Be very careful what you weld with

[heymrdj]

Saw this over on my Ford Truck Enthusiasts forums, didn't look like a repost so I thought I'd put the link up. Something very careless can be very fatal very quickly.

http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm

 

[jlee]

Yikes.

 

[PottedMeat]

Yeah phosgene is nasty shit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosgene

I guess it's the heat + UV + TCE => some phosgene though, not the Argon.

 

[Supersonic64]

That sucks.

 

[RedRooster]

Holy smokes, poor dude!

 

[CRXican]

good thing I don't weld

yikes

 

[Kaervak]

Good lord, reading that was terrifying. It's amazing how much damage a tiny amount of certain chemicals can do.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

That's nuts.

 

[Ronstang]

If I remember correctly phosgene gas was used in WWI and is some extremely bad stuff and was one of the reasons most of Europe carried gas masks during WWII.

 

[maziwanka]

jesus. good read as a warning, but scary as shit.

 

[Pacfanweb]

I've seen that. Dude must have had something else going on.

I've seen dumbasses spray Brakleen through carburetors, and I've gotten whiffs of it before....damn sure burnt my nose, but I never had problems like that.

I'll certainly never spray any near fire or something I'm going to weld myself, though.

 

[Pacfanweb]

If I remember correctly phosgene gas was used in WWI and is some extremely bad stuff and was one of the reasons most of Europe carried gas masks during WWII.

Yep, it's Mustard Gas.

 

[Squisher]

Never did much welding, but the work I did would often mean that I'd be working shoulder to shoulder with a welder. When I called them I always prepped the area so that there wasn't anything combustible like oil or grease and got all paint cleaned off with a grinding wheel. I never saw a welder ever use a solvent of any kind to clean even for people who weren't as meticulous as me.

Welders as a group can fuck shit up very easily, no need to get them pissed off.

 

[MJinZ]

I knew this as Dichloromethanal from Organic Chemistry. Yes, very harmful, and is used as a chemical weapon.

 

[Viperoni]

Damm, good to know!

 

[Bignate603]

I've seen that. Dude must have had something else going on.

I've seen dumbasses spray Brakleen through carburetors, and I've gotten whiffs of it before....damn sure burnt my nose, but I never had problems like that.

I'll certainly never spray any near fire or something I'm going to weld myself, though.

I looked around and apparently very intense UV light can cause chlorinated chemicals to decompose to phosgene. Pretty much any welding that uses an arc creates ridiculous amounts of UV. The chemical reaction that you got blowing it through a carb would be different.

 

[kornphlake]

A near tragedy for sure, but they guy obviously wasn't too bright. He felt sick, did some research on the internet found he'd likely inhaled some potentially deadly poisons, then didn't bother to go to the hospital for over a week? I understand there probably wasn't anything a doctor could have done and the guy may not have good insurance, but after 9 days he was pretty much just waiting to die, why bother to go to the hospital at that point?

Brew is a name I haven't heard in a while, they used to weld some pretty high end bicycle frames. I'm glad to see they are still in business and their employees are doing okay despite some chronic health problems.

 

[grrl]

Refrigerants break down into some nasty gasses too when hit with a flame. I believe R-12 though is the only one that produces actual phosgene.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Yeah phosgene is nasty shit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosgene

I guess it's the heat + UV + TCE => some phosgene though, not the Argon.

It's thermal decomposition of Tetrachloroethylene -

Tetrachloroethylene began to decompose near 400°C and vigorous pyrolysis occurred over 600°C. Complete decomposition was observed at 800°C. Hydrogen chloride and phosgene were detected as decomposition products, presumably because chemical reaction occurs between tetrachloroethylene and water contained in tetrachloroethylene.

Chemosphere
Volume 26, Issue 8, April 1993, Pages 1507-1512

 

[MotF Bane]

I knew this as Dichloromethanal from Organic Chemistry. Yes, very harmful, and is used as a chemical weapon.

Not at all the same stuff.

 

[alkemyst]

Not at all the same stuff.

QFT...chemistry fail.

Even without welding or heat sources there are tons of standard household staples that when mixed produce very toxic results.

 

[slag]

I've seen that. Dude must have had something else going on.

I've seen dumbasses spray Brakleen through carburetors, and I've gotten whiffs of it before....damn sure burnt my nose, but I never had problems like that.

I'll certainly never spray any near fire or something I'm going to weld myself, though.

Unless you are welding on a carburetor, there's nothing wrong with using brake cleaner to clean carbs as long as you dont hit any plastic parts. It works better than carb cleaner and I've never had any problems that I know of by using it. Its never a good idea to get whiffs of any type of chemical like that, gasolene, carb cleaner, brake cleaner, anything.

The point is, you wont get phosphene gas inhaled straight from the brake cleaner can unless the liquid is superheated and then its only a chance.

 

[BW86]

thats some crazy shit

 

[alphatarget1]

So is it harmful to use brake cleaner to spray on a brake disc/drum?

 

[skyking]

So is it harmful to use brake cleaner to spray on a brake disc/drum?

uh, no. It took a special set of circumstances, a veritable "perfect storm" for him to get poisoned that way.