Talk:White spirit

message: The article says it should be disposed of properly, but doesn't describe what "properly" is.   I think some clarification would be helpful.
Jsaurman (talk) 17:21, 29 March 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Well don't tip it down the sink. Correct disposal will depend on jurisdiction, and some places may have paint disposal that can handle this. Probably undue for this article. Personally I let it evaporate. Bacteria will finish it of somewhere. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 10:01, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Disposal 

message: Or are they of the same thing?
:White spirit and acetic acid are unrelated chemically.  --Ed (Edgar181) 17:22, 14 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Is White Spirit an Acetic Acid? 

message: Are they the same thing?  How does White Spirit relate to Turpentine Substitute?  Can you use it in Coleman fuel lamps in the same way that you can use paraffin? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.210.144.145 (talk) 20:26, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The article on naphtha says it's the same except that in UK white spirit is something completely different. Unfortunately the present article does not currently expound on this. __meco 08:15, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Is White Spirit what the Americans call Naptha? 

message: Shouldn't this be merged with Mineral spirits?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Michaelk08 (talk • contribs) 22:04, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Merge?

message: I think not, mineral spirits come from oil, white spirits do not so they are not the same thing at all  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.73.23.48 (talk) 15:09, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  merge with mineral spirits 

message: Merging would not be appropriate in this case.  Stoddard Solvent (referred to as Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Stoddard Solvent, abbreviated TPH-SS) was used for many years as a dry cleaning solvent, and is an important environmental contaminant.  It predated solvents like PCE, having a mixture of aromatic, long chain and branched chain hydrocarbons.  Historic dry cleaning operations stored Stoddard Solvent in on-site storage tanks, which often leaked, causing groundwater impacts.  When the TPH-SS ages, the C-7 to C-15 chains degrade, which can begin to elute in the gasoline range of gas chromatographs (TPH-G).  Over time, however, the mixture loses the more volatile constituents, so that chromatograph lacks peaks associated with aromatic moieties. The stuff by itself is very interesting, so merging it with mineral spirits, a much more generic term, and would therefore diminish its usefulness in context.
I am a newbie, so pardon my inability to spend more time here (just wanted to comment on the merger question).  According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Case Studies in Environmental Medicine (CSEM) 
"Stoddard Solvent. Stoddard solvent is a petroleum distillate widely used as a dry cleaning solvent
and as a general cleaner and degreaser. It may also be used as a paint thinner, as a solvent in some types
of photocopier toners, in some types of printing inks, and in some adhesives. Stoddard solvent is
considered to be a form of mineral spirits, white spirits, and naphtha; however, not all forms of mineral
spirits, white spirits, and naphtha are considered to be Stoddard solvent (ATSDR 1995b).
Stoddard solvent consists of 30-50% linear and branched alkanes, 30-40% cycloalkanes, and 10-20%
aromatic hydrocarbons. Its typical hydrocarbon chain ranges from C7 through C12 in length."
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp123-c3.pdf, pg 21.
Ellezeebub (talk) 23:34, 23 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  merge with mineral spirits 

message: The article states:
"In 1924, Atlanta dry cleaner W. J. Stoddard worked with Lloyd E. Jackson of the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research to develop a less volatile dry cleaning solvent as an alternative to the petroleum solvents in use. Dry cleaners began using the result of their work in 1928 and it soon became the predominant dry cleaning solvent in the United States, until the late 1950s."
This intimates that they were the inventors  in 1924. However, Samuel Banner & Company Ltd claim to have invented White Spirit and were selling it in 1885.
See Banner Chemicals - 150 Years of Innovation  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.118.224.152 (talk) 09:48, 10 May 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Invention and history 

message: There are 4 sections above wherein it was proposed/requested that the "Mineral Spirits" article be merged with this article. In each of those sections there was either no concensus on a merge, or the merge was opposed. However, as of today(2015-12-13), only this "White Spirits" article appears to exist. The "Mineral Spirits" article appears to have been deleted and is now just a re-direct to this article. On 2011-08-07 user "Ego White Tray"(A "retired" Wiki User) merged in the "Mineral Spirits" article, and on 2012-09-29 user "Ruud Koot"(A user from the Netherlands) merged in the "Mineral Turpentine" article. Both of these merges were done without any discussion here. Should these merges be reversed and the original articles restored? Gcronau (talk) 15:08, 13 December 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: No, they should not be unmerged, unless there is some evidence that they are fundamentally different substances.  The last discussion on this was a suggestion to move the article title to "Mineral spirits" which was pretty unanimously opposed, accepted that they were the same, and was formally closed. SpinningSpark 16:43, 13 December 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Unfortunately, the merger has resulted in a bit of a WP:ENGVAR mess. Presumably White Spirit was originally BE and Mineral Spirits AE. It's not clear what standard should be adopted in these circumstances. --Ef80 (talk) 12:45, 24 April 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: The last versions of Mineral spirits and White spirit prior to the merge both used the spelling odor.  On that basis, and per WP:RETAIN, I would say the article should be in American English. SpinningSpark 19:54, 24 April 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: In that case, the article should be renamed to Mineral spirits, with White spirit as a redirect. --Ef80 (talk) 23:27, 26 April 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: See the discussion further up the page, which decided to keep it at this title. And partially retracting what I said above, the very oldest version of White spirit uses the spelling odour.  Not sure at what point it was changed or why, but the principle of WP:RETAIN says that the spelling should be changed back, not the article title. SpinningSpark 19:27, 27 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Undiscussed Merges