A cautionary tale!

in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Alex at snipped-for-privacy@cbmsys.co.uk wrote on 14/10/05 12:35 am:

I hope no-one was hurt.

What's really scary is when they develop a high-resitance connection that gets hot internally and do that on their own without an external ignition source. I've seen the results of one doing that underbonnet in an old Cortina and also had one self-destruct in the workshop whilst on charge overnight.

Ayway, I hope nobody was hurt and that there isn't too much acid to clean up.

Fortunatly no-one was hurt, although i did get splashed by acid. Given me some little red blotches on my forearms from very mild acid burns. Took about 2 hours and a large bottle of caustic soda to clean that lot up.

Alex

I would also suggest you don't wear a fleece whilst using an angle grinder. I set myself on fire doing just that. It was my garage fleece and was covered in oil and grease, burns nice. Was a zip up the front one so came off very quick. Was nice and warm though, would have been good on a cold day.

Nigel

Aye. I set my padded shirt on fire the same way. I managed to pat it out with a gloved hand. Wife has referred to it as my smoking jacket ever since. TonyB

I remember in the 80's having a girl in my science class with a big afro full of coconut oil leaning over a bunsen burner; when I looked up all I could see was a stream of thick white fumes coming off her head. Certainly taught me a lesson, years later we had a warning to take care with kids and hair gel which has the same effect.

in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Alex at snipped-for-privacy@cbmsys.co.uk wrote on 14/10/05 7:19 pm:

Caustic Soda is pretty nasty stuff too. Bruce uses it to dip and strip doors and furniture. He keeps an old squeezy bottle with white vinegar in for any occassional splashes that get past protective clothing.

you are right there Nicky and mixing the two creates heat as well Bicarbonate of Soda( Sodium Hyrogen Carbonate solution) is better to neutralise battery acid as it doesnt react as violently or attack the skin or metal afterwards but the best advice is plenty of water to dilute and remove clothing which has become contaminated Derek

Yes, i've had fleeces smouldering before whilst using an angle grinder. Oxy-acetelene welding is also not a good idea in a fleece.....

Alex

Good old-fashioned ph-alkaline soap is the best for washing skin after acid spills, as it not only dilutes but also neutralises. Modern liquid soaps and cleansers don't work. Oh, and don't forget to rinse the clothes in soapy water first, otherwise you find they develop holes in them a couple of days later.

As it happened, i didn't have any bicarb handy, or would have used it. The caustic soda works quite well, although it does have a tendancy to fizz and give off gas as it goes.

The worktop the battery was sitting on is an old ex-government plastic coated table top, which was quite undamaged by either the battery acid, caustic soda or the resulting reaction. It also stands up to Tricholroethene quite well.

Alex

Last time I spilt battery acid on myself I neutralised it with bicarb of soda

Ruined a pair of trousers though.

handy workbench then most would have soaked it up turned black and smoked.When I worked in a lab (first job after school) we used to have labcoats and pants that looked like mutant moths had been holding parties and I rarely had all my fingers in the natural colours.We used pretty much every nasty compound known to man in the electroplating industry I have to confess we did use a mild caustic solution as hand wash after getting chromic acid burns ( split gloves pretty well every week) but who wants to go around with a couple of brown fingers people talk you know.It gives you nice soft hands by dissolving off the hard skin. Glad you weren't too close then its one of those learning experiences you will never repeat btw the gas given off by the mixture of caustic and sulphuric is Hydrogen with usually a spot of sulpher dioxide thrown in for good measure. Derek

so Hirsty's was, like...

As an ex-teacher who was around in the 80s I find this very funny. Bear in mind that if the same thing happened today you would be in prison and awaiting the death penalty for this blatant breach of every H&S directive in the book.