Anyone have issue breathing the fumes of soldering?

[bsco]

Wow, I am from the late 70s. But I never have problem until the coughing now. The doctor think it's allergy, but I insisted in having a X-ray. I am crossing my finger everything is ok.

Go get the x-rays.....Don't fool around with this stuff...with any luck it is nothing real serious.....after I solder, I get a tooth brush, dip it in alcohol and scrub it clean...if the flux is stubburn, I use a small jewelers flat blade screwdriver to gently scrape it away and then clean it again......and I use a clean rag to dry it up....works for me.....every time....
Cheers......

[Leo_Gnardo]

I have to look around for ethanol rubbing alcohol, I know I had seen it before.

Might have to ask the pharmacist. Ethyl is often used by docs as a skin wipe before giving an injection. These days, a foil packet with wet towelette. Good ol' days, cotton ball and bottle of ethyl. I noticed the docs didn't use isopropyl. You can smell the difference.

The brands I mentioned, you will find at the booze shop not the pharmacy.

Bernie, (and others) for flux cleaning, also pre solder surface prep and other uses, I make a small wire brush. Length of brass tube, cut up pieces of 009 gauge guitar string but 008 or 010 will do. When I get done, looks like a little broom and lasts a couple months before wearing out. Sort of like that lousy little brush they give you in a "soldering aids kit" but you can make a better one. The one in the kit falls apart the first time you use it. When you make your own, you can select bristle length and diameter to suit your needs. If you're interested, I'll type up the fine points of how to do it.

[Justin Thomas]

Leo, bsco, et al,

For anyone wondering, that lotion Leo was talking about is Amlactin. There should also be a generic available now. Comes in two forms - one water based and a little easier to spread, the other a little thicker. Works by sucking the water in the air into your skin. It does work,but the thicker one I think is petrolatum based; most people use it and wear cotton dermal gloves over it to keep from staining sheets.
We used the stuff in the pharmacy all the time - lots of dust to dry out the hands.

A caution - do not put it on and then go for a walk in the rain! "My hands felt just like two balloons..."

Justin

Edit: should not REQUIRE a script, but not something to casually mess around with, given my swollen hands experience...

[Leo_Gnardo]

For anyone wondering, that lotion Leo was talking about is Amlactin.
Justin

That rings the bell Justin, thanks! Ammonium lactate - hence Amlactin. Worked a treat for ol' George. (In TV announcer voice) Ask your doctor or pharmacist.

Double thanks for the warning: "my hands felt just like two balloons" looked like too I'll bet.

[bsco]

Might have to ask the pharmacist. Ethyl is often used by docs as a skin wipe before giving an injection. These days, a foil packet with wet towelette. Good ol' days, cotton ball and bottle of ethyl. I noticed the docs didn't use isopropyl. You can smell the difference.

The brands I mentioned, you will find at the booze shop not the pharmacy.

Bernie, (and others) for flux cleaning, also pre solder surface prep and other uses, I make a small wire brush. Length of brass tube, cut up pieces of 009 gauge guitar string but 008 or 010 will do. When I get done, looks like a little broom and lasts a couple months before wearing out. Sort of like that lousy little brush they give you in a "soldering aids kit" but you can make a better one. The one in the kit falls apart the first time you use it. When you make your own, you can select bristle length and diameter to suit your needs. If you're interested, I'll type up the fine points of how to do it.

Thanks Leo...I bought a small brush with brass bristles which I do use sometimes but your idea sounds great...I'd like to see a pic of one of yours....
Cheers,
Bernie

[Silvertone Jockey]

Ever use any really old solder? It smells different. Does it change with age or the formula different now?

Personally I think the older the better, and not just with solder. But that's just me. I tend to know some things about myself. One of them is, my soldering experiences (which are a great many) won't be the cause of my demise. YMMV

[Leo_Gnardo]

Thanks Leo...I bought a small brush with brass bristles which I do use sometimes but your idea sounds great...I'd like to see a pic of one of yours....
Cheers,
Bernie

And thanx SJ for bringing this thread back to my attention. Here ya go bsco, and anyone elso who would like a look: LG's home made wire brushes. Thin brass tubing with "handles" made of heat shrink tubing scraps. They're about 4 inches long.

