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| Health issues due to soldering fumes. |
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| SiliconWizard:
May sound obvious, but just use a decent fume extractor. Won't cut off your exposure to some fumes completely, but enough that it won't matter. As to leaded solder wire... I think the most critical issue with them is not the fumes, it's just touching it - after years of that, not that great. And don't touch your mouth while you're soldering. Of course it's relatively easy to mitigate the risk. Just don't touch your face at all when you're soldering, possibly wear latex gloves if you're really concerned... or at least wash your hands well when you're done. One habit that I've seen (especially in older guys) is that some people would sometimes hold soldering wires with their mouth. Yep. Just don't do that. |
| not1xor1:
you (paul8f) might use an air purifier they usually have various kind of filters (usually at least coarse + carbon + HEPA) I got a Philips model and am quite satisfied there are lots of manufacturers and models and you should be able to find lot of reviews and tests on the net |
| janoc:
--- Quote from: paul8f on April 01, 2020, 01:04:18 pm ---Hi all, as a teenager I spent hours and hours in my bedroom putting veroboard projects together and tinkering around with devices as many of us did when we were younger. The trouble is that I was the eldest sibling, and neither of my parents had a clue as to what electronics involved, never-mind the health&safety aspects of my hobby (...which later went on to become my career). With no mentor or guidance, I proceeded to do a lot of 60/40 soldering in a small room with no filter fan or air extraction unit. I at least had the common sense to crack the top window opening, and blow the fumes away while soldering, but I don't think these practices were enough. Now approaching 40, I can't do 30 seconds worth of soldering without getting a headache, and instantly becoming totally run down with tiredness. The combination of these two symptoms I suppose you could compare to 'brain-fog.' I am currently working in the opto-electronics industry where I can avoid soldering, but I am very eager to get back to my first love of electronic debug and repair. The stress of not doing a job that I like is slowly killing me, and I urgently need to change something. So my question is regarding how I should proceed with getting on top of these health issues... Has anyone ever been tested for chronic heavy-metal poisoning, what's involved, and if it's treatable what are the options available? (Not sure what I'm going to do with the current restrictions regarding the coronavirus COVID-19 crisis, but now is the time for me to gather all the advice that I can.) Please, please share your experiences or stories. I'd appreciate any weblinks too that may help. Thanks, Paul. --- End quote --- If you had heavy metal (lead) poisoning, you would have those symptoms all the time, not only while soldering. Lead and similar accumulate in your body and poison you over time, not only when you encounter fumes. Another thing is that getting lead poisoning from soldering is pretty much unheard of, even factory workers that solder the entire shift, every day or operate the wave soldering machines were not found to have elevated lead levels in their bodies. Your issues sound more like an eye strain, as some others have pointed out already (I am starting to have those issues too unless I use magnification - we aren't getting any younger!) and maybe your body isn't liking the flux fumes. Either because you got sensitive to them (or even allergic!) over time or because you are using a particularly nasty flux/solder wire (not all fluxes are made equal - the classic rosin flux is an irritant but some synthetic fluxes are way worse). |
| VK3DRB:
The old corrosive fluxes were definitely bad for your lungs, and I used to wheeze a bit when doing a lot of soldering, but I was fine. These days, fluxes are pretty safe. As for lead solder, I love the stuff. Been soldering for 45 years with 60/40 lead/tin. NO PROBLEMS! The old TVs had a heat sink thermal compound containing beryllium oxide. Yep, used that stuff a bit in the early days. NO PROBLEMS! Now the IBM old unit record machines (models 082, 083, 548, 557, 519, 514) which I used to work on when I first started at IBM contained capacitors containing polychlorobiphenyls. Highly carcinogenic and incredibly toxic. NO PROBLEMS! Not the mention the myriad of toxic chemicals I used at IBM (tape cleaner), and that one of the IBM customers (Siemens in Richmond, Melbourne) has asbestos dust chunks falling from the ceiling and filling the fans and vents of the mainframe I occasionally had to vacuum out. NO PROBLEMS! Oh yes, the IBM plant in Wangaratta. Carcinogenic bromides given off when a PCB caught fire. NO PROBLEMS! At home I sprayed with Dieldrin, DDT, Roundup etc. I once sprayed my Holden 186 red motor in a tiny shed with lead-based red paint without a mask, coating my lungs with lead paint. Bloody idiot thought I was invincible. NO PROBLEMS! ...SO FAR! |
| james_s:
If it was years ago there are likely not any effects now that you'd be able to link to the soldering with any certainty. Even long-time cigarette smokers' lungs largely recover eventually after they quit. I've long had a habit of blowing gently as I solder to deflect the smoke away from my face and prevent inhaling it. More recently I got a little benchtop extractor with a hose and a carbon filter in the base, it makes it a lot less hassle and the lady doesn't complain anymore if I solder something on the coffee table while watching TV. I should have bought or built something like it years ago. |
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