Boiling gear?

[GenomeSoldier]

If I were to get gear from an unknown source, would boiling the vial be good for killing bacteria and viruses. I just figured the vial is made of glass and if I were to put a lighter below it and boil the gear until its boiling would that kill bacteria? Would it destroy the gear?

[Deal Me In]

I think you would be better off putting in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes. You can also put in the oven. Holding it under a lighter seems very ineffective to me.

However, neither of these addresses why you are buying from a source you don't trust. Either you trust the source, or you don't. If you don't, don't inject it into your body. It's really that simple. I understand that at some point it takes a leap of faith but do some due diligence.

How many people do you personally know who have used the gear? Did they have problems? Start there.

[DocToxin8]

If I were to get gear from an unknown source, would boiling the vial be good for killing bacteria and viruses. I just figured the vial is made of glass and if I were to put a lighter below it and boil the gear until its boiling would that kill bacteria? Would it destroy the gear?

DO NOT hold a lighter to the vial!!!!
This is oil, not water!
If you hear it with a lighter it will reach a much higher temperature than 100C without you knowing it, and the vial can explode, the stopper can melt, the gear can degrade. (Test, and many other AAS probably won't tolerate much more than about 250C. Haven't checked this up lately, but that's about the standard temp that destroys many alkaloids.)

If you're gonna heat to deal with bacteria, heat it to maximum 120C, which can be done in a pressure cooker. Or, just heat in in boiling water at 100C, should kill most germs. I'm not sure this is a good idea either, but in theory I can't, right now, think of any issues with that, except maybe increased pressure in the vial which can make it pop, but that could be prevented by airing out pressure regularly by a pin.

[clarky.]

The pressure cooker must hit 15psi.

[01dragonslayer]

I'm not sure why you would think that your gear is not sterile but you could try....

1.Fill the pan about 3/4 full with hot water
2.Put it on the stove on low heat
3.Put your vial/vials in the zip lock bag and place in the water
4.Heat for about 5-10 mins checking on them every so often. Remove from pan and let cool.

[ScotchGuard02]

To make sure you got sterile gear; 1) Buy a sealed sterile vial bigger than the gear vial, 2) get sterile .45 um syringe filters, 3) get sealed sterile syringes, 4) wipe the gear vial thoroughly with alcohol swab, 5) draw the gear into the sterile syringe, 6) remove the pin and attach the syringe filter, 7) put on a NEW sterile needle on the syringe filter, 8) take a second sterile needle and poke it into the empty sterile vial to equalize the pressure and leave it in there, 9) slowly squeeze the gear into the new vial. The .45um filter will filter out bacteria. If you wan to make sure it's sterile and you don't have an autoclave, keep the needle in the vial to equalize the pressure and put it in the oven at 225F for 30 minutes. This should do it.