Carb Cleaner and welding is highly dangerous!

Please read

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

 

When I worked, I work at a metal fab/ironworks shop. Always hated to weld galvanized steel, puts off a phosphorus plume that will really do a number on your stomach, intestines and lungs(good thing we had respirators). Not to mention the little popping phosphorus beads that burn through just about any clothing.
One day, one of my co-workers brought in a 55 gallon drum(that he picked up somewhere) and proceeded to cut it with an acetylene torch to make a bar-b-q grill. He didn't clean it out first, it had a small amount of flammable liquid in it. BANG, it blew him 7 feet into the air and a fireball burned the wall.
Luckily he just had some burnt hair, and became unemployed.

 

It's not carb cleaner, it's brake cleaner that was the problem.

 

Either way you know that stuff is nasty when you use it (IE: dont fool around with it like the famous lighter and hair spray flamethrower trick).

This post should be bumped automatically every few months just so people know to look out for this. A safety section for this forum might be a good idea...

Marcel

 

Yes but the title of this thread is misleading. I don't have a lot of experience with welding, but according to the article (which I have seen in other forums) carb cleaner is preferred when cleaning a part for welding, because it's a solvent that will wash off surface containments, flashes off, and if there is any residue (not in a closed container) it's easy to burn off before welding.

Brake cleaner, while it is also a solvent and seems like it can be used in the same way, will produce phosgene gas when heated and mixed with argon in the welding process.

I agree, any solvent that we used to clean up year of neglect is by definition "nasty," and people should be aware of the safety risks. However, the point of the article isn't that carb cleaner and welding is dangerous, it's that substituting carb cleaner and welding is dangerous.

 

Agreed, possibly a title edit to clear things up? As it is suggested in the article the carb cleaner is actually not the issue, but the brake cleaner he substituted instead is.

 

Carb cleaner has a lot of Ether in it which evaporates quickly.
People just need to be aware that whatever they weld, cut or grind needs to be free of combustibles. I E: oil, grease, gas or other flammable liquids.
When I rebuilt starters and alternators, Guy brought in a starter to be checked and failed to mention that it had been internally cleaned with gas. Newby co-worker tried to run it first on the bench tester, starter destroyed and newbies work pants were soiled, but luckily didn't get hurt except his pride.

 

i do believe most of his problem was that he was using a chlorinated brake cleaner, why they make this im not sure, it doesn't evaporate quickly, chlorine takes the oxygen right out of the air so if you inhale this brake clean you'll find it hard to breathe (i know from personal experience), now if you inhale the non-chlorinated stuff you will just get a gnarley buzz for 15 or 20min followed by the worst headache ever (again i know this from personal experience) the chlorinated stuff usually comes in a red can. i buy boxes of brake clean for my shop, i use it like crazy, its great stuff but that chlorinated stuff is junk. as for the seizure thing, well hell i have those on a daily basis