Pre-cleaning / sterilising new PET bottles?

[TheBloke]

Hi guys,

I bought all my supplies to start DIYing last week, and after many unrelated delays finally hoped to start some mixing this weekend.

Then I realised that I'd not cleaned or done anything to the mixing bottles I bought.

I bought a total of 70 plastic bottles, in sizes of 10ml, 30ml, 100ml and 250ml. The 250mls I plan to use for pure PG and VG, so I don't have to keep going to my 1 litre source bottles. They are all PET bottles, except 2 x 100ml which are HDPE and which I'm going to use to decant some of my 72mg Nicotine, so that again I can keep the large main bottle separate.

I bought them from a fairly large UK supplier - Naturally Thinking, and they state that they do not pre-sterilise them. I am unsure if they clean them in any way, but their FAQ recommends pre-sterilisation "especially if being used for products for resale." Well I'm not reselling, but I will be inhaling!

My question is, do I really need to actually sterilise? I planned to wash them in warm (not hot) tap water, maybe with a small touch of normal washing-up liquid/detergent. Then rinse thoroughly.

Will that be OK? Or do I need to go out tomorrow and buy some kind of special sterilisation fluid, and if so, which would be recommended? The vendor FAQ talks about "cold use sterilising fluid."

I'm really hoping I can just leave them soaking overnight and rinse/dry them tomorrow, because I've been waiting ages to get started already! But obviously I don't want to die, so.. if it's really important I'll do it

Thanks in advance!

 

[KattMamma]

wow I just started DIY too... and never thought about sterilizing the bottles.

I clean a lot of my other stuff with vodka -- if I was going to sterilize bottles, I'd probably use vodka for that too. Cuts grease, kills germs, dries fast, leaves no residue.

Or I might just wash them instead of sterilizing - the PG has a sterilizing effect anyway (and VG too but to a lesser extent?)

 

[Rat2chat2]

I have just recently began switching to all glass bottles for my DIY. Is there a number on the bottom of the plastic bottles you are using? I have been concerned with the juice being affected by the type of plastics I have been using. So far all that I am sure (but willing to learn from the more experienced) are:

#1 PETE or PET (NOT SAFE due to antimony leaching)
Polyethylene terephthalate

#2 HDPE (SAFE)
High density polyethylene

#3 PVC or V (NOT SAFE due to phthalates)
Polyvinyl chloride

#4 LDPE (SAFE)
Low density polyethylene

#5 PP (SAFE)
Polypropylene

#6 PS (NOT SAFE for hot liquids, alcohol or fatty foods due to styrene)
Polystyrene

#7 plastics including polycarbonates that contain bisphenol A (BPA) (NOT SAFE due to BPA)
Polycarbonate

From everything that I have read, the #4 LDPE is the preferred type of plastic bottles for e-liquids. I read so much about it that I just decided to go to glass and not worry about it anymore.

As far as sterilizing, I just keep remembering my sister had to boil baby bottles so they would be safe. I use a lot of Everclear for my atomizers and drip tips myself. I look forward to reading some of the answers here so we can " both " learn.

Additional information

Plastic Recycling Codes

 

[stevegmu]

Food grade, virgin PET does not leach dioxins or anything. We make bag-in-box to soda fountain tubing at work for Coca Cola. Millions and millions of feet of it. They wouldn't approve or use PET tubing for such applications if it leached anything, but if the bottles come from China, they are more than likely made from recycled PET, which can contain anybody's guess...

 

[TheBloke]

I have just recently began switching to all glass bottles for my DIY. Is there a number on the bottom of the plastic bottles you are using? I have been concerned with the juice being affected by the type of plastics I have been using. So far all that I am sure (but willing to learn from the more experienced) are:

The bottles are definitely PET as I mentioned, but yes they are food grade and they come via a reputable UK supplier.

This is what a similar supplier says about their PET plastic bottles:

PET plastic or polyethylene terephthalate, is the most common type of polyester. PET was discovered and patented in England in 1941.
Most fizzy drinks and other beverages in bottles are made from PET plastic. PET plastic is used to make many common household items like medicine jars, peanut butter jars and cosmetic jars.

If you have ever purchased pre-made e-liquid, it has almost certainly come in PET.

You're right that the stronger types of plastic, e.g. HDPE/LDPE are much more resistant - they can withstand higher temperatures, boiling water, and can take stronger chemicals.

But it's almost impossible to get clear ones, at best cloudy or usually completely opaque, which sucks for storing e-liquid where you want to be able to easily see both colour and quantity. And they tend to be more expensive.

As far as sterilizing, I just keep remembering my sister had to boil baby bottles so they would be safe. I use a lot of Everclear for my atomizers and drip tips myself. I look forward to reading some of the answers here so we can " both " learn.[/COLOR][/B]

You must never use boiling or very hot water with PET, it will degrade/melt the plastic. Nothing higher than 50 degrees centigrade should be used. So you shouldn't put them in a dishwasher, either.

Yeah Everclear or vodka would be good I guess!

When I search for "sterilising PET bottles" I find a lot of discussions from home (beer) brewers, and they talk about special cold sterilising fluid. I might see if I can get that easily from somewhere local. If not it'll just be warm water I think