# WD-40 Spray Bottle... WHAT!!



## kcmillin (Aug 27, 2010)

I just purchased a 1 gallon jug of WD-40 and bought the little plastic spray bottle that came with it.

On the side of the bottle it says not to reuse or refill.

This seems kinda weird to me, the bottle cost $5 and the gallon was another 17. I would need to buy alot of $5 bottles to get the whole gallon through. The point of buying the gallon was to SAVE money.

I can see on the bottle there is locks to lock the cap in place so it cannot be unscrwed once filled. I am thinking about just cutting these tabs off and making it a reuseable.

Before I do this I am wondering, There must be a reason why these bottles are one time use? Perhaps a safety issue? Or is is Greed?

Can anybody shed some light on this for me? (Before I create a dangerous, chaotic, WD-40 WMD) :big:

Kel


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## idahoan (Aug 27, 2010)

Well I can't answer your question directly but I have used many gallons of WD40 over the years; it makes great cutting lube for cast aluminum. I use it on VW cylinder heads and the Shureshot Sprayer works great for this job (http://www.sureshotsprayer.com/). I also have one filled with Kroil.

Dave


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## rleete (Aug 27, 2010)

They want you to buy more bottles. Cut the tabs off.


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## Deanofid (Aug 27, 2010)

Kel, I'll bet they mean not to reuse it with something else. Like, you wouldn't want to refill it with 
eyewash after it had WD in it. Lots of containers that have harsh chems in them say that about
not reusing or refilling.

I think you're good to use your WD-40 bottle with WD-40. Just a wild guess!  ;D

Dean


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## zeeprogrammer (Aug 27, 2010)

I'm with Dean. Doesn't make sense to me otherwise.


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## kcmillin (Aug 27, 2010)

Thanks for the insight fellas.

I am sure I wont have a problem using it just for WD-40.

However, on the neck of the bottle there is a sticker that says "DO NOT TIGHTEN BEFORE FILLING" and then once you have tightened the cap it CANNOT be removed. It seems they dont want you filling it with anything more than once.

Here are some pics.



















And here are the "Offending Tabs"





I am just wondering has anyone encountered this before?

If so, have you filled it many times, without corrosion?

Just a little curious as to why they would go to al the trouble to make it "One-Time" use.

Kel


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## Diy89 (Aug 27, 2010)

I dont know and would add my comment that they dont want you to fill it with something else. 
But as my daughter has now recruited me into the "Tree Hugging, Granola crunching, Save the Earth foundation" Cut the tabs and reuse it. Save yet another empty bottle from the landfill.


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## pete (Aug 27, 2010)

WTH? Do not refill?, If it were me I'd email the head office addressed to the CEO and include a link to this thread. Get the straight poop from the manufacturer. Exactly what are you supposed to do with those one gallon containers of WD 40?

Pete


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## Troutsqueezer (Aug 28, 2010)

Reading the warning label there, I didn't realize it was so toxic. And here I am breathing the little smoke trails that emanate from the metal as the end mill makes a pass. I think I'm startin' to feel a little....cough...cough....tickle in my throat. oh:


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## Deanofid (Aug 28, 2010)

Last job shop I work at, we had these WD-40 bottles all around the shop. They didn't use to have
those lawyer nubs, and this is the first I've seen of them. Looks like the tort boys put a scare into
the WD people. 

I'd cut 'em off and flick 'em in the trash with a 'neener-neener' for good measure. Then write WD and
tell them what I've done, and give them a little 'neener' too.
Silly people.

Dean


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## Blogwitch (Aug 28, 2010)

From an engineering point of view, cut the tabs off inside the cap rather than on the main bottle.

With them being moulded in, when you cut them off the bottle, you could just end up with a couple of unwanted holes.

I am still using one of the earlier bottles, where you could easily change the o-ring seal on the pump. After well over 10 years use, change the o-ring when it starts to leak and away you go, good as new. Since they changed the pattern, they leak all over the place after a couple of months use.

It's called progress in reverse. *club*


Bogs


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## oldben (Aug 28, 2010)

I am on my second gallon with the same spray pump"if you cant mod the one you have use a household cleaner spray
Ben


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## tmuir (Aug 28, 2010)

I agree, cut the tabs and keep reusing until it stops working, then go buy a new one.


