[MV] Viton Hazards in MVs

Dave Cole (DA_Cole@compuserve.com)
Wed, 11 Mar 1998 22:22:22 -0500

Message text written by "Alan Bowes"
>Thanks to Richard for the advice regarding the hazards of overheated Vit=
on
compounds. It's definitely worth knowing about.
<
Several years ago I did some work for 3M at a pilot plant southeast of
Minneapolis and they had some test cells that were being used to make
various teflon compounds, one of the main feed ingredients was hydrofluor=
ic
acid. Of all of the chemicals in that pilot plant building, that was the=

one chemical that was most feared by the workers there. When they handle=
d
it they had to wear hazmat suits with breathing air tanks on. It was th=
e
most well sealed areas in the facility. I asked a lot of questions about=

why it was so bad and they said if you breath a concentration of the vapo=
rs
you were dead, no question. The facility was especially built to contain=

spills or vent them away from the building if possible. All of the doors=

had automatic closers that would close a certain period of time after the=

alarm sounded. If you were inside, oh well. So I found out the nearest
escape route, everyone knew what it was. =

Anyway one of the old timers at the plant said that one time the reactor =
in
the teflon lab was overpressurized and blew a vent to the outside air, th=
e
cloud of vapors from the reactor drifted east towards the highway (this
place is about a mile from the nearest state rd) went over the highway an=
d
several cars that drove through the cloud had their windshields etched fr=
om
the vapors and many people went to the hospital with major lung problems.=
=

So obviously, actually touching this stuff is very bad. I'm glad that yo=
u
guys brought this up since it wouldn't be too hard to get a cutting torch=

or welder near a viton o-ring or seal and create a major hazard. I never=

thought of it.

Dave

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