Temperature and BPAL

[Victory]

Man, I have a B.A. and a B.S. Does that make me Better At BS'ing??

[Imbrium]

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

He so was! I'd never pictured Ogre as the whining type. Everyone's been whining except for me - I love me some wintery weather! Frankly, it's not cold enough for me, though I suppose I'll have to buy a winter coat soon, as it is chillier than it's been for the past few winters.

[antimony]

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...

 

Sorry to be pedantic, but water is not actually the only substance whose solid/liquid line on a phase diagram has negative slope (i.e. expands when it freezes) pure Bismuth does too. In the process of looking up phase diagrams, I read that apparently silicon and Gallium are thought to as well, though complete phase diagrams have not been created for either one.

[Brienze]

Actually, as far as I know, the cold is far, far better for oils than the heat. I'd be far more concerned if I had a *hot* mailbox rather than a cold one, because extreme heat can make oils really wonky.

 

I didn't get into BPAL till September of this year, and though we did have some 100F+ days at the end of September, I wasn't getting many oil shipments then. But yeah, this is definite food for thought... I'm not looking forward to being a BPAL swapper in Texas in the summertime.

[Galen]

Sorry to be pedantic, but water is not actually the only substance whose solid/liquid line on a phase diagram has negative slope (i.e. expands when it freezes) pure Bismuth does too. In the process of looking up phase diagrams, I read that apparently silicon and Gallium are thought to as well, though complete phase diagrams have not been created for either one.

ooh chemistry trivia - we like it thanks!!

[oakmoss]

Forgive me if this is a thread somewhere else -- I did look.

 

It's HOT here.

I'm sure it's hot where you are too.

It's not usually this hot for this long, so I have no air conditioning.

It was over 100 degrees in my house today, and has been in the high 90s for days, with no end in sight.

 

Will this hurt my perfumes? They are in the dark, but every place in this house is hot. It does cool off at night. Should they go in the fridge, and will THAT hurt them? I'm not crazy about having my fridge smell like perfume, and I have nearly 100 bottles.

 

Thanks for any and all advice, and I'm going back in the cold shower now.

[noumenon]

Oooh! I hope you get an answer from someone who knows...When I had bpal scents mailed to me recently, I stopped my mail and picked it up at the Post Office because I was terrified they'd just bake in my mailbox all day before I could get home. I guess that's an over-reaction, but darnit, these things are liquid gold!

[midnight_aeval]

It was 112 today where I live, and I received 3 bottles- all were fine!

 

I received a bottle yesterday from the Netherlands, also ok.

 

opps, hehe I thought you were talking about mailing...

 

there has been discussions about keeping BPAL in the fridge- maybe search the forum?

Edited July 22, 2006 by Midnight Aeval

[meabh]

Forgive me if this is a thread somewhere else -- I did look.

 

It's HOT here.

I'm sure it's hot where you are too.

It's not usually this hot for this long, so I have no air conditioning.

It was over 100 degrees in my house today, and has been in the high 90s for days, with no end in sight.

 

Will this hurt my perfumes? They are in the dark, but every place in this house is hot. It does cool off at night. Should they go in the fridge, and will THAT hurt them? I'm not crazy about having my fridge smell like perfume, and I have nearly 100 bottles.

 

Thanks for any and all advice, and I'm going back in the cold shower now.

 

I don't have a/c in my house either but I find the closets do actually stay cool as they get no light and the door is always shut. Also if you have a basement that stays cooler then the rest of the house that might be a good place to put them too.

 

I've heard refridgerating perfume is not a good idea but then I've heard of a boutique where all the perfume is stored in a refridgerated display. There is always pros and cons to many things, I don't know if Beth ever mentioned whether her blends could be stored in fridges. Hopefully someone who does store their collection in the fridge will pop in and help answer that question for you.

Edited July 22, 2006 by meabh

[crazyredhead17]

I have a headache, so I'm not in the mood to search out the thread (assuming it was here and not in one of the bpal lj's), but I thought someone here had said that the oils could separate or go funky in the fridge.

 

I have known people to put theirs in the fridge when they were going to be away to no ill effect.

