A boom in sanitizer, but sanitizer won’t go boom

Flashpoint too high to explode in hot car

In our new, strange post-COVID-19 world, there are a whole host of new normals to adjust to: wearing a mask in public, avoiding large crowds, and washing your hands far more frequently than you ever thought possible.

But, fortunately, you don’t need to add “take out the hand sanitizer” to that list, although it’s probably a good idea for a different reason than you might think.

A viral social media post last week from a Wisconsin

fire department warned about the possibility of alcohol-based hand sanitizer exploding inside a car during hot weather. While the original post likely overstated the threat from hand sanitizer exploding (see below), there is a possibility that it could cause an explosion if exposed to enough heat and/or sunlight.

Large explosions such as those documented in the viral social media video, though, are unlikely. In fact, a recent Poynter investigation found that it would take temperatures of nearly 600 degrees Fahrenheit for hand sanitizer to cause an explosion. Other investigations have determined that there is a chance that hand sanitizer could create a fire or an explosion, but it would likely be far smaller than those indicated in social media posts.

The main concern from leaving alcohol-based hand sanitizer in a hot car, however, could be for a different reason than fire ignition. Alcohol in hand sanitizer can partially evaporate in hotter temperatures, and alcohol is what the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends for effective hand-washing and disinfecting. In other words, hand sanitizer could lose its potency and value if left in hot temperatures for long enough.

If you want to be extra careful, it’s probably a good idea to pull hand sanitizer out of your car, or at least put it in a shaded area away from direct sunlight.

With temperatures warming up to summerlike levels as soon as this week, it’s probably a good thing to keep in mind over the next few weeks. But as always, be careful with what you read or see on the internet.

AP fiLE NEED PROOF? A bottle of hand sanitizer sits on a casino table in Vicksburg, Miss. Despite videos to the contrary, the high-alcohol concoction is highly unlikely to blow up in your car this summer.