General > General Technical Chat
Health issues due to soldering fumes.
<< < (5/9) > >>
james_s:

--- Quote from: VK3DRB on April 05, 2020, 02:29:55 am ---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!

--- End quote ---

PCB oil is not especially toxic, and it won't give you cancer to just touch the stuff, I knew some old utility guys who used to wade in vaults of the stuff. It's actually very inert and that is part of the problem with it. When it leaks out onto the ground as utility transformers occasionally do, or ends up in a landfill and eventually leaks, it doesn't break down. It sticks around for a very long time and eventually ends up in the groundwater. It gets into your body where it also doesn't break down and eventually can cause problems, that's the issue with it.
jogri:

--- Quote from: james_s on April 05, 2020, 05:21:39 pm ---PCB oil is not especially toxic, and it won't give you cancer to just touch the stuff, I knew some old utility guys who used to wade in vaults of the stuff.

--- End quote ---

It all depends on which congener you touch... There are a bunch that can interact with the same receptors as dioxins, and those are toxic af and there are other congeners that can't do that and are rather harmless. But since PCB oil is a mixture of multiple different congeners (you can't separate them easily and why should you if all have the same physical properties) you don't know the portion of toxic molecules. You could be lucky and have a manufacturer whose reactors just happen to only create the non-toxic variant, but this could change with their next batch...

And messing around with substances that can interact with your hormon system (dioxins) is a really, really bad idea.
james_s:
Interesting, well either way there are good reasons we got rid of the stuff. I just think many people tend to be overly paranoid about things. Asbestos is another example, it could be harmful in some situations and to some people however it was mostly occupational exposure that caused cancer. Miners and shipyard workers and such who were exposed to large amounts of asbestos, many of them also smokers. I recall reading that the health effects were far greater in people who both smoked and were exposed to asbestos than in those who only had one or the other. A lot of the regulations around asbestos and the removal of it were pushed by the asbestos removal industry itself which tends to make me a little suspicious. More recently a friend was telling me they're running out of asbestos to remove so the latest thing to worry about is formaldehyde in fiberglass insulation. Nothing compares to radiation when it comes to causing irrational fear though, they stopped making the good thorium oxide based lamp mantles because they are slightly radioactive even though the dose from normal use is extremely small. People worry about granite counters due to them being very, very slightly radioactive, or the tiny dose form a dental xray not even realizing that natural radiation is everywhere.
jogri:
As long as you don't break an asbestos sheet it is perfectly safe to handle... I just don't get the "we have to get rid of it NOW" movement, it isn't going to harm you if you don't screw around with it.

@james: Thorium oxide is currently having a comeback as a "negative ion source" in some chinese "healing" products... Funny given the fact that it actually emits He2+ ions^^^
Electro Detective:

--- Quote from: jogri on April 05, 2020, 10:22:50 am ---
--- Quote from: Electro Detective on April 05, 2020, 05:23:32 am ---Next time try soldering with protective eyeware , thin gloves

and wear one of those cheap face masks that are USELESS for the Corona virass, yet good enough for direct solder fumes in your face

--- End quote ---

Please don't do that, soldering while wearing rubber gloves is a good way to get yourself into the emergency room...
A burn might hurt for a while, but having molten plastic inside a wound is a totally different story.
Btw, at a guess i'd say that the normal face mask won't do anything against the fumes: We are dealing with gases, those particles are way too small to get blocked by the mask. You would need a mask that has a layer of activated carbon, and those masks are long gone.


--- End quote ---

Good points  :-+

I have revised that comment to allow for any lack of common sense

"Next time try soldering with protective eyeware , thin LEATHER or fire resist gloves"
FYI >  test  ~burn~ the gloves BEFORE putting them on

and those cheap face masks will protect one from surprise direct fumes, giving the frugal operator time to back off or turn away = better than no mask and copping a face full of crap fumes

Anyway it's worked for ages for me, especially when too lazy to set up a cheap fan and aim it..     :-[    :palm:

YMMV/EMMV applies

Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...

Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod