Note that liquid naphta does not burn, it is its vapors mixed with oxygen that burns. These flaming vapors can heat the naphta further, lead to more vapors etc etc..


The problem with fry-oil or grease is that it can easily reach temperatures far above 100 deg C (212 deg F) while it is still itself in a safe liquid state. If you throw water on it, the water will immediately flash up into steam. The volume increase of liquid water to steam is factor 1700, thus it will throw everything in every direction.

This will not happen to naphta as liquid naphta cannot reach 100 deg C without vaporizing itself first, actually it will vaporize before the water does. So the water will not flash up when hitting heated naphta as it does on fry-oil or grease. Of course throwing water on burning naphta can displace the naphta and displace the fire this way.

Get yourself a fire blanket to throw over burning pots of whatever substance, you can throw them over burning persons. Just be sure to hold them with the loops so your hands are always behind the blanket.


A squirt extinguisher is not always necessary, but if you use it do it from a distance, not nozzle into the pot or you''l blast the naphta all over the place.

If there are potential burning wounds always COOL DOWN with water for as long as possible, this is mandatory, keep it very cool, it will prevent wounds from getting worse and it has a profound pain killing effect.

Holy bologna, batman! I bet that was frightening! Well, you know what they say...you live and you learn, right? Just try not to be set on fire during the process! But seriously, I am glad you are okay. Safety first!

HAHA havnt checked this thread in a bit but some of the new responses made me lol.
First off, muuch love and appreciation for the empathetic individuals on here. i was under the impression that EVERYONE makes mistakes in life, and the fact i posted this shows i learned from this experience. this is a place to learn yes? and for yall naysayers on here, fudge ya! i didnt make this post to be mocked and ridiculed, but only to aware newcomers that a foolish and uneducated mistake can quickly fuck your day up!
Peace to all, love, and enjoy our journey.

come on Lumpy Nutz, you're not being mocked and ridiculed, were just pulling ya leg.

i do like fudge though

welcome to the Nexus

Also i learned well this thing, with hexane once, and i was sure to follow safety rules (not so much):
I start the flame to reheat the water bath between a pull, the jar was one meter or less away from the flame but i forgot to close the lid...a flame started from the jar and i stop it with a cloth and put the lid on....sooo scared, really.

Due to the safety blanket being wrapped around a person, the flames have a tendency to fume out around the neck of the person on fire. This gives on average a higher risk of killing the person than if the blanket was not used all.

This statistical risk analysis made a certain oil company ban all safety blankets from their sites.

So yes, you can use them to throw over the burning pot but please be careful when using them on humans.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

Thank you T for this add. So they would only work safe if the person was covered in whole but for this the blankets are usually not big enough.

I checked out on my fire blanket and it only suggests kitchen fires.

Googling on fire blankets gives a ton of info but sometimes also contradicting. The most important recurring advice is that it is only suitable for small fires, at max size of a football.

I know there has been a lot of responses, but I feel like I still have to comment on it.

Lumpy Nutz - The reason you are getting some negative comments here is because the flammability of naphtha really should be assumed knowledge before an extraction is attempted. It's common sense that naphtha, used as lighter fluid, is extremely flammable. It's not hard to find MSDS for the chemicals used in an extraction.

This is less of a mistake and more an act of ignorance. When you join the nexus the first thing you are pushed to do is read the wiki and safety sections.

Don't mean to sound harsh, I wish you well, please be more careful in the future. Mistakes like this can endanger your life and more importantly others lives.

There was probably a greater chance of fire engulfing everything while carrying a blazing pot of solvent through your home. Just an FYI.

People are mentioning open flames, which is all well and good. Not only is open flames an issue, but also the auto ignition property of the solvent. According to the MSDS, naphtha has a auto-igntion temp of 227 C.

There is absolutely no need for heating the solvent. We aren't running businesses, where yield is everything. Safety is paramount, especially in a home setting. Labs are equipped with shit to deal with hazards. The common household may not have all these luxuries.

The only time you should be heating anything is for the acid cook.

What is pictured in post #3 is basically what we show people how to do it in the wiki.

This is what we have in the wiki:



Taken from here.

Should we change this?

yes, it should definitely be changed to a pan not on a cooker

Should be changed to a tupperware bowl of water, and a microwave. Also be sure that the bottle heating the naptha has a vent hole to relieve pressure.

Auto-ignition would be scarce as the liquids would be stablized at their respective boiling point(s). If the vessel overpressurized causing napthalene to spill on hot surfaces this could be an issue however. Vapor autoigniting isn't.