as 'chemical resistant' you stand a better chance. I think I even used acetone in a Windex bottle for temporary project because I wanted to stream & spray. The head seemed fine but the bottle started to cloud so I didn't pursue it.
 
Susquatch said:
I buy wd40 and acetone by the gallon too. But I've never thought of using the acetone in a hand sprayer. I'd be too afraid it would all be gone by the next time I reach for it. Also a bit worried about the seals and O-Rings in the hand squirter. Has anyone actually tried this with good success?
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A few years ago, I was watching a tig welding youtube vid, and the guy had one of those fancy solvent dispensers you push down on the plunger with a rag, and it wets the rag, then solvent falls back into the body. I had to have one. So I bought one for about $40-50 on amazon, and it was much larger than I thought it would be, but that's ok, it'll still be handy for all that sporadic tig welding I did. So I filled it up with about $20 worth of acetone, and proceeded to use it while tigging some aluminum together. Imagine my surprise a few weeks/month later when I dabbed a rag on it and nothing came out lol. Not once when I filled it up, did the thought occur to me that it would disappear on me. I ended up giving it to the welder at the shop next door to my work. He loves it.

I keep acetone in the factory steel container now and dispense from there what I need. I tried mixing up a batch of ed's red in one of those lab squirt bottles (I love those things), but it evaporated too. Now I just mix up what I need when I need it.

Glad I bought a dozen cans of brake cleaner the last time PA had them on sale and I was there. They found a good home with the half a dozen I still had from the last time. I should be good for a while. Can't say I use wd40 for much of anything anymore, aside from spraying stuff down after I wash it, which is almost never.

Edit: Forgot to add, I found another good source for acetone in a spray can. The great stuff foam guns have cleaning bottles that are straight acetone with a propellant. More expensive than acetone in a can, but handy in a spray can. Straight alcohol foaming glass cleaner is also handy shop stock too.

Edit 2: holy crap the price of that stuff has gone up, it's now $25 a can at home depot. https://www.homedepot.ca/product/great-stuff-foam-cleaner/1000499146 Could have swore it used to be $10, which I thought was insane back then, but nessesary if you have a foam gun. Or else you'll soon have two foam guns.
 
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The USA has some funny rules with California not getting all or the same products as elsewhere. Overall the USA is less strict with VOC than Canada is and a lot of similar product (even labelled the same) are not the same or function the same.

I learned this when I was importing certain products, USA spec, California Spec, Canada Spec and so on. The hoops and third party reps you had to go thru to get a Canadian spec product was a pain.

As to my knee jerk comment, the idea and ultimate legal requirements are as result of a special interest group that gathers enough attention to make politicians react, generally do something to make them stop, unfortunately in most cases while the intent is good they listen to the painful noise and react to stop it quickly (well thought out or not, in most cases not). "Knee jerk reaction.
 
Degen said:
Government knee jerk reaction is more dangerous to our health and well being, short term or long term than almost anything else.
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Everything the gov't touches turns to sh!t. Period.

I'll be stocking up and/or buying it stateside.
 
@Dan Dubeau , check the price of Air Intake Cleaner. You might save a few bucks. It is great for cleaning spray paint nozzles and Great Stuff nozzles. I'm not sure of the price off hand but it may be worth checking.
@Susquatch my supplier is Kendall"s Supply in Estevan. Pretty far away for you.
 
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