Will leaving ink out in 90F+ heat damage it?

[Arts11]

So I recently ordered some ink online (as well as gel ink refills for some gel pens) and the expected delivery date is sometime during the weekend. The problem is, I'll be going home for the Labor Day weekend so I won't be checking my mail for awhile. The forecast calls for mid-90 degree temperatures all week and I'm wondering if leaving the ink and gel refills in my apartment mailbox in that heat (which will probably be even hotter in an enclosed space) for 2-3 days will negatively affect it in anyway?

 

I usually buy my ink directly from a B&M store, so please forgive me if I'm making too much of this. :embarrassed_smile:

 

|EDIT| Mods -

 

I posted this in the wrong forum. Is there any chance you could move this to the proper subforum? Please and thank you.

Edited September 1, 2009 by Arts11

[Mrsal]

i dont think anything too bad will happen if its not in direct sunlight, but there may be some damage from the heat.

[Arts11]

i dont think anything too bad will happen if its not in direct sunlight, but there may be some damage from the heat.

I see. What sort of damage is possible in response to high heat?

[Mrsal]

the ink can get discolored, or evaporate, but i think that the chance of evaporation are lower in glass bottles than plastic bottles.

[ZeissIkon]

I wouldn't worry about evaporation in a closed bottle, certainly not over a three-day weekend. Similarly, I wouldn't expect to see discoloration from a few days at temperatures below 100º F -- if you carry a pen in a breast pocket inside a jacket, it'll be subjected to 90º or higher all day (your body temperature is most likely just a little under 100º F, after all), every day it's carried, but we don't see ink discoloring before you write out a fill just because we carry our pens.

 

If inks were that fragile, ink retailers would have warnings about shipping in summer, we'd have long threads about "how do you keep your ink cool", etc. Just not something to worry about. I wouldn't leave a bottle of ink in a car in the summer sun, if I could avoid it (and certainly not all summer) -- but two or three days in a mailbox shouldn't be a problem.

[Arts11]

I wouldn't worry about evaporation in a closed bottle, certainly not over a three-day weekend. Similarly, I wouldn't expect to see discoloration from a few days at temperatures below 100º F -- if you carry a pen in a breast pocket inside a jacket, it'll be subjected to 90º or higher all day (your body temperature is most likely just a little under 100º F, after all), every day it's carried, but we don't see ink discoloring before you write out a fill just because we carry our pens.

 

If inks were that fragile, ink retailers would have warnings about shipping in summer, we'd have long threads about "how do you keep your ink cool", etc. Just not something to worry about. I wouldn't leave a bottle of ink in a car in the summer sun, if I could avoid it (and certainly not all summer) -- but two or three days in a mailbox shouldn't be a problem.

That's good to hear. Thanks for the insight.

[spotted and speckled]

I wouldn't worry about evaporation in a closed bottle, certainly not over a three-day weekend. Similarly, I wouldn't expect to see discoloration from a few days at temperatures below 100º F -- if you carry a pen in a breast pocket inside a jacket, it'll be subjected to 90º or higher all day (your body temperature is most likely just a little under 100º F, after all), every day it's carried, but we don't see ink discoloring before you write out a fill just because we carry our pens.

 

If inks were that fragile, ink retailers would have warnings about shipping in summer, we'd have long threads about "how do you keep your ink cool", etc. Just not something to worry about. I wouldn't leave a bottle of ink in a car in the summer sun, if I could avoid it (and certainly not all summer) -- but two or three days in a mailbox shouldn't be a problem.

 

 

+1

 

And no one in Florida, Hawaii, Texas, or anyplace else where it's hot all the time, would ever get to write with fountain pens if ink was going to self-destruct in the heat. And Noodler's would have a line of inks for use in hot weather, just the opposite of Polar inks...tropical inks?

 

Just don't store your ink in the open sunlight. It'll be fine!

[Ghost Plane]

Florida checking in. For a few days you'll be fine. My metal post box pod regularly hits temps exceeding 140F as it's in full sunlight. I haven't cooked one yet. For me, the biggest problem is direct sunlight. I've had inks change colors from sitting in front of sunny windows. The light's kind of intense down here.

[Pippin60]

I wouldn't worry about it, after all warehouses aren't air conditioned, and what about the container ship it came on, and then the truck? Think about what our precious tools and ink must go through on their way to us before they find their happy home.

[eilu]

From someone in the Tropics: No, the heat should not be a problem. That is room temperature here, and I've yet to have an ink go bad. Even the polar inks are quite well behaved.

[ZeissIkon]

My metal post box pod regularly hits temps exceeding 140F as it's in full sunlight. I haven't cooked one yet.

