Store leaded solder paste in food fridge

[king.oslo]

Hello there,

I got some leaded solder paste. I want to store it in my food fridge. I planned on keeping the containers inside a plastic box with a rubber seal.

I read some stuff on the internet: Somebody suggested that the gasses coming off the solder paste whilst stored in the fridge would leak out past the seals and harm the people eating the food.

I find this hard to believe.

What do you think?

Thank you for your time.

Kind regards,
Marius

[sacherjj]

You will be fine.  People have gotten psychotic on this lead issue, to the point where everyone is paranoid and we are including radioactive metals in solder instead of lead.   

I'm worried about our future in 10 years if we find all of our devices tin whisker failing due to this lead paranoia.  For some reason all the knowledge in the tube days of tin whiskers and how lead was really the only way to solve the problem has been lost and the EU thinks that legislation makes physics bend to their will.  Sigh.

[johnmx]

I wouldn't do it.
Call me whatever you want, but I don't mix food with other stuff.
I keep my solder paste in a separate fridge at work, not at home.

[nanofrog]

You'll be just fine if you store that leaded solder paste in the fridge.

johnmx: How does that help for a home lab?

[c4757p]

On one hand, I doubt it will actually be a problem if you seal it well. On the other hand... it's lead. I'm not so sure I'd want it near my food. Same with the flux. I think I'd rather be careful.

[SeanB]

Put it in a plastic tub and mark it as Tofu. It will never be opened then.

[amyk]

The lead isn't the issue. Even when heated to melting temperature during soldering it has a very low vapour pressure and is virtually nonexistent at room temperature, to say nothing of the even lower temperatures in a fridge. You can store a block of lead in the fridge (why you'd want to is another question) and nothing bad will happen if it doesn't touch the food. Solder paste contains other chemicals than lead (look at MSDS), which may have higher vapour pressures and could permeate through some types of plastic... but the last time I looked, there wasn't anything terribly toxic in the stuff.

[c4757p]

Thank you SeanB, I smiled.

[Nirios]

I'd be more concerned about forgetting to wash my hands after using the stuff.

You could also seal it in a glass container with a screw top lid.  Or use a small unused paint can.

[sacherjj]

You can store a block of lead in the fridge (why you'd want to is another question) and nothing bad will happen if it doesn't touch the food.

I assume the heat capacity of lead is pretty high.  So a large mass of lead could help restore temperature after the door is opened?  Can't think of any other reason, unless you want to make it heavier and harder to steal. 

[8086]

The lead isn't going anywhere. It will be fine.

[c4757p]

There's more in solder paste than lead.

[G7PSK]

How hot does the inside of your fridge have to be before you need to worry about gas pressure from flux, which after all is designed to remain stable up to fairly high temperature before it does anything.
I would just put it in a sealed container at the bottom of the fridge, in case any thing leaked out or fell off.

[king.oslo]

Case closed. It is going inside a gasket sealed glass jar with a lot of yellow/black Warning, Caution and Danger-inside stickers. Thanks.M

[Mediarocker]

I'd never store anything not meant for human consumption in a storage for products intended for human consumption. Why? I don't have complete control over everyone digging through my fridge. Say I have a service worker or guest who decides to get cheeky and dig through my fridge... well I don't want to be responsible for them digesting my solder paste.

That being given, It is easy for us to store it somewhat safely in the fridge, but you still risk cross contamination and possible accidental ingestion. For complete safety, segregate the non-edibles from the edibles. It's something that I was taught in lab class back in high school. I still follow it to this day. I accidentally digest enough lead because I forget to wash my hands after soldering.. I don't need to expose myself further.

I would not advise it.

My two cents.

[Psi]

I store my solder paste in the fridge, but i keep it away from the food.

The biggest risk is that someone will think the syringe is a fancy silver icing pen and decorate a cake with solder paste.

Put it in a plastic tub and mark it as Tofu. It will never be opened then.

Tofu isn't what many people think, it has almost no taste, you flavor it by marinade+heat.
So it can taste like whatever you want it to.

Also, deep fried tofu = awesome

[ejeffrey]

Unless you do something stupid, nothing bad will happen.  But it is still good practice to not store food and non-food in the same fridge.  Really you shouldn't store or handle any toxic chemicals in the food preparation area at all, not specific to lead at all.  It is a requirement in every professional setting I have ever heard of, but it is also good practice for home.  If all you have is one tube of solder paste, go ahead.  As soon as you start getting more than 2-3 non-food products, you should just get a mini-fridge, and locate it in the workshop not the kitchen.  You can often pick them up for free on dormitory move-out days at your local uni.  Its more convenient, too.

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

Put it in a plastic tub and mark it as Tofu. It will never be opened then.

Please no jokes SeanB
I laughed out loud at work and everyone knew I was slacking off.

[pickle9000]

I keep my insulin in the fridge and it's certainly enough to kill. Yes it's in a container (the kind used to store money) with a key. It makes me feel safer. If you have children with access make sure they know not to touch.

...mike

[RCMR]

I keep my solder paste in the fridge -- it's a hell of a lot less toxic than some of my wife's cooking.  She makes this Tom Yung soup that makes brake-cleaner smell edible by comparison.

As you might suspect, I'm not into highly spiced foods -- it's my believe that the only reason anyone uses chilli, curry, garlic or any of those other additives is to cover their mistakes 

Hell, unless you've gone the lead-free-hippy way, you're going to be absorbing more lead (which is still an infinitesimal amount) every time you put your soldering iron to solder.  As for the other volatiles that may be in solder paste -- hell, I'm nearly 60 -- I really don't have that much to lose! 

[ptricks]

Fridge is fine, I keep my flux in the fridge. The lead thing went unnecessarily out of control in the media. I have handled lead solder for 20+ years and out of curiosity when doing a yearly checkup with my doc asked if I could be tested for lead as well, results were I had an amount too low to measure.

[8086]

This thread has got me thinking about the whole RoHS Pb-Free thing. What's even the point? There's lead in loads of things besides solder, the lead never even evaporates, and leaded solder works better than lead-free! 

[SeanB]

I store superglue and 2 pack epoxy in the fridge. If you open the box marked glue and eat it you are a definite Darwin candidate. The fridge at work will have up to 200l of product at times in it, awaiting further use.

[johnmx]

You'll be just fine if you store that leaded solder paste in the fridge.

johnmx: How does that help for a home lab?

The answer of your question is implicit in my text, but if you don’t get it I can rephrase: “Buy a separate fridge for non-food stuff. I didn’t buy one because I can keep it at work.”.

User Mediarocker said it all!

Anyone can store this stuff in the fridge and not die because of it. But hey! 50% of us will suffer cancer in life and this number continues to grow. Just saw this number on the news last week.

[nanofrog]

The answer of your question is implicit in my text, but if you don’t get it I can rephrase: "Buy a separate fridge for non-food stuff. I didn't buy one because I can keep it at work.”.

Given the last line in your previous post, "I keep my solder paste in a separate fridge at work, not at home.", I didn't interpret that has "Buy a second fridge for home use to prevent contamination" at all.