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Wow--- thanks for sharing. I had just put all the chemicals I use over my bench and out of reach of the chillens.

Scary stuff there.

Thanks, Wibs.

Seems to me I have used brake cleaner prior to welding. Now I'll know to be cautious.

For about 8 years ( a long time ago ) I worked in an airspace company which a massive Tricoethylene vapour tank, we would spend many happy hours cleaning off bits of bike parts and car parts it the fumes. The forman of that work shop used to smoke 60 fags a day and must have pulled the Tricoethylene vapour in through the fag end all the time, looks like we were all very lucky.
It's good to be given info like that I'm sure I would have used it clean off my motor and then run it it dry it out.
On a brighter note the sun is out I have 1 hour left of work and the green lanes of old England are calling, let me fire up the KDX and let rip.
Jono

It's not the tetrachloroethylene that's so much the problem. That's 'merely' dry cleaning fluid. It's big time trouble when it gets HOT with ARGON.


Phosgene is the problem. Any substance that, when in a gassing state (say, a spill of the liquid form), has deleterious effects REDUCED by ammonia is something to be scared of.

Like...ammonia isn't bad enough? If it HELPS with something else, how nasty can that something else be?

Nasty!

Remember seeing all those fire systems with HALON IDs on 'em? Recall not seeing them around any more?

Know why?

'Breathe deep the gathering gloom.....'



Still, we..and by that I mean me, too...are FAR to casual about chemicals. I use Brakleen all the time. It's a great cleaner/degreaser. I don't use nitrile or latex gloves with it...'cuz both materials are reduced to flibbertygibbets when they come into contact with BraKleen.

So...it's GOT to be OK on bare skin!

..right?



Re: Tricoethylene

That is a GREAT degreaser. Easy on plastics, too. I used to use it as a flux remover..bought it in big-'ol aerosol cans. Sprayed it all over the place. Sat in a cloud of it.

Wait....just checked that. Big Bath is (was) -Dichloro-1-fluoroethane. We always called it 'tric' (trike).

Di...tri...what's a few molecules combined differently amongst friends anyway.

See what I mean? 'We' don't pay no nevermind to chemicals WAY too much of the time.

I've worked in the Hygiene and Safety field for most of my adult life. Almost any chlorinated solvent exposed to Ultraviolet radiation has the potential to decompose into phosgene gas. I have measured phosgene gas in an area approximately 50 feet away from an heavy arc welding operation taking place. The chlorinated solvent was NOT used to clean the welder's material but was being used to clean some parts in a solvent tank. The ventilation was definately towards the cleaning tank (away from the welding). Within 30 seconds of stopping the welding the concentration of phosgene gas dropped from about 5-6 ppm to not detectable.

Chlorinated solvents will degrade in natural sunlight due to UV also but at a much slower rate of generation. Anything like arc/tig/mig welding generates a much higher localized area of UV radiation and therefore the chlorinated hydocarbons will break down much faster and this is when we have problems.

Chlorinated solvents are great solvents and have many uses - but like the article stated - read the warning labels. Non-chlorinated brake cleaning solvents are also readily available in most auto stores.

Holy crap!

I am going to check my stash....

1,1,1 best solvent ever for cleanin stuff. http://www.scottecatalog.com/msds.nsf/M ... enDocument

Holy Crap II !!! I hope that guy heals enough to have a good life.

We had an issue with said brake clean in spray cans. I work in a welding shop and they used to use it quite a bit.It seems that only myself and one other guy had issues with it. I guess everybody else was just to stupid to realize it. It was never used to clean parts for welding but used to degrease parts and such in the solovent tank or even outside. It just amazed me that even over 60-70 ft. away and sprayed the day before, when I strike an arc, I could smell it. The Mgt. knows about the problem and boxed it all up, but it is still in the back room and people still use it oceassionally. I might have to take it on a special trip if it is still there on Monday.

I never have to use brake cleaner on my bike, and i dunno why people will want to spend money on brake cleaner that they use so not very often.(here we are talking about bike only). simply wash parts with WD 40 or some detergents will do mostly or if not all jobs. kerosene is another cheap and good cleaner for carbonized area or tough stain.

Because it is a hell of a cleaner that leaves no residue..... and handy.

how about contact cleaner? maybe it is much safer solvent? i have it before and pretty good results. leaves no residue and handy too.

Contact cleaner is great too, just about 4x as expensive.

Mr. Wibbens wrote:http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm

Link in the op doesn't seem to be working.

Basically not a household cleaner...funny story, I tried to clean some oily gunk off a little battery operated radio with brake cleaner once and it melted the plastic

Ah!
Gotcha.

Thanks.