 

You might want to consider having any pens you buy (especially celluloid and hard rubber) held for pickup at the local post office, if you buy in summer. That's hot enough to soften those materials, and lever fillers are well known for warping into banana shapes if the pen gets hot enough...

[ismellarat]

My reform sat between my 2 front doors (we have a little entrance area where they always put packages) for a week with consistent 100*+ temps (the giant glass door magnifies the heat like mad) and it was fine. My Parker 51 was hot enough to be uncomfortable to my hands (Painful for me is about 140, so I would reckon about 125) and when I got it and it is fine, and still is. My private reserve midnight blues sat between the doors for 8 days! The air was consistently over 102 degrees, with high humidity, and the sun in that entrance way made pretty much an oven. The bottle was too hot to touch. The ink is fine and my favorite blue YMMV

[ZeissIkon]

My reform sat between my 2 front doors (we have a little entrance area where they always put packages) for a week with consistent 100*+ temps (the giant glass door magnifies the heat like mad) and it was fine. My Parker 51 was hot enough to be uncomfortable to my hands (Painful for me is about 140, so I would reckon about 125) and when I got it and it is fine, and still is. My private reserve midnight blues sat between the doors for 8 days! The air was consistently over 102 degrees, with high humidity, and the sun in that entrance way made pretty much an oven. The bottle was too hot to touch. The ink is fine and my favorite blue YMMV

 

I don't know about the Reform, but the 51 has acrylic for all plastic parts; it won't soften until around 200º F, while celluloid and hard rubber both start to soften between 140º and 160º. Temperatures above 150º F or so would be of concern for inks -- if nothing else, caps might soften or crack and cause leaks -- even with fairly short exposure, but I doubt your entranceway got above 125º; a car in the sun can hit 140º or higher, but the your entranceway has the cooler house just behind the inner door, and less glass area relative to the volume. As well, packages wind up on the floor, I'd guess, which is the coolest place in that enclosure.

[Ginnievere]

I'd worry much more about really cold temperatures than really hot temperatures. I would assume that sub-freezing temperatures would be much worse for ink (not to mention the bottles or cartridges the ink comes in) than warm (but below boiling) temperatures.

[ZeissIkon]

I'd worry much more about really cold temperatures than really hot temperatures. I would assume that sub-freezing temperatures would be much worse for ink (not to mention the bottles or cartridges the ink comes in) than warm (but below boiling) temperatures.

 

While that's true, it has to get pretty cold for even ordinary ink to start freezing, and as it freezes, the dyes concentrate, lowing the freezing point of the remaining liquid (kind of like "jacking" apple cider -- the alcohol winds up in the liquid you pour off the ice); this greatly reduces the likelihood of breaking the bottle, because only a small fraction of the ink freezes under reasonable winter conditions. Noodler's Polar inks aside (which are advertised as capable of writing at -20º F), most ordinary inks will freeze at temperatures closer to 0º F than the 32º F where pure water freezes, and then you'll get a "slush" freeze rather than the hard freeze that breaks bottles.

[ismellarat]

My reform sat between my 2 front doors (we have a little entrance area where they always put packages) for a week with consistent 100*+ temps (the giant glass door magnifies the heat like mad) and it was fine. My Parker 51 was hot enough to be uncomfortable to my hands (Painful for me is about 140, so I would reckon about 125) and when I got it and it is fine, and still is. My private reserve midnight blues sat between the doors for 8 days! The air was consistently over 102 degrees, with high humidity, and the sun in that entrance way made pretty much an oven. The bottle was too hot to touch. The ink is fine and my favorite blue YMMV

I doubt your entranceway got above 125º; a car in the sun can hit 140º or higher, but the your entranceway has the cooler house just behind the inner door, and less glass area relative to the volume. As well, packages wind up on the floor, I'd guess, which is the coolest place in that enclosure.

I knew about the 51 being acrylic, just thought it was worth mentioning. The reform feels like cheap plastic, and I was suprised that it lasted through the heat.

 

According to a candy thermometer, it was about 135 the other day. The door into the house is a metal, double insulated one. Also, the concrete is so hot that just touching it for a second will burn feet some days. I set a pair of converse in there to dry one day (puddles :embarrassed_smile: I am a very peculiar 14 year old) and within hours the deep blue converse had turned to a lilac because the sun bleached them. We have a white rug in there... it was blue when we bought it...

[Ink Stained Wretch]

I agree, you should be all right. I know that Nathan Tardif says that the bulletproof Noodler's inks should be kept from excessive heat, but I think he's talking about leaving it on a hot stove.

 

It gets up to 90°+ F. in here and my inks have survived for at least 5 Summers..