CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.
Warning to those cleaning with brake clean before welding
- Thread starter howdiy
- Start date
DEMON44
Low-Tech Redneck
have to use non-chlorinated brakecleen around welding for sure and still be carefull!
the arc will make nasties from Chlorinated brakeckleeners. stuff can kill you no doubt. even if the arc is near the vapor in the air.
the arc will make nasties from Chlorinated brakeckleeners. stuff can kill you no doubt. even if the arc is near the vapor in the air.
thats a new one on me.i have never heard of that before,guess i have gotten real lucky.
K5dreamer
1/2 ton status
wow... that ranks up with accidentally making nerve gas while developing photographs in the lab.
thanks for the heads up.
thanks for the heads up.
4xcrazy
3/4 ton status
and don't make the mistake, just because brake cleaner smells about like carb cleaner, to USE brake cleaner AS a carb cleaner while the engine is running.
it does something similar out the exhaust pipe, not sure what gas it's producing, but it pretty much seems to suck the oxygen out of the air and you WON'T be able to breath all that well unless you leave the area for a few minutes.
learned this the hard way earlier in life.
it does something similar out the exhaust pipe, not sure what gas it's producing, but it pretty much seems to suck the oxygen out of the air and you WON'T be able to breath all that well unless you leave the area for a few minutes.
learned this the hard way earlier in life.
phosgene is bad stuff
it was used as a weapon in WWI
If I remember correctly, freon produces phosgene when it breaks down.....
it was used as a weapon in WWI
If I remember correctly, freon produces phosgene when it breaks down.....
Stomis
Professional Amateur
Yep the generic brands have begun removing the nasty stuff from the brake clean but brands like gumout and brake kleen still have it. You can tell if it has chlorine in it by spraying your hand. If you get that cool feeling that means you skin is absorbing the chemicals into you blood stream. Or just read the can.
K5dreamer
1/2 ton status
rwright07
1/2 ton status
no, that cool feeling is it evaporating off your skin-- just like your sweat does but much faster and thus more noticeable.
smalltruckbigcid
1/2 ton status
If you burn freon it produces Mustard gas (same thing?) that makes breathing really hard. We got lucky this spring at work when we had an AC line pop dumping liquid freon across a hot exhaust manifold. If the bay doors hadn't been open it would have been really ugly.
K10 KRAWLER
1/2 ton status
I just welded up my diff today. First I used the parts cleaner then I used 3M brake cleaner to clean all the gear oil out before I welded it up. THEN I come home and read this.
I got myself pretty sick by welding on galvanized metal once during highschool. I was trying to tighten my box down, but the square openings in the sheet metal were rounded and I couldn't get the bolts to stay put while I tightened the nuts underneith.
I grabbed the mig and started tack welding the bolt heads to the box floor, never had any idea that the white smoke that the galvanized bolts let out was so dangerous. I got a nasty dose of zinc, and was taken down by zinc poisioning. I had an incredibly bad headache for several days, high fever, and uncontrollable shakes throughout my body. Doc told me to drink lots of milk, and that was the only thing that I could do.
I am also now very sensitive to aerosols after painting an engine in a poorly ventilated environment during the winter.
Be careful guys, I know I am far more cautious with the chemicals I use now than i was before.
I grabbed the mig and started tack welding the bolt heads to the box floor, never had any idea that the white smoke that the galvanized bolts let out was so dangerous. I got a nasty dose of zinc, and was taken down by zinc poisioning. I had an incredibly bad headache for several days, high fever, and uncontrollable shakes throughout my body. Doc told me to drink lots of milk, and that was the only thing that I could do.
I am also now very sensitive to aerosols after painting an engine in a poorly ventilated environment during the winter.
Be careful guys, I know I am far more cautious with the chemicals I use now than i was before.
wow. when i welded the rear of my old 87 2wd i sprayed it down with brakeclean then went to help my buddy i came back and i thought it was good to go so i went to go weld it with my MIG and i got a big fire ball and the center section was on fire. now that i think about it im prety sure it was non-clorinated. but now i know better and will check out the chemicals i use a little better. thanks for the info.
TruckNutzDude
1/2 ton status
I've done this many times, luckily I'm still here as well.
I'm very glad this was posted.
When I welded up my steering box brace I used some zinc rich weld-thru primer. I got a major headache, the shakes, and it was difficult to use my hands for a while. Maybe I should have let the paint dry first. 
On our way home from Iraq we got to stay in these Air Conditioned tents and we were very excited about it since we were used to living in outposts or living in different locals home every week.
One of the AC's started burning up on the inside..Not on fire but just hott enough to start melting stuff inside. Since nothing was onfire we didnt really pay attention to the strange burning smell. Some civilian came to fix it 2 days later and turns out it was burning through the wire insulations and burning off freon, which makes mustard gas. The whole 2 days we were all laying there with massive headaches and didnt want to do anything...so we just layed there wondering why we all had insane headaches.
One of the AC's started burning up on the inside..Not on fire but just hott enough to start melting stuff inside. Since nothing was onfire we didnt really pay attention to the strange burning smell. Some civilian came to fix it 2 days later and turns out it was burning through the wire insulations and burning off freon, which makes mustard gas. The whole 2 days we were all laying there with massive headaches and didnt want to do anything...so we just layed there wondering why we all had insane headaches.