[Silvertone Jockey]

A lot of people don't know that when it comes to solvents and chemicals, solvent based paints and many epoxies (I currently install carbon fiber with epoxies for my day job) some or even most people have an exposure limit, which varies from person to person, that once exceed causes you to become 'sensitized' to whatever substance you have been exposed to frequently.

I've seen a lot of guys use acetone to wash the epoxy resin off their skin, and all of them later became allergic to the resin and they would develop a nasty itchy rash, and in some cases even the fumes which usually are not hazardous (depending on the formula) would cause them to have to seek other employment. I remember working at a plant that coated rolls of steel as an electrician back in the day and watching the line operators washing the urethane rollers with MEK and no gloves whatsoever. Even back then I knew that that had to be bad news for your health

All joking aside don't take PPE for granted

[Chuck H]

After this last post I thought I'd relate my own experience...

As a painting contractor I'm in constant contact with some nasties. My partner, at age 55, has developed a hyper sensitivity to some solvents. I, myself, always use a respirator with the appropriate cartridges whenever atomizing anything with a solvent base other than water. Sometimes I have to clean tools though. Any tool I can't wash without undo solvent exposure is considered disposable in my shop. I do get some solvent on my hands, but it's occasional splashes or a quick handling of a damp rag. Absolutely no brazen, bare handed dunking and washing in paint thinners. I worry enough about the time I spend in areas where open buckets are in close proximity. There are days when I get "fumed" as we painters say. Loopy from the drunken effect of the solvents. It's a typical hazard of the industry and I take it less lightly than most of my peers. I always take the best available course for ventilation. Now...

I use to sell paint as a store counter clerk. Most of the painters were VERY cavalier about such things. There were even occasional references to getting high from the work and liking it!?! One guy I knew would spray lacquer without a respirator or even a mask!!! One day he was in my store and said "Whoa, dude, look." and he squeezed his arm and the pores bled white. The color of the lacquer he had been spraying!!!

IMHO occupational overexposure to chemicals is common. But it's our own personal responsibility to minimize that exposure. Peer pressure and machismo be damned. I've known a few people who've been sorry for their carelessness. Don't go writing checks you don't want cashed.

[Alan0354]

Speaking of painting. One time I was staining an unfinished kitchen table set, I did not know any better, I just use bare hands in handling the paint and stain. For almost 5 years, my finger tips were all a little wrinkled, feel kind of funny. I even went and showed to the doctor, he did not know what to do, just assured me it's nothing to worry about. Took a long time for that to disappear. Chemicals are scary. I am not a contractor nor carpenter, it's a one time things, still the chemical damaged my skin. I don't know how people in the business can avoid these chemicals!!!

Funny how people can develop allergy on certain things after years of using. I have been soldering for my whole career, it's not until now that I am allergic to solder smoke. It's very inconvenient to have to turn on the smoke filter, put on the heavy duty mask every time I need to do just one solder. Even if I do all that, I still cough some, just not as bad. It's very obvious, if I am away from soldering for a few days, the cough stops, when I start doing some, the cough comes back.

[Silvertone Jockey]

OK here is a horror story for you in the interest of entertainment of the clueless kind. When I was 20 or so I set out to rebuild my first carburetor. Like with everything I did when I was a kid I read everything I could get my hands on about the subject of my projects and still do. So I I got the kit and a gallon of McKay's parts dip This was back in the late 70's, and back then this product wasn't the wussie stuff you see today. It smelled terrible and would literally destroy a carburetor casting if you left it in overnight. I found that out in the usual way, by experiencing it personally

Anyway I read the label it and said use gloves and my thought was...'hell every label says that'.....so I got myself a rag and a pan and I proceeded to get busy washing my carburetor. After about 4-5 minutes, I'm thinking.....'Hmmm my fingers are stinging and I look at my hands and they were now the swollen gray skinned hands of the elephant man.

