To everyone that uses brake cleaner and welds, please read this. It could save your life and those around you,

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

This is good to know.
Thanks for posting this info!

Very interesting. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

You can also get chronic bronchitis from burning vinyl floor tile, which is where I got into it. Paid my way thru undergrad school...

PHOSGENE!?!? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" />

That guy is really lucky even to be alive. That is nasty, nasty stuff <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Brakleen MSDS. Go to section 10

http://www.crcindustries.com/faxdocs/msds/5089.pdf

Phosgene is also called mustard gas.
Burning refrigerant will produce this also.

Tri-cholethelyne is a similar cleaning agent. Navy banned it for shipboard use in the early '70s due to health hazards.

Remember the early Teflon non-stick pan coatings?? And, the special tools needed when cooking with Teflon pans??

When burned, the early Teflon coatings did create phosgene gas.

They still will create a gas thats very similar to phosgene. Normal cooking temps with teflon can / will kill your pet birds.

trichlorethylene disolves the fat in your body, including some fat you really need, and you die...

Phosgene and mustard gas are two entirely different things, both very nasty...

I weld aluminum (w/ argon) and grind it every day. Our shop goes through brake cleaner sometimes at a rate of many cases/day.

I have changed my personal practices! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Not to be a smart- <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/butwiggle.gif" alt="" />, but just as a point of clarification... phosgene and mustard gas are not the same and have different effects on the body.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/gas.htm Scroll about 2/3 of the way down for a brief description of the two <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Eric W.

Hey OOp's, Thank you for this. I use Carb cleaner for pre weld rinsing also. I am sure I have used Brake cleaner too but I do stick to cheap carb cleaner that is Toluene and Acetone.
The brake cleaner I have used was either a different formulation or else I was plain old lucky.

The article from mister Brew Dude opens my eyes for sure.

At my shop we were being sold a bunch of stuff from an industrial supplier and after reading this i went through it all and canceled a lot of stocked items due to their reactions with welding/burning. I couldn't believe that they were even putting some of these chemicals in a weld shop, it's funny when the new guy in the shop changes the way things have been done for the past 10 years. This hasn't been the first thing either, I've been tearing that place down and making it a proper weld shop and it's come a long way in the 10 months i've been there. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Yeah, I guess MSDS's look too much like garbly-[censored] at first glance, but there's a LOT of information to be had; this is also a VERY good topic for a safety meeting if you hold them now and again.

From this former hazwoper.

fired this through company lines. We had a noob chlorine gas himself in another incident. He was cleaning a toilet on a rail car and mixed 3 cleaners thinking it would do the job faster.

I am amazed that people are allowed to use these kinds of ingredients!
And the warning labels are generally really little and hidden between the rest of the labeling so you can not really see it unless you look for it!!!

Thanks for sharing this info. It is really helpful.