His first mistake was not going to the hospital immediately after an incident like that. There maybe no antidote for the chemical but there's considerable benefit to treating and preventing the associated symptoms instead of allowing the chemical to go unopposed through the body.
You don't develop emphyzema overnight, a few days or a few weeks. The importance of that statement is that some of his issues could already have been a work in progress from smoking, drinking and most important, chronic inhalation/exposure to fumes and solvents at work. I watch guys inhale brake dust and brake cleaner fumes at work week after week
That habit can set you up for lung cancer and any fat soluble solvent (chemicals that can be absorbed by the skin) can build up in the fat tissue in your body and become toxic over time and the pancreas is one target you don't want hit because pancreatitis is a horribly painful disease that is very difficult to manage. My dad has it and had to quit working. He was barely 50.
He hadn't had a drink or smoke in nearly 30 yrs but had as many or more years exposed to welding, a little painting, and an assortment of auto related solvents. It could have been the beer he drank in his twenties, the solvents and smoke he was exposed to over the years or all of the above.
His lungs are in rough shape to.
Protect yourself from all of that stuff, it's poison.
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Guest replied -
Well damn! Goes to show how dangerous things can be when not paying attention.
That was a real eye opener. And I could have made the same mistake, though I don't own a TIG welder, I may have used gas in my Lincoln MIG welder. And I do know brake cleaner doesn't leave any film behind. I may have used it to wipe off dust from sanding/grinding the area to be welded. I have 2 cans in the garage now.
wow....Leave a comment:
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You should not really use carb cleaner either, most have a small amount of oil in them, you should use rubbing alcohol, that's what i was taught at a Trade school.. And yeah that weird shizLeave a comment:
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Yeah it is. That's why I posted it, so people watch out. I know if I use brake clean in my garage with my salamander going you have a hard time breathing in a matter of a few minutes, so I try to save the brake cleaning stuff till last before I go in for the night. It looks like brake clean is a bit more harmful then I thought. And they use that stuff to make meth...Leave a comment:
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If you weld, you should read this...
One of the guys on www.therangerstation.com had posted this. It's one professional welders experience using brake clean to clean parts before welding because he was out of his normal carb cleaner. It's scary because most people wouldn't even think about it before doing it...
With that said, a couple of the guys said that cleaning the area with a grinder, sand paper, flap wheel or wire brush is about as much as you need to do for prep work before welding and this story is one reason why you don't use solvents.
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