Wash Bottle

A wash bottle is a squeeze bottle with a nozzle, used to rinse various pieces of laboratory glassware, such as test tubes and round bottom flasks.

Wash bottles are sealed with a screw-top lid. When hand pressure is applied to the bottle, the liquid inside becomes pressurized and is forced out of the nozzle into a narrow stream of liquid.

Most wash bottles are made up of polyethylene, which is a flexible solvent-resistant petroleum-based plastic. Most bottles contain an internal dip tube allowing upright use.

Wash bottles may be filled with a range of common laboratory solvents and reagents, according to the work carried out in that lab. These include: deionized water, detergent solutions and rinse solvents such as acetone, isopropanol or ethanol. In biological labs it is common to keep sodium hypochlorite solution in a wash bottle to conveniently disinfect unneeded cultures.

Wash bottles made of glass composed of flask with flat bottom and wash bottle head TS 29/32 with capacity 500 or 1000 ml.

As is always the case when transferring reagents between containers, for safety always ensure the label on the wash bottle matches the contents of the bottle, and do not mix reagents or return them to the original container. Additionally, wash bottles are not appropriate for long term storage and must never be used for dangerous reagents. Volatile liquids such as acetone or methanol require a bleed hole to reduce dribbling – often a vent is integrated into the top of the internal straw.