 

I vote for a closet shelf or in a drawer somewhere.

[pixievixen]

Forgive me if this is a thread somewhere else -- I did look.

 

It's HOT here.

I'm sure it's hot where you are too.

It's not usually this hot for this long, so I have no air conditioning.

It was over 100 degrees in my house today, and has been in the high 90s for days, with no end in sight.

 

Will this hurt my perfumes? They are in the dark, but every place in this house is hot. It does cool off at night. Should they go in the fridge, and will THAT hurt them? I'm not crazy about having my fridge smell like perfume, and I have nearly 100 bottles.

 

Thanks for any and all advice, and I'm going back in the cold shower now.

 

I don't have a/c in my house either but I find the closets do actually stay cool as they get no light and the door is always shut. Also if you have a basement that stays cooler then the rest of the house that might be a good place to put them too.

 

I've heard refridgerating perfume is not a good idea but then I've heard of a boutique where all the perfume is stored in a refridgerated display. There is always pros and cons to many things, I don't know if Beth ever mentioned whether her blends could be stored in fridges. Hopefully someone who does store their collection in the fridge will pop in and help answer that question for you.

 

my guess is somewhere that has a refrigerated perfume case has the case at a much warmer temp than the fridge you keep your food in... like people have wine fridges that keep it at the ideal temp & humidity.

[darklorelei]

I suspect the issue with refrigeration is more the humidity than the temperature. Long term storage of just about everything requires a cool, dry environment.

[miss_rynn]

As I recall (from the long time ago I studied chemistry), water is the only substance which expands when it solidifies. I *think* that oils tend to shrink as they are cooled, moreso when they solidify (because they shouldn't cointain any water). If that were the case, it shouldn't be a problem to freeze them in terms of expansion... but then again, you would certainly want to test it first.

[Malista]

Los Angeles has been experiencing a heat wave lately, and my room, the little oven that it is, is well over 100 degrees at this point.

I'll second the cooler. The oils don't need to be cold, but they'll stay stable longer in temps up to 85.

 

. . .

 

Just thought I'd bring this quote from Beth downtopic, since folks who are asking the same question prolly didn't see it before the threads were merged. I didn't know the upward temp limit for oil stability until I saw it this morning.

 

I have to spend the day away from the house, but I think I'll seek out a cooler when I get home and transfer most of my oils to that for the duration of this heat wave -- toss in a gel pack every day or so to make sure the temp stays below 85. I'll prolly transfer my less-used bottles and imps to the extra fridge downstairs, as well. I know it won't hurt them (in fact, it's recommended that citrus oils be kept in the refrigerator), and it'll make it easier to find the ones I'm using regularly if I don't have to dig through layers in a cooler.

[midnight_aeval]

Well, our power went out for 6 hours today and it got to be about 96 degrees in our apartment- I was freaking out that my oils were going to go bad, but then I remember that each one of them came to me via mail and who knows what sort of journey they had before they were delivered to me. Needless to say, they all smell the same as they did when I got them, and they are gradually getting happier as my A/C goes into overdrive [still 94 in here blech].

[columbus]

Aw man, I feel for you guys. We New Englanders had a hell of a week last week, but it seems to be cooling off now! Whew!

 

When it was really bad, though, the first thing I would do in the morning is walk around my house to find where it was the coolest (we don't have AC, but the ceiling fans work nicely!), and that's where I'd put my Box o' BPAL. This daily ritual was usually followed up by my mother finding the box and asking why the hell it was in with the ironing board / on top of the washing machine / on a makeshift table directly under one of the fans.

 

Although, with temps in the low 80's for the rest of this week, I figure my smellies should be okay for a while, and can return to their rightful place on my dresser.

[oakmoss]

I packed all my BPAL and TAL into a cooler yesterday with a couple of gel packs, and it seems just fine. As a side bonus, it was fun to have it all in one place -- I have a lot more than I thought! One less thing to worry about, as we head into another day of record temps -- 108 here yesterday!

[fiddlehead]

I have AC in my room where all my oils are kept. Usually it doesn't get above 75 or 80.

 

It was 115 here yesterday (N. California foothills). No rolling blackouts yet but we may get them today

[cuervosueno]

While I wouldn't want to store that at high temps all the time (see Beth's note about stability at 85 or lower), I don't think small doses of high heat hurt them. Mine have sat in the (metal) mail box, sometimes for more than one day if I was out of town, and that's with heat reaching 100 here. They were fine.

 

 

On a side note about the heat: I live in the mountains outside Albuquerque, so it rarely gets to 100 here (mostly high 90's), but of course, ABQ is desert, so it is often 100+. What astounds me is how many people I hear complaining, not of the being hot, which I understand, but acting outraged that it is actually above 100 for days on end. I always think, uh, duh, we live in the desert! It does this every year!

[oakmoss]

On a side note about the heat: I live in the mountains outside Albuquerque, so it rarely gets to 100 here (mostly high 90's), but of course, ABQ is desert, so it is often 100+. What astounds me is how many people I hear complaining, not of the being hot, which I understand, but acting outraged that it is actually above 100 for days on end. I always think, uh, duh, we live in the desert! It does this every year!

 

Not too sound too defensive, but I grew up in the desert and my family still lives there, and one big difference between that and what's happening now is that in the desert, you're prepared for it. Homes and businesses are air conditioned or have swamp coolers or both. Here in northern/central coast California, we normally only have a short period of very hot weather and it usually comes in late summer, and we cope just fine. When it's over 105 degrees **inside the house** and no way to cool it (air conditioners are sold out everywhere, with a 2-week waiting list), and people and pets are literally dying, I think it's justified to do a little complaining.

[Malista]

 

On a side note about the heat: I live in the mountains outside Albuquerque, so it rarely gets to 100 here (mostly high 90's), but of course, ABQ is desert, so it is often 100+. What astounds me is how many people I hear complaining, not of the being hot, which I understand, but acting outraged that it is actually above 100 for days on end. I always think, uh, duh, we live in the desert! It does this every year!

 

Not too sound too defensive, but I grew up in the desert and my family still lives there, and one big difference between that and what's happening now is that in the desert, you're prepared for it. Homes and businesses are air conditioned or have swamp coolers or both. Here in northern/central coast California, we normally only have a short period of very hot weather and it usually comes in late summer, and we cope just fine. When it's over 105 degrees **inside the house** and no way to cool it (air conditioners are sold out everywhere, with a 2-week waiting list), and people and pets are literally dying, I think it's justified to do a little complaining.

 

 

I think cuervosueno was talking about people in Albuquerque complaining. I would find that odd, too.

[oakmoss]

I think cuervosueno was talking about people in Albuquerque complaining. I would find that odd, too.

 

Oh. Oops.

What can I say.... it's hot, I'm cranky.

[Malista]

Oh. Oops.

What can I say.... it's hot, I'm cranky.

 

I think that people, as well as BPAL oils, are more stable when kept under 85 degrees. I've been cranky for the last few days, too.

[PixieSkull]

I'm a little worried about my stuff, seeing as my room is barely ever below 90 on a normal day, but by keeping them in a container in a cool, shaded corner will keep them better. So far, so good.

 

I really hate all this heat in my room, but this dry heat is SO much better than humid heat. Thank the gods for this dry summer of few mosquitos and less humidity. On the other hand, the forest fires and wilting greenery around kinda sucks. Good think there's running water to cure the greenery and some of the forest fires.

[cuervosueno]

No worries, Oakmoss, I understand. And I also completely understand when its hot where it isn't usually....Like I saw Portland reached 100 the other day. And in Alaska, where I grew up, people freak out if it reaches 90.

 

 

so I did mean its wierd in the desert, where we all know how hot it gets. and yes, we're more prepared to deal with it.

 

the hottest and most miserable I've been, though, has been in the midwest in summer. In a house that didn't have a/c, and we couldn't afford to put it in. Ick.

 

And to end the hijack, yes, I agree with Malista, both people and BPAL are more stable below 85. Though I enjoy some heat sometimes--like at the beach--but even there, really, it doesn't need to get above 90.