What’s The Deal With Hand Sanitizer Exploding In Hot Cars?

By JULIE CUNNINGHAM

(Franklin County, MA) Can hand sanitizer spontaneously explode in your hot car during the summer? Experts say a resounding maybe. While your small two ounce bottle of hand sanitizer is unlikely to combust larger amounts over five gallons do impose a fire safety hazard, according to the National Fire Prevention Association, or NFPA. Heywood Healthcare President and CEO Winfield S. Brown said the risk is partially due to how hand sanitizer is being produced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Purell that we typically use is 62% alcohol, but the ones that are being manufactured outside of the regular system at a lot of distilleries are 70-80%, so it’s a little more volatile,” said Brown.

NFPA explained that even though hand sanitizer will give off ignitable vapors, a temperature of 700 degrees Fahrenheit is necessary to ignite those vapors. A hot car is not enough to cause an ignition for normal amounts of hand sanitizer. For more information about what NFPA says about hand sanitizer safety, click here.