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## Lew Hartswick (Aug 28, 2010)

I just don't understand why so many people insist on using (what $17 a gallon) 
stuff for cutting aluminum when kerosene or diesel fuel at about $3 a gallon is 
every bit as effective and what the "high priced spread" is about 90percent, the 
rest perfume. 
  ...lew...


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## d.bick (Aug 28, 2010)

Perhaps they have bought to many spray bottles . Seems daft.
You can understand other products that come in spray containers. We engineers are likely to put all sorts in them after the original contents are gone.   
On the WD 40 cans they used to ask you what the best use you had found for their product.
 They list 2,000 uses on their site.
 Is there anything we should not use WD 40 on (other than hot surfaces or naked lights)

A fellow club member in his late seventies who looks after a large pumping engine once showed me the mix he used to clean and preserve the shine on both the paint and metalwork of the engine. He filled halve a galvanized bucket with paraffin (kerosene) to which he added clean engine oil he proceeded to stir the mix with a cloth in his bare hand and then applied the solution to the engine.  Please do not try this at home.
          Dave Bick


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## stevehuckss396 (Aug 28, 2010)

If you have the old sprayer just use the old bottle with the new sprayer. If you buy the whole assembly new, just cut the bottom of the spray cap off with a razor knife removing the ratcheting teeth and it will be fine.


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## Ed T (Aug 28, 2010)

You may be risking a visit from the dreaded pillow tag police. Be careful!!


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## kcmillin (Aug 28, 2010)

Ed T  said:
			
		

> You may be risking a visit from the dreaded pillow tag police. Be careful!!



Thats OK. Ill just tell them Large Marge told me to do it :big: :big:

Kel


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## Chazz (Aug 29, 2010)

I dunno, for my 2cents it kinda makes sence.

Under the 'DANGER' warning, the next line says *'Use Only Liquid WD-40'*, seems straight forward there, the next line, 'Keep out of reach of children' I think answers a legal issue explaining the cap locking device,and the next line 'Do Not Reuse or Refill' should go on to say "Unless you refer to line one", because I'm sure there is a Darwin Award Winner nominee out there who tried to refill the bottle with some reactant without first cleaning the bottle and this is the outcome of a law suit.

So to review, 1. If you refill with anything but liquid WD-40 you can't sue. 2. If you knowingly tamper with the locking device and 'Little Johnny' pours himself a stiff one, you can't sue, and finally 3. If you fill it with anything that can react with the container material or the liquid therein, you can't sue. ???

Like I said, just my 2 pesos, 
Chazz


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## Dirty_Vinylpusher (Aug 29, 2010)

Haha they really try to get ya don't they?
I bet there's lots of people out there who see the warning and/or the tabs on the bottle and just go and buy a new bottle when the first one is empty.

How many spray bottles would you need to use one gallon anyway?
Good way to make money.

But as mentioned earlier, someone probably blew up his shed by putting something else in the bottle and filed a lawsuit.





On the topic of WD-40.
A few years back I bought a double pack of spray cans as they were on special, and came with a pair of stubbie holders.
(That's those little wetsuit material slip-on things we put on our beer cans here in Australia to keep the beer cold and our hands warm)

When I got home I realised that they didn't come with the little red straws, so I thought, just for the hell of it, I'd e-mail the good people at WD-40 HQ and see if they would send me some.
Sure, no problem they said.
A couple of days later a parcel arrived in the mail with some 60-70 straws, another pair of stubbie holders and a CD-ROM.
The CD contained a short animated movie with a production line of WD-40 cans.
The conveyor grinds to a halt, and one of the cans jums up in the air, full on The Matrix "bullet time" style and sprays a bit on the seized machine, and everything starts moving again.
It was pretty well made actually.

It also contained "The WD-40 game" which was a flash animation game with a can of WD-40 in the centre of the screen.
It started off in the backyard and the aim was to keep everything lubricated.
There was a swing set, a lawn mower, a garden tap and a few other things that kept squeaking.
Then it moved on to the garage, and there's where I lost interest as it was, honestly a dreadful game.

