Stability/Exercise Ball out-gases toxics...
Mechan
I have a problem that I'm hoping someone can solve. About four weeks
ago I purchased a big 75 cm stability/exercise ball that is
manufactured from some sort of elastic material that is giving off
fumes that are unbelievably toxic. The smell is horrendous and when
I'm around the ball for too long I feel like vomiting. I gather
these
balls aren't really designed to be used in a residential home or
apartment and are much more suited to live in a gymnasium. None-the-
less I now own this piece of whatever it is and I can't get rid of
the
smell. I posted this message on a home remedy website and someone
suggested wiping it down with vinegar. I tried that and it almost
seems like smell is worse. Someone else suggested I wipe it down
with
chlorine. What I'd really like to do is put it in an oven and pull a
vacuum on it for a few days while heat curing it but I don't have
that
kind of equipment. Is there some sort of coating I can spray on it
to
seal it that will be equally as elastic and not as volitile or toxic?
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks!
Rolf Wissmann
Either it goes away with time, depending on the concentration, or not. I doubt you can wipe or wash it off. Perhaps you can wrap around some transparent, odorless plastic foil and seal off the ends of the foil air tight, if you know what I mean ...
"Unbelievably toxic" would be if you couldn't speak about it any more ....! Before that happens, I'd go back to where I bought this ball to get my money back.
ljeffler
will decrease over time, although it will never go away completely. Try
leaving the ball alone in the garage, attic or storage shed for a few weeks
or months. That should result in a dramatic decrease in the odor. You can
accelerate the process by putting somewhere warm. An attic in the
summertime would be ideal. However, now that's if Fall, you could try
placing it in a garage or storage shed equipped with a space heater. Of
course be careful with the space heater. Leave plenty of space around it to
avoid igniting a fire.
Larry Effler
"Mechan" <bh.l...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:69089071-d3d5-4cc4...@t42g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
john.s...@aspenresearch.com
> Hello Everyone,
> I have a problem that I'm hoping someone can solve. About four weeks
> ago I purchased a big 75 cm stability/exercise ball that is
> manufactured from some sort of elastic material that is giving off
> fumes that are unbelievably toxic. The smell is horrendous and when
> I'm around the ball for too long I feel like vomiting.
Unfortunately, the (un)pleasantness of an odor is not correlated to
its toxicity. Cyanide smells like almonds, phosgene smells like fresh
cut grass. And keep in mind that concentration cannot be quantified by
your nose. When you smell a natural gas leak, you are smelling the
hydrogen sulfer that has been added since the gas is odorless, but the
H2S isn't even at parts per billion. So the score then is natural
gas: 99.9999999% pure is oderless, H2S at 0.00000001% has a strong
smell.
I can't imagine that it is residual vinyl chlorine monomer (VCM). The
government watches VCM levels and restricts them to very low levels.
If it is palsticizer, your idea of a vacuum oven would help remove
plasticizers, but remember - the plasticizers are there for a reason.
Take them all out and you will have rigid plastic that you could plumb
your house with.
Assuming you could find a spray or dip that would 1) stick to the
ball, and 2) be sufficiently flexible, the adhesion will degrade over
time. The plasticizers will keep diffusing to the surface and would
build up at the interface with the coating. If they don't soften the
coating, they certainly will ruin the adhesion.
The bottom line: you will not be happy long term with this ball.
John
Aspen Research, - www.aspenresearch.com
“Turning Questions into Answers”
Opinions expressed herein are my own and may not represent those of my
employer.