low level lead poisoning?

It is highly unlikely that you experienced exposure to lead poisoning from your use of solder unless you did not follow standard common sense precautions: Properly wash hands before eating, do not eat or drink at the work area, wear protective eyewear and face shield when soldering close to the work.

BTW you were not inhaling the solder fumes but the fumes from the flux. The temperature the soldering iron tip should have been way too low to cause the lead solder to vaporize.

Lead exposure is a relatively simple test to have performed. I had several lead exposure tests performed when I worked with solder on a continual and daily basis. Not even once did it come back with any level indicating exposure.

David, I'm guilty of not following any of those precautions until recently. Starting at a very young age, I didn't know of the hazards. We used to practically bathe in DDT back then. Who knew? I only started avoiding solder fumes when I became allergic to the flux a decade ago. Strangely enough, that allergy went away by itself years later. Now it doesn't bother me.

I had not thought of that. The highest tip temperature I used was 800d.

I appreciate hearing that. I've been told the blood test is not routinely performed, not unless poisoning is suspected. Thanks for the feedback!

Ray

Ray--

In the winter months the house air was always full of lead as dad heated lead paint with a blowtorch and crapped it off with a puddy knife. We always ate game--rabbits, squirrels, etc killed with a shotgun that threw lead pellets--very hard on the teeth too. Finally, spent many hours over a soldiering iron building up my spare parts box from old TV's.

To much hype these days to know for sure. If you believe what you read--I should have died years ago from playing with mercury.

Best Wishes

Tut

Hi...

And baby cribs and high chairs painted with leaded paint.

Personally 60 years ago I started using my mouth as a third hand to hold a piece of solder. Ended up often leaving it in my mouth much like some held a toothpick. Or a cigarette.

And poured carbon tet down control shafts to clean them. A little in the control, more spilling who knows where.

Dunno how we survived. Then again, maybe I didn't. Two heart attacks in my early thirties (reaction to a stressful situation), and a whole series of strokes in my fifties.

Here's to the health of the younger generation!

Ken

We used to use carbon tetrachloride to clean pots and switches. Like you say, who knew?

I think the problem is that the people who knew weren't talking.

I spent quite a bit of time up to the elbows in trichloroethylene, which was a pretty common degreaser back then.

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I've always been concerned about mercury leaching out of the numerous fillings in my teeth but no (mad as a hatter) mercury poisoning AFAIK. Lead has been used in water pipes for 2,000 years and we're still here to tell the tale. This story I found interesting

-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on

Yep. We used it like washing up liquid. One guy in the factory next door was found head down over a degreaser. He couldn't go near the stuff after that.

I saw a friend pour some on a rag and sniff it over 30 years ago. His eyes immediately rolled back in his head, and he fell forward like Apollo Creed in Rocky IV. He came to a few minutes later, and is still living today. I think the only thing that saved him was that it decked him so quickly that he didn't have time to breathe enough in to kill him...my theory.

Tom

Tom MacIntyre wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Carbon tet attacks the liver.

I took an environmental chemistry course from a professor that was also a forensic expert. He told us about an autopsy he attended.

A nurse got something on her uniform and decided to clean it with carbon tet, while still wearing it. [carbon tet is absorbed through the skin very strongly].

He said her liver was a large white lump.

Did you believe him? It's nasty, but IIRC the old brass fire extinguishers were filled with carbon tet.

"NSM" wrote in news:KFzGe.197460$on1.70289@clgrps13:

Oh yes. I certainly believe him.

Carbon tetrachloride is very nasty stuff. When I was in highschool chemistry, I thought the 'warning lables' on various cans and chemicals were overstated, to scare people into being extra careful.

As the years have gone by, I have learned to realize that the warnings are UNDERSTATED.

Every warning represents many dead or injured.

Carbon Tet was used in fire extinguishers. It was better than the fire. It doesn't burn, it is heavier than air.

It has the bad property of decomposing into phosgene gas when exposed to high temperatures.

Didn't they used to dry-clean clothes with something similar, or carbon tet itself?

Tom

Tom MacIntyre wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Yep.