Keeping Solvents

[Devon Shannon]

Like many of you, I maintain an inventory of assorted solvents, for finishing, cleaning brushes, and maintenance on the tools.

I buy the Klean-Strip Brand, metal cans sold at the big box Stores, does anyone know about the shelf-life of these solvents while stored in the gallon metal cans?

Can anyone say anything about the evaporation rate of these solvents? Specifically Paint Thinner and Lacquer Thinner?

If solvents do evaporate, How do Parts Washer work?

I have two gallon paint cans of "brush wash", and "cleaner" which I reuse over and over. I'm convinced, that my Lacquer Thinner in the "cleaner" can has evaporated or expired, since it doesn't seem to work to dissolve rust anymore.

This is what I got on hand
Mineral Spirits
Paint Thinner
Napatha
Lacquer Thinner
Acetone
Xylene
Denatured Alcohol

I looked at a couple of the MSD and nothing is provided on Shelf Life or Evaporation Rate. Klean-Strip's web site http://www.kleanstripauto.com/

[Steve Schoene]

These are going to be stable chemically I suspect, though alcohol will pick up some moisture when it is open, and acetone is so volatile that a lid that is even a bit less that fully tight could let it evaporate. The more important thing to consider is that these are all seriously flammable (or inflammable, which means exactly the same thing).

[Jim Rimmer]

I don't have laquer thinner but I keep minerla spirits, alcohol, and acetone and haven't had any significant evaporation problems as long as I keep them tightly sealed.

[Tony Bilello]

...I'm convinced, that my Lacquer Thinner in the "cleaner" can has evaporated or expired, since it doesn't seem to work to dissolve rust anymore.
I wasn't aware of lacquer thinner being a rust solvent. It is used oftentimes by painters/sandblasters to clean up rust bloom but in effect, they are only cleaning up rust dust on the surface, they are not disolving the rust. Tony B

This is what I got on hand
Mineral Spirits
Paint Thinner
Napatha
Lacquer Thinner
Acetone
Xylene
Denatured Alcohol

I looked at a couple of the MSD and nothing is provided on Shelf Life or Evaporation Rate.

Shelf life will more likely be found on Produst Data Sheets (PDS) and not an MSDS. MSDS only gives safety data. Generally, solvents are fairly stable and don't chemically breakdown and therefore dont have a shelf life if kept in a closed container. As for an evaporation rate, that too can sometimes be found on a PDS but not the way you would expect it to look. Usually that section will look like a MSDS in that it will give boiling temps. Sometimes PDS's are also called Spec Sheets by the individual manufacturer.
Chemical companies that generally deal with industrial customers have more detailed PDS. Companies that deal with mostly homeowners and occasional users have very little info in their PDS or spec sheets.