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Posted by David Sherman on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 16:59:47 :
In Reply to: Read this safety deal posted by SUPRDUD on Monday, July 27, 2009 at 22:11:59 :
It's not the argon. Argon is inert (hence the "I" in "TIG welding"). It's the heat in combination with air and any chlorinated hydrocarbon. Chlorine forms treacherous combinations with lots of things. Chlorine even reacts with organic residue in city water systems to produce carcinogenic chlorinated hydrocarbons, fortunately only in very small amounts. Heating any chlorinated hydrocarbon is risky. If it was easy to get poisoned like this guy did, we'd hear a lot more about it. It sounds like he was mostly unlucky. I highly doubt that the residue from cleaning something yesterday with perc or trike would be enough to be toxic. On the other hand, those chemicals themselves are suspect, and I would rather take my chances with flammable non-chlorinated solvents. Another good way to make phosgene is to let some freon get sucked into the intake air of a propane torch. It changes the color of the flame, which makes it a good way to detect freon leaks, but it also produces phosgene, so excellent ventilation is mandatory.
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