Fume Fever

[Flop]

Some good reading material on this subject...
http://www.sperkoengineering.com/htm...Galvanized.pdf

[Mende]

Id you're a smoker .. .It would be better to lay off them cigarettes until your headache passes . .and about the CO poisoning. .Co forms STABLE bonds with Hemoglobine while CO2 and O2 form unstable bonds. Any red blood cell that has CO in it has to be killed ( in the liver) and replaced. I say ..don;t smoke and take some ADVIL ( not anvil) . .

[ThomasPowers]

Personal reactions can differ wildly; my Grandfather smoked unfiltered camels for about 50 years with no lung cancer! However I would not advise others to try that, my MiL died of lung cancer due to much less smoking exposure.

When in doubt go for the safer route!

[Marc]

I was on the forums when Paw Paw passed away. The zinc fumes were "the last straw" for him. I don't remember the specific illness, but he had some real respiratory problems and his lungs may have been at a very reduced capacity.

[Brian C.]

I brazed a good bit of galvanized conduit doing custom work in Dad's orthopaedic shop as a young man. Always noticed the aforementioned "sweet smell" & a little lightheadedness then always compounded it by smoking an unfiltered cigarette right afterwards. Double dumb on my part. But, at the time we werent aware of the galvanize hazard, and I was too hard headed about the smoking thing.

[pete46]

We Weld Zinc Coated Field Fencing;to The Tops Of Hummvs.
Everyone Who Has Welded This Stuff Has Gotten Headaches/body Aches!
We Have Respirators On Order,the Milk/advil Works For Me.
1 Nail I Don't Think So,more Like^ Work Little Water =heat Stress
That's The Army Medic Talk'n ,Not A Real Doc!

[Hoary]

yeah I guess the co2 could be the culprit, I'm usually good about drinking water and keeping hydrated b/c I'm proned to gout flares, maybe I'm a little paranoid, I like keeping a tight understanding about what goes into my fire and once I saw the nail I was a little worried but didn't see anything that was symptoms of the fever till the next day. maybe just sinus issues, but thanks for all the advice even if it did seem a little silly of a worry I guess.

-Bobby

[Frosty]

I gotta toss in here.

Zinc isn't nearly as toxic as popularly believed. Don't misconstrue me here, I'm not saying ignore it, take proper precautions, just don't freak out if you get a whiff.

And YES, drinking milk most certainly will help where some inhalation hazards are concerned, zinc being one. Milk stimulates mucus production which helps your lungs flush the zinc oxide fumes out.

One nail make you sick? I doubt it but won't say no way, you could be particularly sensitive to zinc oxide. Unlikely but possible.

I'd almost say a psychosomatic reaction is more likely.

Paw Paw exposed himself to a huge amount of zinc oxide and suffered from COPD. Even so, had he sought medical attention sooner he may well have pulled through. As it was, by the time he relented and went to the doctor the pneumonia (I don't recall what the proper name is) had him well and truly in it's grip.

And yes, I've torched and welded lots of galvy myself. I've "enjoyed" the Blue flue many times in the past and gotten over it every time. Never mass dosed myself though and don't intend to.

Other platings are not the same story though. Electro plated zinc is NOT pure zinc and tends to have much more toxic metals included. Do NOT under any circumstances, weld or grind CAD plated steel it is very toxic. These are the gold colored bolts.

Chrome is also very toxic, especially when heated.

All in all, stay away from breathing metal fumes of any kind, steel and iron included.

Frosty