Carbon dust from motor brushes
emr...@gmail.com
Being the genius I am, I recently took apart a dead motor (needed to
replace the brushes, this is the first time I've ever done this), and I
got a large faceful of carbon dust. Nothing really in my eyes, but I
did breathe some in via my nose (and possibly my mouth via the large
cloud of dust that lingered). Is there any major health concerns about
this? My nose is sore, and my throat is a little scratchy. I've just
always heard the horror stories about black lung, asbestos, silicosis,
and etc.
Thanks for letting me know, and if you feel like it, you can flame me
for being stupid also (It's always fun to learn a lesson the hard way)
daestrom
<emr...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1163450079.1...@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
Not really, I've breathed in the stuff for years with no particular adverse
effects. Might notice a lot of black mucus when you blow your nose for the
next day, but that's the body doing 'what comes naturally' to eliminate this
from the body.
I suppose years of day-in/day-out you should be concerned, but a simple dust
mask can go along way for that. Graphite, the principle component, is not
particularly hazardous (it is flammable, especially when blown into the
air). Not carcinogenic. May irritate the eyes. Here is an MSDS for a
related carbon/graphite powder. It does warn of 'prolonged and repeated
overexposure', but what you described doesn't sound like it.
http://www.graphitestore.com/msds/hc_msds101.pdf
If you're not feeling well, you might talk to your doctor about it.
daestrom
emr...@gmail.com
My nose and eyes are a little runny (and I've already found the
mentioned black mucus...much like working with toner), but I'll watch
myself over the next few days to be sure I don't have any adverse
effects.
Andrew Gabriel
phil-new...@ipal.net
| My nose and eyes are a little runny (and I've already found the
| mentioned black mucus...much like working with toner), but I'll watch
| myself over the next few days to be sure I don't have any adverse
| effects.
The runny is good. You can buy these little inhaling gadgets at a drug
store that are normally used for dry stuffed up noses to induce them to
run more. That might help the process.
If any made it into your lungs, there's not much you can do about it
unless you want to undergo a Liquivent treatment (this is the same
stuff they used for liquid breathing underwater as seen in the movie
"The Abyss" which really exists) to try and wash it out. Normally
it would evaorate and be exhaled. But maybe it can be suctioned back
out as a cleaning method.
--
|---------------------------------------/----------------------------------|
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (ka9wgn.ham.org) / Do not send to the address below |
| first name lower case at ipal.net / spamtrap-200...@ipal.net |
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Andrew Gabriel
phil-new...@ipal.net writes:
> If any made it into your lungs, there's not much you can do about it
> unless you want to undergo a Liquivent treatment (this is the same
> stuff they used for liquid breathing underwater as seen in the movie
> "The Abyss" which really exists) to try and wash it out. Normally
> it would evaorate and be exhaled. But maybe it can be suctioned back
> out as a cleaning method.
Lungs are self-cleaning, providing you aren't a smoker.
There's a gradual flow of mucus from the lungs up the
airway, which cleans out this type of debris. Smoking
stops the cilia working (cilia, tiny hairs, push the
mucus up the airway), and also stops the mucus from
working as a cleaning agent. This is why smokers have
to cough up the mucus, whereas it's a continuous automatic
process for non-smokers which rarely involves coughing.
--
Andrew Gabriel
hap...@sbcglobal.net
toxic hazard.
however, substantial amounts lodged within lungs or sensitive areas will
cause effects undesirable for good health
what u got was probably far less than sitting in a bar filled with second
hand smoke from persons near you. standing near a diesel motor bus would be
worse.
shards of copper and other rotating metal parts would provide you with worse
problems, usually as dust or micro abraded during usual operation of the
device.
also, lubricants may have been bound/dispersed with the dust, they can be of
any type, some are known toxic.
air drawn into/through the motor over years of use would carry any unknown
pollutants in also.
you may have symptoms from being highly-sensitive to pollutants in general,
as you may have had little pre-exposure to aerosol contaminants prior to
this.
reccomend u take a shower, snort some clean warm water up your nose, blow
it out to flush any crap.
you probably were on verge of having a sinus attack anyway ;-))
<emr...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1163450079.1...@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
phil-new...@ipal.net
Lots of other stuff causes them to stop, too. Fine dust is a big problem.
You do have to caugh it up, and it never gets all of it. My grandfather
was an electrician in coal mines. Guess what he died of. It wasn't an
electrocution.
daestrom
"Andrew Gabriel" <and...@cucumber.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:45597904$0$631$5a6a...@news.aaisp.net.uk...
All true, but I think the particle size is a factor.
But I don't think the carbon-black that comes from electrical brushes is
fine enough to be much of a problem. It's not like it's constantly being
reground into finer and finer particles; they just break off and leave the
brush for ever.
daestrom
Julian
In the Navy, on particular deployment, our machines ate their brushes because
of paint fume contamination. The particles are very fine dust. We, the
electricians, breathed in a very large amount into our lungs. Blew black
boogers for days. However, that was 30+ years ago and haven't heard of any of
sick from it..
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