They looked dead almost. It was horrifying, I immediately got to the hose but the damage was done. The outer skin fell off about a couple days later leaving me with some very tender fingers but I lived, and well you never forget lessons learned that way. I had a dinner date scheduled for that night at a nice restaurant, I ain't missing that. Not going to happen. I don't think anyone within 20 feet of my table smelled anything but parts dip, I know we sure didn't.....yikes

[Chuck H]

Speaking of painting. One time I was staining an unfinished kitchen table set, I did not know any better, I just use bare hands in handling the paint and stain. For almost 5 years, my finger tips were all a little wrinkled, feel kind of funny. I even went and showed to the doctor, he did not know what to do, just assured me it's nothing to worry about. Took a long time for that to disappear. Chemicals are scary. I am not a contractor nor carpenter, it's a one time things, still the chemical damaged my skin. I don't know how people in the business can avoid these chemicals!!!

Funny how people can develop allergy on certain things after years of using. I have been soldering for my whole career, it's not until now that I am allergic to solder smoke. It's very inconvenient to have to turn on the smoke filter, put on the heavy duty mask every time I need to do just one solder. Even if I do all that, I still cough some, just not as bad. It's very obvious, if I am away from soldering for a few days, the cough stops, when I start doing some, the cough comes back.

re: The chemicals affecting your fingers. I've known a couple of people who worked for a brief time with some particular solvent and ended up with similar issues. Another thing that can happen is an almost instant damage to the nail beds that causes the fingernails to grow funny. Whether this is due to the chemicals allowing an undesirable fungus or actual physical damage is sometimes unclear. Glad your situation resolved itself. It doesn't for everyone.

re: Overexposure causing allergies. Yupper! I never had any spore, fungus or mold allergies before moving to the PNW. Now I do. It's mild, but it's real and seasonally inconvenient. Local wisdom bares this out too. As they say here on Whidbey, "You aren't likely to be eaten by a bear or killed by a maniac, but you might die of a runny nose." Some folks here have developed debilitating allergies to the large amount of biomass that's common to the air in the PNW. Moist and mild! We love it, and so, apparently, do other life forms we have to share the planet with. I take it in stride because I've also taken up mushroom hunting since I've moved here (YUMMM!!!)

[Alan0354]

Ha, I forgot about the nails, yes, it did grow funny, it's like having deeper groove than normal. Normal nails have groove in the direction of growth, it's just deeper. It did not hurt or feel anything different, just deeper. It took even longer to go away, just never border me and I ignore it. It's the cream color wood stain for me. Just that one time and did it.

[waspclothes]

Hi guys, good topic.. I do a lot of soldering, and I also have asthma so this has been an issue for me in the past.

A few years ago I picked up a second-hand Weller solder fume extractor. This is the type that attaches directly to the iron and sucks fumes right off from the tip and through an activated carbon and hepa filter. Best money I've spent in a long time, honestly. If you are aggravated by the fumes at all, I suggest getting something that can deal with them asap. I suppose you could wear a mask, but that gets fatiguing to wear after a while - and you'd need organic filters with particulate pre-filters and that's quite heavy.

I though the attachment to the soldering iron would get in the way of point-to-point amp repairs, but it hasn't even once.

I change the pre-filter on the solder fume extractor almost every month. Completely filled with white sticky powder, and the extraction tube itself is usually gunked up with rosin. Not the kind of crap your lungs want. This is from using Kester 44, but last week I started to give Kester 245 a try - this is their "Water Soluble Organic Core". The MSDS sheet looks decent (no nasty stuff in it), the fumes and splatter are less, clean-up is easier and the pre-filter isn't nearly as gunked up as with 44 - so probably would be easier on your lungs if you do breathe it in.

[Alan0354]

A few years ago I picked up a second-hand Weller solder fume extractor. This is the type that attaches directly to the iron and sucks fumes right off from the tip and through an activated carbon and hepa filter.

How much is that, can you show me the model?