Does anyone know what ether smells like?
WWJD
What Will Judy Do?
Well, it’s really hard to describe smells. The best I can do is to say that it’s a really penetrating smell, like gasoline or nail-polish remover (acetone). It also has the peculiar property of hanging around in your body, so that you continue to smell it days afterwards. I can tell you that once you smell it, you’d recognize it anywhere.
Why do you need to know?
Starter fluid ,the stuff you use to start your flooded sedan in winter is ether.
Be careful. It is explosive and will put you to sleep if used carelessly.
It does make a neat spot remover though;)
It’s just one of the alcohol/ paint thinner variety of smells.
You should be able to get some at any pharmacy.
We use it at the science museum to kill insects before mounting. It has a drying effect on them.
I’m also interested in why you ask.
From what I hear it is sometimes used in the manufacture of Meth.
If you think you smell it you’d be better off not going there.
I wasn.t kidding about it being explosive.
Ether should never be used in a gasoline engine.It’s used in diesel engines in cold weather.If your sedan is flooded,let it sit a while and try again.
Starter fluid should not be used on a car that has a catalytic converter … because it usually results in backfires and a backfire will ruin the converter. But starter fluid is great for starting a cranky lawn mower or roto-tiller.
I didnt know that about meth labs but that’s no matter to me.
Of those who reply…how do you know that’s what it smells like? Experience? What sort? Books? Where’s the info?
Also when it was used (or if it still is is) did they ever add a cover smell to make it less noxious?
curiouser and curiouser…
WWJD?
I was given the stuff for general anesthesia when I had my tonsils out as a kid. I’ve been able to recognize it ever since.
We’ve covered what’s probably the most common everyday use - cold weather starter fluid. And they don’t bother to try to cover up the smell. They also clearly mark the can as diethyl ether, so many people probably learn the characteristic odor that way.
I use ether in a lot of organic chemistry labs - diethyl ether, usually. And the smell is recognizable, once you know what it is. It can also be quite overpowering when you have 20 or so people using it, and the lab isn’t equiped with enough fumehoods so you’re relying on an old fan system and open windows (damn undergraduate laboratories…). So yeah, it’s experience.
Don & rufus
I’ve used it in gasoline engines for 30+years.
Never had a problem. If there is a trick it is to use just a little.
You wouldn’t happen to be reading Dreamcatcher, would you?
I know describing a smell can be very subjective…to me it has always smelled like bananas gone very, very bad.
You wouldn’t happen to be reading Dreamcatcher, would you?
__________________
Dreamcatcher?
WWJD???
At low concentrations ether doesn’t really have a noxious smell (IMO), it’s similar to a few other highly volatile organic chemicals and, as it boils at 34.6 degrees, there’s little else you could add which was less volatile which could overcome the ether smell. Except maybe ethanethiol, but you don’t really want to smell that.
There’s lots of different kinds of ethers. It’s been a while since I’ve smelled “pet” ether and diethel-ether. I remember of those as smelling quite nice.
On the other hand, MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) has a very distinctive odor. To me it smells like plastic. It was a common gasoline additive around these parts in the early 90’s and you could smell it at the fuel pump.
I used MTBE in solvent form at my old lab. And in a matter of minutes, the vapors would strip the natural oils from the back of my hands so thoroughly, my skin would crack and bleed.
If your car is newer than about 1980 likely it has some form of fuel injection, which cannot flood because the throttle is controlled by a cable connected to your throttle body which opens a butterfly that allows air into your engine. The engine’s computer calculates the volume of air entering the engine and meters your fuel from that. No way to flood fuel injection.
In the winter, your car has trouble starting because the battery does not put out enough Cold Cranking Amps (CCA). A battery will discharge more slowly when cold (that’s why you put batteries in the fridge) and so does not retain enough power to turn the engine fast enough for ignition to be self sustaining.
The reason that ether would be used in this situation is because it is much more flammable than gasoline and so your engine would have a better chance starting and sustaining ignition with a more volitile fuel.
Ether can be used to start a flooded engine, I just wanted to point out that modern engines really can’t flood, and that your car isn’t having trouble starting when it’s very cold because it’s flooded.
MTBE is still used in some parts to, I believe, clean emissions. The problem is that it is damaging to the engine, and in addition, there is evidence that it is more harmful to the environment that ‘normal’ emissions are. :eek: You mean CARB is wrong!? No way!
–Tim
From my experience with starter fluid (fighting with a recalcitrant lawn mower), I would describe it as sweet, but penetrating and slightly acrid. It calls to mind rotten meat, but it’s not as unpleasant.
IMO, these descriptions are all a bit wide of the mark, and any I could make would be, too. Things like materials handling sheets often describe the odor as “sweet”, as did one person here. I don’t particularly think that. So help me, some of those sheets also describe the odor as “ethereal”. Big help. Though it does point out that it’s a distinctive odor best described as itself. I always detect a distinct onion-like quality. If I had to come up with a fanciful description it might be “Vidalia onions being fried in rubbing alcohol”.
BTW, you NEVER want the stuff as a general anesthetic. I’ve never been given any other, but I can’t imagine they’d be worse. I remember waking up with what I would have described as the hangover of the Western World, if I hadn’t been a little kid at the time, and was sick as a dog for hours. I don’t think it’s used much anymore.
I think the problems with MTBE were its (alleged?) carcinogenicity in animals and, IIRC, its appearance in larger than expected quantities in some groundwater.