+ADKcachers Posted June 25, 2007 Share Posted June 25, 2007 I hope this isn't off topic, but I think that fighting off the biting bugs and caching are compainion subjects. I have a bottle of 100% deet that I would like to dilute to, perhaps 30%. What should I use as an inert ingredient? Alcohol? Water? Quote Link to comment
+wandererrob Posted June 25, 2007 Share Posted June 25, 2007 This won't be of any help, but I'm curious. Why dilute it? The stuff works marvelously straight up. Otherwise, you may as well just buy some Deep Woods Off. Quote Link to comment
mavislb Posted June 25, 2007 Share Posted June 25, 2007 Actually a very helpful hint for keeping the bugs away is vitamin B. When taken regularly, it wards off the bugs. If you have ever smelled the stuff, you will know why. It gets in your blood stream and the misquitoes can smell it and don't like it. Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted June 25, 2007 Share Posted June 25, 2007 This won't be of any help, but I'm curious. Why dilute it? The stuff works marvelously straight up. Otherwise, you may as well just buy some Deep Woods Off. My answer was going to along these lines. I seem to recall reading somewhere recently that good bug spray should be at least 40% deet. Quote Link to comment
+ADKcachers Posted June 25, 2007 Author Share Posted June 25, 2007 This won't be of any help, but I'm curious. Why dilute it? The stuff works marvelously straight up. Otherwise, you may as well just buy some Deep Woods Off. I don't want to put 100% deet on my twelve year old. I believe that I read somewhere that 30% is more effective than 100%. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted June 25, 2007 Share Posted June 25, 2007 This won't be of any help, but I'm curious. Why dilute it? The stuff works marvelously straight up. Otherwise, you may as well just buy some Deep Woods Off. I don't want to put 100% deet on my twelve year old. I believe that I read somewhere that 30% is more effective than 100%. Not being a chemist, I really have no idea what you would use to dilute it. Why not just pick up a bottle of 30 percent for your kid and use the 100 percent on yourself? Generally, the higher the percentage the longer it lasts. Quote Link to comment
+ADKcachers Posted June 25, 2007 Author Share Posted June 25, 2007 This won't be of any help, but I'm curious. Why dilute it? The stuff works marvelously straight up. Otherwise, you may as well just buy some Deep Woods Off. I don't want to put 100% deet on my twelve year old. I believe that I read somewhere that 30% is more effective than 100%. Not being a chemist, I really have no idea what you would use to dilute it. Why not just pick up a bottle of 30 percent for your kid and use the 100 percent on yourself? Generally, the higher the percentage the longer it lasts. Actually, I did run to the store to purchase a bottle with a lower percentage for my young one. I guess I didn't explain down to the very last minute detail, why I was asking the question. Perhaps I'd like to avoid a trip to the store. Maybe I stupidly entered the woods with only a bottle of 100% deet. I was mugged and had my 30% solution taken from me and was left with the 100%. I appreciate the alternative suggestions, but I am aware that lower percentages are available. Quote Link to comment
+murfster Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 There are risks to using 100% deet and that is why you can only buy the weaker versions. I'd be afraid to use it at 100%. Murfster Quote Link to comment
+pigpen4x4 Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 I'm not 100% sure, but I bet if you look at a can of the weaker stuff, the first (maybe 2nd) ingrediant will be what they use to dilute it. PP Quote Link to comment
booksmart_streetdumb Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 Hi there! I don't really use Deet myself, but I found a few things by googling. (I don't know this forum's policy on linking to other sites, so I hope I don't break any rules here ) Someone asked a similar question on another forum: http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/messagep...&parentid=0 According to the responses there, Deet is "Insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol, ether and benzene". I also found a page on "Myths about Deet": http://www.buggspray.com/myths-about-DEET.html According to that, "Products that are formulated by diluting concentrated DEET with a solvent such as ethanol have a greater dermal absorption than products that are undiluted". This page also talks about Deet in relation to children. Sorry I didn't know anything myself, but maybe those links are a start, at least? Quote Link to comment
+rdaines Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 Benzene!!!! Ether!!!!! Dermal absorption!!!! Don't mess with the stuff, you're not a chemist and hace no idea how the "new" formulation will affect you or any one you put it on. Bad idea. Quote Link to comment
+Teach2Learn Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 Benzene!!!! Ether!!!!! Dermal absorption!!!! Don't mess with the stuff, you're not a chemist and hace no idea how the "new" formulation will affect you or any one you put it on. Bad idea. Actually, not messing with the stuff was exactly what the previous poster implied by saying DEET was "insoluble" with those ingredients and that dermal absorption would increase. You don't have to be a chemist to understand those terms. Quote Link to comment
+Bamboogirl Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 Backpacker magazine just had a good article on the effectivness of DEET and other compounds claiming to save us from 'squitos and other things that bite. Here's the link to the main page Backpacker Magazine Bottom line is that DEET at 100% is not more effective that DEET at 30% but that the duration between applications is longer - 6-hour intervals for the 100% and 2-3 for the 30%. We just returned (sadly) from a 6-day trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon chasing cutthroat trout (no caches allowed out there) DEET was our friend, but at 100% the stuff is just nasty. Diluting with a reasonable ratio of distilled water would be the logical fix - IPA would possibly damage the effectiveness. If you look through the Backpacker site, there is also discussion on DEET strengths appropriate for kids. Given that the effectivness is the same, but only the application time is changed, using the lower concentration and remembering to reapply seems a much better way to go. One other thing - if you do get bit, Benadryl makes this spiffy small point contact stick that you apply at the bite site that really takes the itch out. It's little and well worth having around. Quote Link to comment
+Knight2000 Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 Actually a very helpful hint for keeping the bugs away is vitamin B. When taken regularly, it wards off the bugs. If you have ever smelled the stuff, you will know why. It gets in your blood stream and the misquitoes can smell it and don't like it. I wondered about what you said trying to find more info about vitamin B. This is what i found: I looked here and here. Quote Link to comment
+Markwell Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 There are risks to using 100% deet and that is why you can only buy the weaker versions. I'd be afraid to use it at 100%. Murfster Where do you live that you can't get 100% deet? I can travel less than 3 miles and find two stores that carry 100% Quote Link to comment
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