Effects of welding galvanized steel...

[mcraigl]

Does anyone have a link to an "official" description of the negative effects of welding galvanized? A guy on another forum is convinced that if he just drinks a big glass of milk after welding it, that he'll be OK. He's building boat blinds for duckhunting, and a lot of other guys on that forum do the same thing. I'll keep searching the web too, and post up what I find out.

ML

[irnsrgn]

negative effect like Paw Paw, DEAD.

[jeremy k]

Without the right preparations and precautions your taking the express lane to a dirt nap 6 feet under. IT"S NO JOKE !!!!!! grind all galvanizing off before welding and make sure you have an overabundance of ventalation of clean air while grinding and welding - - no-one wants to read about you in the paper in the recent deaths column.

[Glenn]

Do a search on IForgeIron for "fume fever" to get started. Then Google "metal fume fever" and "heavy metal poisioning".

Grinding on galvanized material also puts zinc particles into the air as dust. Getting different materials containing zinc hot can release zinc fumes, brazing for instance. Zinc is not the only heavy metal that causes concern. Welders have problems from inhalation of the welding smoke and the materials (heavy metals and otherwise) that the smoke contains.

When you get your research complete, please present it as a Blueprint as a reference for others.

[Mr Smith]

Milk does a lot of things, but I'll wager that it can't save you from zinc poisoning.

I don't mean to be flippant, but the flames caused by burning galvo just look "evil" somehow.. that odd blue colour. I don't like it. :-(

[Rich Hale]

There are just alot of things that are done regularly that are really dangerous but for some reason the folks involved have not had a disaster yet. Like misuse of gasoline, welding galvanize etc. Irn mentioned Paw Paw. It has been a while since his death so I will give the short version. He put some galvanized metal in the forge. He became very ill and the Docs could not chase it down. He had his family research heavy metal poisoning and the Descrition descride his signs and symptoms. It was too late for him and he passed on.
A short sniff of toxic fumes from any source may not seem to have an affect on you but then again it may. Since I do not know I like to tip the scales in my favor.
A prime concept to consider is how do the fumes get to you, through inhalation, not ingestion. You breathe the fumes not drink them. Think about the milk thing. I know this will not be a popular statement as I personnally know there are a lot of welders that will work in a shop if there is not cold milk availeable.
Back to me. I will weld galvanize and did so yesterday. I ground the surfaces clean while a fan blew the air away from me while I worked,,,including welding. I used a flux core wire and the air flow did not bother it like a gas shield. But then an indirect flow of air could do the same thing if you use gas shield. And at times I like a big glass of cold milk!

[Dave Shepard]

In an old James F. Lincoln welding manual (ca. 1940) it reccomends MOM-milk-of-magnesia, for exposure to fumes from welding galvanized metals. I personally want nothing to do with galvi. If you grind and weld, you really should re-coat the weld with galvinization, or it just rusts out at the weld. HMP is not reversible as far as I know, and is not a fun ride.

[Ellen]

I've welded a lot of corral panels, galvanized, always outside, and always from the upwind position, with a respirator the last few years only, before that I just "did the job".

But, I just had a kidney removed for cancer and the docs say it can be a result of "exposure to industrial chemicals", and the zinc does come to my mind from time to time as an "industrial chemical".

I recommend other ways to take a vacation and to spend your money on.

If you want a power hammer but can't find the money ask yourself about coming up with the copay for the surgeon and hospital for kidney removal, and unless you are fortunate enough to have truly good health insurance you will find the answer the question on how to raise the power hammer money, but without a power hammer to show for it.

So, my short answer is, don't do it.

[Woody]

Here is a link to a site that has data on all sorts of chemical hazards. The second one takes you directly to zinc oxide which is what you get when you heat zinc above it's boiling point like in welding or forging. You can then click on metal fume fever in the body of the test to get additonal info. This site "should" be bookmarked in every blacksmith's list of favorite sites and it "should" be consulted before using any chemical. Drinking milk to avoid the effects of metal fume fever is an old wives tale and is totally ineffective, sitting on a popsicle would give you an equal amount of portection. Further, I would direct their attention to my Blueprint on Respiratory Protection which is published on this site.

As bad as Zinc is, there are other materials out there that are worse. Cadmium which can be found in Nickel/Cadmium (NiCad) welding rod and also as a coating on some brands of Grade 8 bolts and nuts. Hydrogen Fluoride is another. Hydrogen Fluoride is the gas given off by heating Fluorite which is found in some welding and braising fluxes. What follows is a direct quote from 29 CFR 1910.146 (OSHA Permit Required Confined Space Regulatons)

"Immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) means any condition that poses an immediate or delayed threat to life or that would cause irreversible adverse health effects or that would interfere with an individual's ability to escape unaided from a permit space.

Note: Some materials – hydrogen fluoride gas and cadmium vapor, for example – may produce immediate transient effects that, even if severe, may pass without medical attention, but are followed by sudden, possibly fatal collapse 12-72 hours after exposure. The victim "feels normal" from recovery from transient effects until collapse. Such materials in hazardous quantities are considered to be "immediately" dangerous to life or health"

http://hazmap.nlm.nih.gov/index.html

http://hazmap.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/ha...lAgents&id=679

Woody

[mcraigl]

Thanks everyone. I think we've convinced this guy that drinking a glass of milk isn't going to be enough. Woody, I think he's going to try sitting on the popsickle after drinking the milk... Just kidding. In all seriousness, as Ellen said, I too have "just got the job done" a few times. I have always "tried" to be upwind or have a fan but there's been a few times where that all just didn't work out. It won't ever happen again. I'll try to compile a list of links and maybe a summary of info. For instance one of the things I'm really interested in (partly because I have inhaled some in the past), is what are the cumulative effects if it is cumulative (I think most heavey metal type stuff is), and what's it's half life in the body etc. Again, thanks for the info.
Mike