Read this!!!!!!!!!!!!! Safety warning

Thanks! I like to see easy to understand examples used to explain things.

 

Wow! I do the exact same thing when i weld aluminum! Damn! We pay tons of money to the government to advise us about this stuff, what do we get...meaningless dribble. We don't have time/resouces/access to get the information that we need because of 'special interest' lobbiests. Because of them the skull and crossbones have disappeared off dangerous products and kinder/friendlier language replaces clear cut warnings. Bullshit like..'may cause' and 'has been known to cause...in laboratory rats'.
We need 'real guy' language, one sentence, no bullshit and to the point.

 

Man that is not cool. Steve Garn is a good guy, hate to see him go through all of that.

 

So would non-chlorinated brake cleaner have caused this same problem?

The implication is that carb cleaner is OK; is that true?

 

Wow I hate to even think about how many time I could of made this mistake.

 

hoooooly shit....thank you very much for that post.....thats a big slap in the face

 

Thanks for this post, I'll copy and post up at work. Serious stuff, Wow!

 

And to think I've used that type of brakeclean to put out rubber/metal bearing fires while removing stuck big truck carrier bearings! Holy crap!
It casts off a very distinct smell. I have associated that smell with some welding antispatter spray I have used many times. It has made me damn near cough to puking while welding big truck shafts.

 

Another bump so more can read this. We train and talk about phosgene all the time in the fire service being that car fires are a common call for us (burning freon produces phosgene as well)

Wicked bad stuff!!

Be safe folks!!

 

I'm really glad to know there are HAMB members in safety and fire prevention, and some of the posts have been about close calls with this stuff. If you see this thread falling to page 3-4 please give it a bump so new readers see it.

 

Thanks for the headsup, as a lifetime welder, and an osha wiseass, it's always good to hear about this stuff.

 

Thanks for posting sir. You may have saved another life.

 

someone clarify the non clorinated brake cleaner, I believe it's different. Another good point, when the conversion from R12 to 134A was going on,there were a lot of bad replacement products sold as replacements that contained propane, they are in thousands of cars like a bomb waiting to go off, I've seen pictures where the evaporator has exploded in the car. figure a system a little low on R12,a can of this stuff mixed in,and you have a chemical weapons bomb in the car ready to go off.

 

Just yesterday, I was telling my 7 yr old daughter that 'this stuff' is no good for you. I think I am getting rid of the other cans of it from the garage.
Thanks Bob, I too have used this to clean parts before welding. Could have been terrible if the kids were in the garage with me...

 

Wow man, thats some scary shit! Thanks for the info.

 

just looked at a can of Nappa brakeclene, the warning is right on the back in fine print!! where you can hardly see it. they have labels on every cigarette pack in the country in big letters, and the stuff that can kill you is in tiny print. idea, find some skull and crossbones decals, and stick one to every can you have of stuff that will kill you. If you have kids,teach them to stay away from those, that they can hurt them, we had Mr. Yuck, whatever happened to him?

 

here's a link where you can still get the Mr yuck stickers,if you have kids label every can you have and warn them to stay away from him,kids are smart,i learned the same way. he's kind of fallen out of favor, but it was very very effective. http://www.upmc.com/Services/poisoncenter/Pages/educational-materials.aspx

 

I used to work on big trucks, too...dumps, and bulk tankers.
I remember the same smell...its unforgettable, and you just KNOW its bad...REAL bad...an internal alarm goes off!
My boss at the time didn't know, no one did...I read the can...I found out this, like, 10 years ago! I remember welding aluminum dump bodies, while being up inside them, and repairing frames, trunions, etc...and using Brakeclean to clean it first...then just welding away..
It makes me wonder how badly I'm fucked right now, and just don't know it...
I don't use it anymore, either....I remember thinking, back at the truck shop, "So, I can really, REALLY just go out and buy mustard gas"??? just add fire?
Christ....It explains alot of my nervous system/sinus/respiratory malfunctions...well, my teenage years do, too...

 

bump

 

Phosgene's by no means odorless or tasteless...it has a mustard color when burned and will sting like a hit in the face with a baseball. Yes it was the mustard gas that was used during WW1 to poison the enemy and is formed during combustion of refrigerants (Flurocarbons). I have experienced it myself first hand brazing copper with traces of ref. still in the system...nasty but I had no long term effect, remember its the combustion of the chemical that is the danger...

 

THANK YOU SIR for sharing this! You've certainly convinced me!! Tomorrow morning there will NOT be any brake cleaner in my shop. There is NOTHING I need to clean enough to have this stuff around!

 

aqueous cleaning systems, for all of thier expense and added elbow grease, suddenly sound much more pocket friendly.

1500 bucks for the system versus 15,000 in medical expenses...

not to mention life without an oxygen tent...

Yeah. I will begin shopping those tomorrow.

 

Thanks, and I wish Brew Dude the best. Just yesterday

 

I had no idea, thats crazy shit.

 

My moms bf is a diesel mechanic and accidently sprayed the hot turbo down...almost killed him, spent a long while in the hospital.

 

This is exactly what my welding instructor taught us. I've yet to have any problems when following this rule.

 

I'll be damned. I never knew this. I'll tell everyone I know.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

thats crazy i wont ever fuck around with brakecleaner

 

dang...I tried to use it in a potato cannon once, I'm glad it didn't light off!