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Re: mercury amounts & repairs
On the subject of large amounts of mercury in tubes:
This is usually due to a new pumper, or an old one with fixed ideas who wants to put that much
in. Or, at a large shop, some apprentice given the job of pre-filling a bunch of traps. Some
people will not be convinced that less is more where it comes to mercury. These people should be
arrested for egregious desecration of the environment and for endangering the welfare of the
entire family of anyone who ends up being contaminated with any of the mercury in such a tube.
I've seen servicemen dump the stuff out of tubes so carelessly that some of it got onto their
clothing. I get visions of them going home and holding the baby right against bits of mercury on
their clothes. ->>shudder<<-
On blowing mercury-contaminated tubing out:
I suggest rolling all the mercury and particulate out that you can, gently, and if blowing must
be done, do it into an airtight arrangement leading up to a filter made to filter mercury, at low
pressure. High pressure will blow out any powder, which will ruin the tube. This could be more
dangerous than simply repairing the tube, if the powder and mercury vapor inside it escapes,
which it easily could, from something like a glove. Air has to go somewhere. In that air will
be the vapor and powders.
As for rinsing, you need so much water to rinse a mercury tube effectively that disposing of it
as hazardous waste would far outweigh any profit derived from doing repairs. While it's possible
that this could be an effective argument against doing repairs at all, it's more likely that the
boss will grab the tube, dump the stuff out on the ground and hand it back to Tom with an
injunction to splice the damned thing and get on with it. (This is an old school guy we are
talking about here.)
Speaking of disposal, folks, has anyone come up with a proper means of disposing of old neon and
fluorescent tubing? Does anyone dispose of these things as hazardous waste?
Bettina
References: