I could have died today (and why e-liquid bottles aren't safe enough!)

[odiedodi]

I'm not sure if this is the right section for this, so by all means, move it if it's not.

Anyway, I was on my first break at work when I decided to top my tank off. Not two seconds after I started filling it, I heard an explosion, which was followed by blindness. My e-liquid bottle blew up. Now as far as I can figure, the body of the bottle is still intact, it was the head that exploded. Whether or not it simply shot off or literally broke into pieces is beyond me, as I've yet to find anything resembling it in my car. I'm not sure why, but I'm lead to believe it was excess air pressure, although there were no signs of the tip being blocked, so I didn't even see it coming until it came. The liquid got all over my face, in my eyes (hence the blindness), and all over my clothes. I ran to the bathroom and immediately washed my eyes and face, and told my boss I had to go home and get my clothes off as soon as possible. I did end up with mild nicotine poisoning in the end, but managed to get my clothes off before it got too bad. Luckily, I knew how dangerous having ~270 mg of nicotine on my body was, but I couldn't help but think of this happening to some Joe smoe or novice that wouldn't know what to do. I very well could have died. This brings me to the point that I think a lot of e-liquid manufacturers aren't putting enough thought into the bottles themselves. Now I'm by no means a safety sally, but a bottle containing enough nicotine to kill a person ought to be durable enough to not explode all over them without warning. Most e-liquid bottles are made from relatively thin plastic and have relatively easy to remove tips. I think, unless manufacturers move to sturdier bottles, more people will end up in my situation as these things become more popular, and that's a scary thought.


Also, for those that are wondering, it was a 60 ml bottle of myfreedomsmokes us menthol liquid, with ~15ml of liquid left, prior to the kaboom. I'll be sending them an email tomorrow about my experience. Any thoughts on this?

 

[NICnurse]

Holy crap! I am just glad you are ok. Pretty scary stuff.

I am not going to pretend I have any clue why this happened. I have never read or heard of something like this occurring. Was the juice stored in your car all day? Was it hot out? I am really anxious to read what others with way more knowledge than me have to say about this. I am really interested to hear what exactly caused instability in a juice bottle full of inert ingredients.

Once again, just so grateful you are ok. Really anxious to hear what others have to say.

 

[odiedodi]

I never leave liquid in my car, this being one of the reasons why. I still think it was over pressure. The juice seemed to be coming out fine and I wasn't squeezing hard, but the top definitely shot off, and pressure goes for the weakest point to escape, which would be the top, since it's made to pop on and off with relative ease.I think a simple threading of the top and the throat, so that the top screws in for extra reinforcement, would be beneficial.

 

[Lethalp]

First and foremost very glad to hear u are ok. I can't imagine how scary that was. I certainly hope there are some answers to this, as this concerns all vapers. I hope there is some way to figure it out. And I hope my freedom smokes tries to help to find out why.
I will be subscribing to this thread to hear more.

Again glad u are ok, shook up I am sure, but ok.

 

[Wren]

Glad you are ok!

But it is important to listen to warnings and store these liquids in an appropriate place. It is most likely that higher temperatures led to some of the components of your fluids moving from liquid to gas and bursting the lid due to the increased pressure.

IMO, it's not that the juice was unstable, but that certain components of the juice have lower boiling points (aromatics and alcohols are notorious for this) and the increase in gas volume busted out the top. I think if you store your juices appropriately this should not be a concern for the normal user.

 

[odiedodi]

First and foremost very glad to hear u are ok. I can't imagine how scary that was. I certainly hope there are some answers to this, as this concerns all vapers. I hope there is some way to figure it out. And I hope my freedom smokes tries to help to find out why.
I will be subscribing to this thread to hear more.

Again glad u are ok, shook up I am sure, but ok.

There was that initial shock, but I've mentally prepared for something like this, as I hope most of the people here have. Granted, none of my emergency plans involved surprise juice explosions, but the fact remains that you have to be ready in case you do end up covered in a large amount of liquid. Again, that's what concerns me. We all know how dangerous E-liquid can be, but I'm sure there are, and will be, vapers out there that don't know much about it, and if they get large amounts of juice on them, they may panic and not no what to do, or simply shrug it off without realizing that they could absorb lethal amounts of nicotine in through their skin.

 

[supergerbil]

First off good to hear you're alive, in one piece, and still able to see.

Secondly; you heard an explosion? Like a BOOOM? Was there any blackening on the bottle? Or was is just the sound of pressure being released like woosh?

 

[odiedodi]

First off good to hear you're alive, in one piece, and still able to see.

Secondly; you heard an explosion? Like a BOOOM? Was there any blackening on the bottle? Or was is just the sound of pressure being released like woosh?

It didn't literally explode. There was no combustion. I wouldn't call what I heard a "woosh" though. That tip shot off hard. I'd describe it as louder than someone simply popping a bag of chips in the lunch room, but then on the other hand I was also cursing in horrible pain about my eyes burning, so that may be an exaggeration.

 

[supergerbil]

Sorry but I have to ask..... are you sure you didnt accidentally just squeeze it really hard?

 

[Strigoi]

Sorry but I have to ask..... are you sure you didnt accidentally just squeeze it really hard?

I'm thinking it was something along those lines.

I think there is a massive amount of sensationalism going on with this story. I got a good laugh out of the "I could have died" part.

 

[MickeyRat]

I'm glad you're okay but, this doesn't sound like overpressure to me. You had the bottle open and it was feeding normally when it exploded suddenly. Is that right?

Overpressure wouldn't do that unless it was sudden overpressure. The kind you would get from a visible chemical reaction or squeezing really hard. Even if it was overpressure from being in a hot car which you said it wasn't, you would have heard the air hiss out the second you took off the top but, you had time to tip the bottle to feed with no indication of overpressure. Even then, if the bottle was overpressured, the second you tipped it, it would have been at least dripping juice on it's own not feeding normally.

The most likely explanation is you squeezed too hard. It's also possible that the tip was at least partially blocked. Regardless, it sounds like the pressure from your squeezing popped the tip. There's no way to know how hard you normally squeeze. Perhaps you normally squeeze to hard. You're trying to fill a tank. That takes a fair amount of juice. Doing it drip, drip, drip will tend to make you get impatient. Trying to do it during a short break and still get in a vape can make you impatient too. That will make you want to squeeze harder.

 

[barbee865]

I learned my lesson with vendor's bottles a while ago. now i keep glass bottles with the pipette built into the cap for my juices. Glad to hear you're ok. If you were able to drip out of the bottle normally right before it failed, i don't think that would be a sign of pressurization. been wrong before though.

 

[dragonbone]

Wow amazing! Glad to hear that you are still alive. What do you mean by '270mg nicotine on your body'? Also, how did you suffer from 'mild nicotine poisoning'? What were the symptoms and were you medically tested?

Did this happen in your car or at the office?

 

[lynch]

Glad your OK, you say you had 270mg of nic all over yourself ? Did you mean 27.0mg.

HAHA dragonbone, we posted at the same time.

 

[HawkeyeCS]

I'm thinking it was something along those lines.

I think there is a massive amount of sensationalism going on with this story. I got a good laugh out of the "I could have died" part.

Only takes between 60-80 mg of nicotine to kill you... Now I have no idea what the absorption rates for nicotine are through the skin, but you will absorb some via direct skin contact. I'm assuming absorption through skin is a slow process, so the OP was probably ok for a while, they did the smart and educated thing and got cleaned up as fast as possible, so they were ok, but if they would have continued working through the day not knowing the dangers of skin absorption of nicotine, it could have been possible that while wearing that clothing soaked in ejuice they may have poisoned themselves.

Now for the OP, you can pick up 5 or 6ml bottles for about $0.50 ea. from any DIY Ejuice vendor, and if you can't keep your juice in a stable temperature enviornment (i.e. not your car) then I highly recommend using smaller bottles for storage in these places, as most likely this can and will happen again if not stored correctly. Typically the largest bottle I carry with me is 6ml, and have never had these problems (I also have to store my juice in the car due to my job) so i'd recommend picking some up asap.

 

[dragonbone]

Glad your OK, you say you had 270mg of nic all over yourself ? Did you mean 27.0mg.

HAHA dragonbone, we posted at the same time.

hehe, great minds think alike?

 

[Sdh]

I bought some faulty bottles once upon a time. Every bottle had a defective cap/tip. I diy so I was slightly po'd.
I had one with a 30ml bottle of 36mg liquid I made popping out on my clothes, computer and desk. The pressure from within will cause the popping sensation. (I was squeezing the bottle of course) The tips are defective that causes this event.

My lesson...don't buy cheap plastic bottles. I use mostly glass now.

 

[odiedodi]

Alright answer time.

270 mg because it was 18 mg/ml, there was around 15 ml left, and a majority of that got on me. Also, I believe I was applying a reasonable amount of pressure. I squeeze hard enough to get the juice to come out, but I've never clenched the bottle with the fist of an angry god. To the guy who thinks I was being sensational, I can see where you're coming from, but what happened was a bit worse than simply getting a few drops on your hands. My entire face got sprayed.

 

[Clovery]

270 mg of nic is right, if the entire contents of the bottle were on him... he said it was 18 mg strength with 15 ml in the bottle:

15 ml x (18 mg/ml) = 270 mg

I doubt it would have killed him, but if just 1 ml when into his eyes/nose/mouth, it would be absorbed almost instantly and likely cause some symptoms like a headache, tachycardia, shakiness, etc. Nicotine is absorbed readily through the skin. Here is a chart from a nurse's drug guide which compares the different types of NRT drugs:



I was doing a bit of research a few weeks ago and came across an old medical journal article which told the account of a gardener who sat on a bench that had been sprayed with 40% nicotine (they used to use it as a pesticide). He became ill, but survived.

As to how the bottle exploded, I have no idea. The tip being blocked a bit, as someone had suggested, makes the most sense to me.

 

[Absintheur]

I thought it was a bit sensationalized as well, calling the drip top popping off an "explosion" does sound like how the Weekly World News or other tabloid would described things. As for the nearly died...well...a car went speeding by me at 40 miles an hour the other day...it was barely 20 feet from me...what a narrow escape!