The other four

Fuel and oil additives

Updated October 2026

On this page8

The packaging trigger Summed across components The viscosity half matters for an oil additive The spray exemption, again And then the labeling rule Aspiration is why, and it is worth understanding Two rules, two different lists References

Additives are mostly solvent and carrier, so the hydrocarbon count is usually the whole formula.

The packaging trigger

All prepackaged nonemulsion-type liquid household chemical products that are hazardous substances under the FHSA and contain 10 percent or more hydrocarbons by weight with a viscosity under 100 SUS at 100 F must be in special packaging under 1700.15(a), (b) and (c).

Summed across components

The rule defines hydrocarbons as substances consisting solely of carbon and hydrogen, and says the total is the sum of the individual hydrocarbon components by weight. Three carriers at 4 percent each are over the line while none looks like a problem alone.

The viscosity half matters for an oil additive

A thin fuel additive is comfortably under 100 SUS; a heavy oil treatment may not be. That is the one place in this section where the answer is not obvious from the product name, and it needs measuring.

The spray exemption, again

The paragraph exempts packages whose only non-child-resistant access is a spray device with a child-resistant or permanently attached pump. A spouted pour bottle is not that, and a spouted bottle is what this category needs.

And then the labeling rule

At 10 percent or more petroleum distillates such as kerosine, mineral seal oil, naphtha or mineral spirits, the label carries the signal word "danger", the statement "Harmful or fatal if swallowed" and the statement "Call physician immediately", because the product may be aspirated into the lungs.

Aspiration is why, and it is worth understanding

A thin petroleum liquid that reaches the lungs causes chemical pneumonitis rather than poisoning by absorption. That is the mechanism the specified words are describing, and it is why "do not induce vomiting" advice exists in this category.

Two rules, two different lists

The packaging rule counts hydrocarbons strictly defined; the labeling rule names petroleum distillates. A formula can be caught by one and not the other, so both tests have to be run rather than one standing in for the other.

References

16 CFR 1700.14, Substances requiring special packaging. Paragraph (a)(8) covers methanol at 4 percent or more by weight; (a)(11) ethylene glycol at 10 percent or more; (a)(31) nonemulsion liquid household chemical products at 10 percent or more hydrocarbons by weight under 100 SUS at 100 F. law.cornell.edu

16 CFR 1500.14, Products requiring special labeling. Paragraph (b)(2) requires "warning" and "Harmful or fatal if swallowed" for 10 percent or more ethylene glycol; (b)(3)(ii) requires "danger", "Harmful or fatal if swallowed" and "Call physician immediately" for 10 percent or more petroleum distillates, because they may be aspirated into the lungs. law.cornell.edu

Written from federal regulation and from measured catalog data, not from a blending bench. We sell containers and closures; whether a particular closure satisfies a particular clause is a question about that closure and its supplier’s testing, and nothing here certifies a package as compliant. Anything on these pages is a starting point.