How to almost kill yourself with brake cleaner

Okay, this scared me. It would be so easy to do. Ever clean a part with brake cleaner before welding? Even if I read the label, I wouldn't know just how toxic phosgene gas is.

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

Be careful out there.

In reply to Keith:

Holy . . .

Thanks for the article. I use brake cleaner to clean oil and gasoline off funnels and jerry cans but do not use it in conjunction with high heat such as welding. I assume that this would not present a problem.

phosgene

thats some WWI crap

Holy hell. Good thing I always used Acetone to clean up for my welds.. and made sure she was dry before I started welding.

Yikes! I'm posting that one to my blog right now and passing that one on. Not a danger you'd expect...

Whoa!

I have a funny one for you: never clean the oil residue off the back of the engine with it running if said engine has arcing spark plug wires right above where you are spraying. This is one of the reasons I always know where the fire extinguishers are throughout the shop.

My roommate is an entomologist that works for a pest control company. Phosgene and phosphene are two of the nastier chemicals they use for exterminating various crawling critters.

I use that stuff by the case, damn, thanks for the heads up Keith

...thanks for posting that, Keith. That's definitely something I could have seen myself doing... thanks to the guy who wrote the article too..

Wow. Never knew that could happen. Even though I don't TIG, I've precleaned plenty of parts with brake cleaner in preparation for welding.

Tim - would it be good to add a section devoted to safety somewhere on the GRM site, to include this & other tips?

And think about what you're doing when you're spraying brake cleaner while huffing a lit cigarette.

G

petegossett wrote: Tim - would it be good to add a section devoted to safety somewhere on the GRM site, to include this & other tips?

How about the Tech Tips section? GRM Tech Tips

Why did he wait so long to go the hospital?

Wow. I thought this would be a post about a little brake clean/electrical arc fire, and I thought, 'pfft, who hasn't done that?'

That's some serious E36 M3 right there. One puff of white smoke: instant kidney failure, bronchitis, and emphysema. If you're lucky.

thedude wrote: Why did he wait so long to go the hospital?

Look at that guy. Does Mr. Clean's hardass longshoreman brother go the hospital for some namby-pamby reasons like 'my chest hurts,' or, 'I stopped peeing?' Hell no. That just means he needs to drink an extra fifth of Turkey and punch another starving mountain lioness in front of her cubs before he settles in for a cozy night's sleep on a bed of aborted hyena fetuses.

Hospitals are for fairies and sailors.

wlkelley3 wrote:

petegossett wrote: Tim - would it be good to add a section devoted to safety somewhere on the GRM site, to include this & other tips?

How about the Tech Tips section? GRM Tech Tips

It would be a start, but I usually only check the Tips when I'm looking for a repair procedure (or help getting the garage a lil' more organized).

Considering how many of us try to do things "on the cheap", maybe a "safety" forum might work. I'm with petegossett on this one. It probably won't get the traffic the other forums do, but folks woudn't have to hunt for this kind of info through a hundred posts about tools & storage.

Tim, do y'all have the kind of server space to start another forum?

That's crazy! Thanks again for posting that.

How about just a locked sticky with safety posts in this forum, so no chatter but when something like this comes up in a new thread the original post can be added to the sticky once it's deemed a good warning or tip.

Yup could see myself doing this one. Just like I ignored that rule of you really shouldn't weld galvanized when I was younger.....nope won't do that one again....even with a big shop fan blowing the smoke away from me, it turned out really crappy and I made myself sick as hell.

Thanks for the warning, and even more so to the author of that article.

friedgreencorrado wrote: Tim, do y'all have the kind of server space to start another forum?

??? And to think, once upon a time you could even say "retard" around here!!!

I use carb clean to prep metal all the time, only brake clean if I'm out of carb clean. Good to know, I'll avoid that in the future!!!

Bryce

alex wrote: Wow. I thought this would be a post about a little brake clean/electrical arc fire, and I thought, 'pfft, who hasn't done that?'

Me too. I almost burnt my basement down like that once. Good thing I have a garden hose down there.

Might I suggest some non-chlorinated Brake cleaner?

For less dying and stuff.

I dunno about another forum, (and Tech Tips are a good suggestion) but this is JUST the sort of topic the "Vote this topic up" button was intended for.

This happened to me 3 weeks ago.

Coles notes:

Welding the inside of the GRM car

couldn't get good penetration

cleaned with brake clean and began welding

Vomited violetly into helmet and for about 10 min after

You try to breathe and can't get air. Every attempt at breathing in results in vomiting.

won't be doin that again.

I dont know what it is about the non-chlorinated brakleen but one tiny sniff of it and I get a nasty chemical taste in the back of my mouth all day long. I hate that stuff but it is the only option at work.

I have done exactly what the article writer talks about. Prepped steel with brakleen and welded. It smelled terrible and after 5 minutes or so I thought that it might be the cleaner so I dunked everything in the water based parts washer, wiped em down and the smell went away when I resumed welding.

Never got sick though.

Damn. Scary stuff.