But all in all I was quite surprised at the quick response and the bag of goodies they sent me.


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## Noitoen (Aug 29, 2010)

To avoid all the confusion, the best way is to buy one of those metal refillable sprayer that will last (almost) for ever


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## John S (Aug 29, 2010)

I make my own and have done for years.
75% paraffin [ or kerosene in the US ] and 25% ATF or simple hydraulic oil.
Seems to work better.

Just as an aside the UK version of WD40 is not the same as the US version, look at the spec sheets. The US version has been downgraded, tree huggers ? Tort lawyers ?

John S.


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## TroyO (Aug 29, 2010)

Kerosene is known as Paraffin in the UK? Here (US) Paraffin is a wax. (You would buy in brick form... for canning and candles and such.)

You Brits and your strange ways! Always putting stuff in your boots (Other than feet) and looking for engines under your bonnets...... and putting wax in your tanks apparently ;-P

Anyway... back to topic. WD-40 sure smells better than kerosene... and seems somewhat less vile and messy than ATF and Kerosene would be. I just checked and the WD sprayer I have doesn't have the one-use lock.


I do want to get some of the water soluble coolants to try too... I don't see why they couldn't be used in a hand sprayer.

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PARTPG=INSRAR2&PMAKA=505-2057&PMPXNO=946817


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## John S (Aug 29, 2010)

Ironically the wax stuff we call candle wax, ;D

John S.


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## arnoldb (Aug 29, 2010)

> I do want to get some of the water soluble coolants to try too... I don't see why they couldn't be used in a hand sprayer.


Troyo, I use water soluble coolant in a common hand spray bottle obtained from the gardening section in the hardware store; it works a treat with the nozzle adjusted to give a thin stream when squirted.
At first I thought the hand sprayer might not last with the coolant in it, but it's given me two years worth of service and is still functioning like new.

Just thought that might be useful for you to know...

Regards, Arnold


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## oldben (Aug 29, 2010)

TroyO  said:
			
		

> Kerosene is known as Paraffin in the UK? Here (US) Paraffin is a wax. (You would buy in brick form... for canning and candles and such.)
> 
> You Brits and your strange ways! Always putting stuff in your boots (Other than feet) and looking for engines under your bonnets...... and putting wax in your tanks apparently ;-P
> 
> ...


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## Peter. (Aug 30, 2010)

Hi Guys

I buy WD40 here in the UK by the gallon and get a plastic spray bottle free with each one. There's no restriction to prevent re-opening of the bottles and filling them again, but they usually tend to only-just last the life of the gallon before they start leaking from around the trigger area.

Pete.


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## deverett (Aug 31, 2010)

Peter.  said:
			
		

> Hi Guys
> 
> I buy WD40 here in the UK by the gallon and get a plastic spray bottle free with each one. There's no restriction to prevent re-opening of the bottles and filling them again, but they usually tend to only-just last the life of the gallon before they start leaking from around the trigger area.
> 
> Pete.



So the stuff *does* work as a penetrating oil !

Dave
The Emerald Isle


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## Ned Ludd (Aug 31, 2010)

Just as an aside the UK version of WD40 is not the same as the US version, look at the spec sheets. The US version has been downgraded, tree huggers ? Tort lawyers ?

Hi John,
Does that mean the Yankee version should be called WD39 or WD41?
Ned


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## Maryak (Aug 31, 2010)

If your stuck for a penetrating oil - Flyspray or mosquito repellent work pretty good as long as they are not using a water based carrier,

Best Regards
Bob


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## Andrew_D (Aug 31, 2010)

Peter.  said:
			
		

> Hi Guys
> 
> I buy WD40 here in the UK by the gallon and get a plastic spray bottle free with each one. There's no restriction to prevent re-opening of the bottles and filling them again, but they usually tend to only-just last the life of the gallon before they start leaking from around the trigger area.
> 
> Pete.



The last ones I bought here in Canada can be re-filled. (Spring 2010) Squeeze the sides of the screw-on lid/cap and the it deforms enough to skip over the little wedges on the bottle pictured above.

Maybe this is a new version???

Andrew


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