How much danger of vapor is there, how far should you go to ventilate when casting lead? I would like to use a melting pot on the cooktop with the hood van venting to the outside - is this safe enough for me and my family that includes some young children?

Deke

quote:

Originally posted by Deke:
How much danger of vapor is there, how far should you go to ventilate when casting lead? I would like to use a melting pot on the cooktop with the hood van venting to the outside - is this safe enough for me and my family that includes some young children?

Deke

Lead doesn't vaporize at a temperature that you will be casting at. It's far beyond normal casting temperatures. Now what one might smell or see are impurities that were on the alloy that you're melting. An example is wheel weights have oil, pieces of rubber, general dirt on them. Those guys at the tires shops seem to use the old wheel weight barrel for a trash can. Also if you use any kind of flux it will smoke and stink.

It's a good idea to ventilate your casting area so as to carry off any of the smoke or fumes that I mentioned above. Most important thing with lead is you get if from ingestion not from the air around a melting pot for casting bullets...so wash your hands well after handling before you handle any kind of food to eat. Good idea to wear eye protection and glove so if you get any kind of lead splatter it won't get in your eyes or burn your hands. Don't cast with shorts on and wear socks and shoes, not barefoot sandals.

SmokinJ, good points, thanks.

The problem is not from lead vaporizing, it is from the fluxing activities that occur prior to actually doing any casting. A fair amount of what comes to the top is dirt, but there is some lead oxide in that mix as well, and it is quite toxic. The simple act of dumping it into a refuse container stir up the dust, which can then be ingested.

If you have ever screwed up and taken a breath while skimming, you will taste that sweet taste of lead oxide. It stays with you a looonnnngg time.

I would highly recommend you figure out a way to do your casting outside. I don't see this as an acceptable risk. Fluxing also causes smoke which carries lead in it, and the smoke from some of the fluxing agents willingly catches fire. That is another hazard if you are casting indoors.

I have a setup for indoor casting. I have an old over the stove ventilation hood with an exhaust fan that pipes the air outside through a dryer vent. The suction is very high and little or none of the casting fumes escape it. When I speak of ventilation this is what I mean..a good exhaust system and good fresh air coming back into the area.

You don't need to put a lot of flux in you pot of alloy. In fact one of the best fluxes is sawdust.

You don't have to make this like it's a dangerous one way mission to Mars. Lots of things we do today can be dangerous. Welding galvanized steel for example puts out some really bad for you fumes.

I will state this and shut up:

When I went to the MDs in Houston for cancer treatment (still on-going), one of the questions in the "get acquainted" questionnaire was this:

"Have you been exposed to lead for over 30 hours a month?"

The question didn't say "exposed to lead vapors, exposed to lead ingots, exposed to molten lead, etc. It said "exposed to lead".

The last thing I would do is melt lead in the same area I was cooking; especially where I was cooking for children.

Just my $.02...

quote:

Originally posted by Doubless:
I will state this and shut up:

When I went to the MDs in Houston for cancer treatment (still on-going), one of the questions in the "get acquainted" questionnaire was this:

"Have you been exposed to lead for over 30 hours a month?"

The question didn't say "exposed to lead vapors, exposed to lead ingots, exposed to molten lead, etc. It said "exposed to lead".

The last thing I would do is melt lead in the same area I was cooking; especially where I was cooking for children.

Just my $.02...

Sorry to hear about the cancer, I really am.

We're all exposed to lead....wheelweights. If you answered that question if you were "exposed to lead" I bet they would question you further as to what kind of exposure. The EPA goes overboard on stuff, they really do. Lead has to be vaporized to get a significant amount of it in the air around it. You are correct on the oxides, I think that is the worse part of it all. If one is concerned with the oxides I suggest wearing a face mask that would be of the correct micron filtering size to capture the oxide dust should it become airborne. I don't hear on the news of workers dropping off from cancer in the industries that melt lead for some product such as car batteries for example. I've been casting since junior high school and I'm older then you...no health issues, no high lead level, no cancer thank God.

My casting operation is in the garage near the door. I use a large box fan a few feet away as cross draft ventilation when weather isn't cooperating. If it isn't windy or raining I try and do my casting outdoors and still keep a small fan blowing smoke away from me.
I do not eat or drink while casting. If I do I make sure I wash my hands and face really well prior to eating or drinking. I also do not allow my son anywhere near my casting. 1. I don't want him burned, and 2. I don't want him being exposed to lead. Lead exposure to children is far worse than it is to adults. Our bodies seem to better process it out of our system.

I may be overly cautious about casting but I would rather be more cautious and not have a problem then to think nothing of it and find out I have caused my family or myself harm.

look. don't eat the lead.
the other way to ingest it is in the form of lead dust [or lead oxide dust] which is pretty impossibly hard to make from ingots and melted lead.
you will get some oxidized alloy on top of the pot, don't eat that either.