Temperature and BPAL

[Astburygrrl]

For those of us in the sub-zero Arctic zones right now..(I'm in WI)

When your box arrives, just make sure you dont open it right away..it is possible to crack and break your imp vials when you expose it to the warm air of your house.

Its not likely it will happen but i always wait about an hour or so to let the package slowly become equal to the air temp inside. I know, i'm paranoid! heh

[Falathwen]

Our apartment is 90 degrees....should I store my oils in the fridge, or would cold be worse for them than heat?

I did try to search for this question, since it has surely been asked before, but did not come up with any relelvant threads.

-Falathwen

 

[merged with the previous thread - Macha]

[elphaba]

I vaguely remember reading that light was a much more important factor than heat in oil degradation, but I'd love to hear a more definitive answer to this question too. I'm without AC so it gets pretty hot in the house in July/August.

[shelldoo]

i was wondering something similar, since yesterday a 5ml from ebay sat in my mail box through upper 90 degree weather yesterday. i dunno if it would damage teh oils or not. it smells ok right now.

[Falathwen]

I do not have a cooler...will the cold of our fridge damage the oils?

Hopefully we will be dropping back to reasonable temperatures soon.

[sarada]

I am actually thinking about leaving the AC on in my bedroom, where I keep my oils, during the days this summer because this is my first Summer of BPAL where I have a seriously large collection. The bedroom is the only place where I have room to keep them.

 

I wish I had planned to have my summer orders shipped to my PO Box at work so I wouldn't have to worry about them sitting outside in the heat but I hate it when they get delivered on a Saturday and I can't pick them up!

[sheepzeit]

I have spoken to one or two people who store their BPAL in the fridge, and I admit that occasionally I do, too, especially before I moved and it was hot as hell in the house. I never noticed any degradation of the oils when they were cold, and they warmed up very quickly and smelled just fine. However if someone does advise against it I'd be interested to hear the effects of cold on them.

[feline.by.design]

To my knowledge, the fridge should be fine.

 

Here's a posting from the BPAL FAQs that echo some of what's already been said.

 

You may want to put them in an opaque box and then store them in the fridge to avoid the fridgie light going on and off.

 

-doreen

[ivyandpeony]

I'm bumping this since I know some of you in colder areas have been looking for it!

[shelldoo]

awesome, i was just wondering what i was going to do next month when me precious yule order arrives. so looks like it will be safe for a bit anyway.

 

thanks for bumping this

[joseybird]

Is it safe to refrigerate BPALs? I'm wondering if it might extend their shelf life, but I'm afraid that it might make them go screwy!!

[shelldoo]

or if it will thicken or turn to molasses...me paranoid? naaaahhhh :lmao:

[ipb]

Is it safe to refrigerate BPALs? I'm wondering if it might extend their shelf life, but I'm afraid that it might make them go screwy!!

search "freeze" in bpal chatter, there's a thread about refrigerating/freezing oils.

[shelldoo]

quinkle can i ask how your experiment turned out? or is the poor wee imp still in deep freeze a year later?

 

i am just curious how cooler/cold weather may affect the precious if say it were negelctfully left outside in the cold.

[modesty_blaise]

Last year I had a vial of patchouli explode in my coat pocket on a cold day. Let's just say the hall closet smelled like patchouli for awhile LOL

 

I always carry a couple of imps in my purse (I´m very forgetful, so it´s safer to keep them with me at all times; no need to ruin a perfect day realizing I forgot to put on some oil in the morning ), do you really think they could burst?? Wow. It gets rather cold here in Dec-Jan-Feb, approx 0-10 F (if my maths are correct...). Anybody else experienced this?

 

Luckily my mailbox is in my hallway, so no need to worry about the packages, I can keep ordering

[jewelbug]

Okay, I know there is a thread about bpals freezing during the shipping process. But its kinda speculative and suggests that its POSSIBLE to have imps and bottles freeze and explode and stuff. But its not really substantiated.

 

So, my question (and I apologize if its already been answered in this thread), is this: IS there a danger of my bpal bursting if its cold outside? And if they do freeze, will it compromise the integrity of my oils? There's a thread on that topic, too, but i don't think they get to a definitive answer.

 

I ask cuz its flipping cold outside here now, and I'm feeling rather protective of my pending bpalanniversary order....

[Imbrium]

While it's not as cold here as it is further north, I live at high altitude, and it's been well below freezing here. My Yule order arrived today, and the bottles were icy to the touch, but still cheerfully solid. I think you should be okay. After all, those BPAL bottles are nice and thick.

 

Oh, and everything still smells awesome, despite the freeze.

[ipb]

haha imbrium, i heard that ogre was whining about the temps there this week

 

it was 1F/17F when i got my yule order last week. nothing was frozen (except my toes) and everything was a-ok!

[olympia301]

Yeah, I can't see it freezing as it's oil in an oil which is hard to freeze. I think it gets thick but does not actually freeze solid. I think it would have to be made of water to have that happen. High school kitchen physics.

[Galen]

I'll take your high school physics and raises you a high school chemistry

 

oils can freeze solid; ones which are commonly solid at room temperature are called fats...

 

but "oils" usually freeze at much lower temperatures than water...

[olympia301]

Hmmm, ok...here's the $64,000 question: if BPAl is an oil, and it freezes at much lower temps than water then--what about the expansion?

 

The reason why I ask is that the problems of breakage come in when the contents freeze and expand and break the container. That is a problem. It seems to me (from emperical evidence*) that fats and oils "freeze" that is become solid, but they don't seem to expand like water based things do. If the oils don't degrade during the freeze/thaw cycle, no harm is done.

 

Am I right, or am I wrong. I am curious, that's for sure.

 

*aka What I Have Seen

[Galen]

water is the only thing that expands when it becomes solid. everything else contracts, making water bloody goddamn miraculous*, actually

 

*or unusual if you want to be all prosaic about chemistry...

[jewelbug]

Hehe, thanks for the chem/physics refresher you two!

I'm a biologist myself, so, I think of everything at 37C--fats and waters alike.

Anyway, I'm quite happy to realize, Oh, yeah, oils don't expand. So even if they froze, they wouldn't burst outta the glass. That's a load off.

 

Now, for another issue. Would the glass freeze? (um, yeah, i know its solid already). But, like, could it get so cold that it would crack upon contact witht he warm air in my house? I know this can happen with dishes and such.

 

I suppose I can always let my packages acclimate to my apt temps before i even open them. But everyone here knows how hard it is to not rip into them immediately....

Input?

[olympia301]

OK, more Ignorant Science:

 

I think the likelihood of glass breaking when going from cold to warm temps has a lot to do with: the type of glass it is, how thick it is, how disparate the temps are, whether it gets shaken or treated gently.

 

I bet that most small glass bottles which are fairly thick are pretty resistant to breaking after being in the cold. How's that for a definitive statement.

 

I'm not a scientist, but I have a Bachelor's Degree in Science which makes me pure B.S.

[jewelbug]

I'm not a scientist, but I have a Bachelor's Degree in Science which makes me pure B.S.

 

Teehee--I love that! I also have a bachelors in science. Both full of B.S., we are. Only mine apparently didn't prepare me for the real world applications of bpal....