Are ESD mats bad for health ?

[ogden]

Sure! Best advertising ever is stating that your product smells badly and could be toxic.

Same issue here "I've bought this JBC clone [affiliate link], do you think is worth the money ?!?!"

So it means one moderator can ban literally anybody who is asking question like "it smalls bad - is it really s**t"?

[DC1MC]

Sure! Best advertising ever is stating that your product smells badly and could be toxic.

Same issue here "I've bought this JBC clone [affiliate link], do you think is worth the money ?!?!"

So it means one moderator can ban literally anybody who is asking question like "it smalls bad - is it really s**t"?

Why are you disingenuous, is there any reason for that ?
I'm neither a moderator or site owner, but IMHO a moderator can ban anybody, for whatever reason if their conduit is considered harmful to the site and/or community and only has to answer to the site owner.
Your concern trolling is getting boring so I'm done with this thread.

[Simon]

why dont you attach some of the smell to the message so we can use our crystal balls to analyse it.!

What he really wants you to do is buy one from amazon using his referral link so that you can find out for yourself 

I don't think he was spamming. He posts links in his other posts, but they're to completely different products, from other sellers. I think you were a little quick to ban, in this case.

two of the links at least included the same ref id, the address is made up of amazon, the product, then a ref id.

So the question is, are all of the sellers of ESD mats in the world breaking the laws of several nations by selling toxic goods......

[Simon]

OK, he's back. Let's assume the ref id's are just because he bought it and not because it's the referral program.

[Zero999]

At one of my previous employers, there were some ESD mats made of fibrous material, presumably a mixture of wood pulp and charcoal. They didn't smell much, but that doesn't mean they didn't release carbon power into the air, which might cause cancer.

[Gyro]

I just moved my soldering station to the basement.

I have had this mat on my desk in my bedroom where I sleep for a few weeks...hopefully I will be ok ? Will there be any health problems ?

Many Thanks

Will there be any health problems from sleeping next to it for a few weeks? In the grand scheme of thing, probably not - I suspect that you would have suffered some respiratory symptoms first if so.

All esd mats have some degree of odour when first unsealed, even if it's just a mild Vinyl type smell. I've heard that some of the Chinese ones can smell really bad though.
 
I don't know what the weather is like in your part of Canada at the moment, but you could try putting it outside during the day for a while (face up and face down). A combination of sunlight and breeze is probably the quickest way of getting rid of the smell.

[HB9EVI]

if it is click-bait they didn't earn on me; already got enough mysteriously smelling objects in hands to know that this is a real issue

[Simon]

Rules of thumb:

Cheap = very smelly
Expensive = less smell
Blue = less smell
Black = very smelly

pick your poison

[HB9EVI]

that's seriously oversimplified imho

[Simon]

that is what a rule of thumb is for and mine is based on two purchases. my last employer was a tight arse, so I bought the all black £25 mats, they smelled like car tyres for weeks and stunk the room out. At my new employer I got mats that cost £50 and a blue on the outside, they had a slight smell when opened that vanished in hours.

[nez]

A few years ago I searched specifically for a low-VOC mat (because I loathe those kind of smells and it was going in my bedroom at the time).

The particular one I got on Digikey was from the "Dualmat" series by ACL Staticide:
https://www.aclstaticide.com/categories/anti-static-mats

I had absolutely no issues with smells, and its datasheet claims no off-gassing.

It was a bit pricey though -- I'm glad the smallest size (24"x36") pre-cut version was large enough for my desk space, because it was the only size that fit my budget .  Was around $66 usd at the time, $70 now for that size.

I'm sure there are a variety of quality manufacturers that make low-VOC mats, but I doubt you'll find them on Amazon!

[Simon]

I don't know if it's a case of the quality of the material or if the manufacturer airs the matt/material before packing. Even if they air the material this will be expensive as it will have to be kept in ventilated storage for anywhere between days or weeks as unrolled sheets.

[TimFox]

I hesitate to say that "Chinese goods stink", but we have had a couple of recent orders from legitimate vendors with this problem on Chinese-made goods.
1.  My wife ordered a medium-sized wheeled suitcase before a trip to Europe (before the plague).  On its first outing, the security officers at Zurich airport stopped her politely after their chemical sniffing equipment responded to the chemical odor from the new case.  (This was not an over-reaction, since even with my bad sinuses I could smell it, as well.)
2.  From another vendor, she ordered a cotton flannel-print comforter cover (bedding).  Out of the box, it didn't smell too bad, but with it pulled up to our noses it was obvious.  We aired it out, washed it several times, etc., but the smell still lingers (presumably from the print inks).  A previous similar flannel cover (same vendor) from Portugal had no odor whatsoever.
I don't know if the excess smell is directly the fault of the manufacturing process or the long trans-Pacific shipment in a container.

[ogden]

People who buy cheapest s**t they cand find, then complain that s**t stinks - amazes me all the time.

[TimFox]

Neither were cheap.  Chinese manufacturers supply an incredible fraction of goods for sale at retail in the US.

[ogden]

Neither were cheap.

Right. Many cusomers buy overpriced s**t, then realize that s**t stinks, then buy another s**t to realize that it stinks as well. Western people most likely don't get me, but easrtern europeans who can't find quality products in the shop because market is dominated by customers looking for absolute cheap, most likely will see what I mean.