Air quality alarm for soldering - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: higheredundead
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 02, 2023, 11:31:58 pm
content: Does anyone have a recommendation for an air quality alarm in a soldering environment to alert people if the existing filtration or ventilation is insufficient?

author: langwadt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2023, 11:50:00 pm
content: Quote from: higheredundead on October 02, 2023, 11:31:58 pmwhat's your definition of insufficient?

author: higheredundead
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 03, 2023, 02:10:02 am
content: Sure. Let's go with OSHA standard: 50 micrograms of lead / cubic meter. There could be other things to measure, too, like VOCs from the flux. But we can start with lead.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2023, 02:33:48 am
content: Lead in air, that's a spectrometer based method sampling the physical dust/particulates (on a filter pad).how many kilo dollar-pounds do you have spare?

author: Kim Christensen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2023, 02:58:14 am
content: Quote from: higheredundead on October 03, 2023, 02:10:02 amYou don't really get lead fumes from soldering. VOCs and other nasties from the flux are the real danger.The lead poisoning comes from getting it on your fingers and then ingesting it via nail biting or not washing hands before eating.

author: higheredundead
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 03, 2023, 09:31:55 am
content: So, then, with flux, there are general VOC air quality sensors that we can get from Home Depot and other sources.We generally assume that our desktop filters with the activated carbon filters are catching the VOCs. I'm looking for an air quality sensor that would kick in if the activated carbon filter was, say, used up or misaligned and not doing its job. Any suggestions on one that works specifically well with flux?

author: higheredundead
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 03, 2023, 01:26:04 pm
content: As for lead in the air, it appears that OSHA does believe that it can occur. Reference:https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/1989-07-11-0Like many of you I am also aware of lead getting onto hands and surfaces and so am careful about washing my hands after coming into contact with solder. It seems, however, that it's not just flux that gets into the air. It's possible for lead fumes to, as well.Other studies have pointed to inhalation of lead during and around soldering:*https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jolsana-Augustine/publication/332188022_SOLDERING_FUME_EXPOSURE_AS_A_CAUSE_OF_ACUTE_HYPERSENSITIVITY_PNEUMONITIS/links/5d63dae9458515d610259517/SOLDERING-FUME-EXPOSURE-AS-A-CAUSE-OF-ACUTE-HYPERSENSITIVITY-PNEUMONITIS.pdf*https://www.scientific.net/AMM.319.115I get that it's not generally spoken about or worried about and that we assume that our existing ventilation and filtration approaches are working, but, as an engineer, I'm a big fan of measuring things rather than just making assumptions. If I measure it and my worries are overblown, then I've learned something.

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2023, 01:33:56 pm
content: I have the Mill sense at the office for VOCs.YMMV

author: Jackster
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2023, 04:08:24 pm
content: I have the Amazon Alexa Air Quality Monitor and it works well.Alerts me if there is bad air quality.Was about £45 on PrimeDay.Does VOC, PM2.5, temp and humidity.Unfortunately it is locked down and requires the Alexa app but meh.

author: jonpaul
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2023, 04:24:27 pm
content: Made by Nature: Human nose!Open window turn on A/C, get a soldering fume filter like the fine Hakkoj

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2023, 04:56:17 pm
content: It's not that dangerous, no need for alarms. For just in case, learn how to "Extreme Breath Holding", then you'll be able to keep your breath up to 15 minutes, a quarter of an hour!Extreme Breath-HoldingVeritasiumNow seriously, you can breath normal. There is no danger. I know people that soldered 8 hours a day for 30 years and they are still around and just fine.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2023, 06:50:08 pm
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on October 03, 2023, 04:56:17 pmAhh yes, the unassailable authority of "just trust me bro". How very helpful.Quote from: higheredundead on October 03, 2023, 01:26:04 pmThat last link is the only one that seems to quantify metallic fumes in the air as a result of soldering. Full text is here:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3652541/From the materials and methods section, emphasis mine:QuoteSo, 3mg/m3is 60x the OSHA limit cited by the OP of 50μg/m3, but 5m/min--aka 300m for each of the 1hr exposure periods--is a LOT of solder. Other factors missing from the methods section:what temperature the solder was melted attype and ratio of flux in the solder wirewhether "ventilated 5-6 times per hour" means the chamber was vented continuously with an exchange rate of 5-6 chamber volumes per hour, or the chamber was only ventilated for 5-6 periods during each exposure hourHow significant those factors would be is hard to say, but the sheer amount of solder consumed per hour, and the amount of air it's diffused into, is a significant difference between the experimental design and most realities. Some very VERY rough math follows: A length of 300m of 0.8mm 63/37, generously assuming 5% flux, is 1200g. The actual amount of lead in the air based on the samples works out to 3mg/m3* 0.83m3= 2.5mg. So under whatever their ventilation conditions where, that works out to an exposure rate of 2μg/m3per 1g/hr of solder. Going the other way, under the same conditions, consuming 25g/hr of solder would put you around the 50μg/m3OSHA limit. Of course in real world conditions that's multiplied by the larger air volume and whatever ventilation rate applies.Another factor in exposure is what happens to that vaporized lead. If it stays in the volume until it settles and accumulates on surfaces, you now have the possibility of contact exposure, which can result in ingestion. If it reacts with other molecules in the air, does it end up forming compounds that are more or less biologically significant? I'm not much at chemistry or biology, so I have no idea.While I'm sure that tin/copper/silver/whatever vapors are not exactly good for you, it's all good reason to avoid leaded solder when there are readily available and well-established materials and methods to avoid it entirely. You still have to ventilate for flux fumes anyway, of course, but unless you have one of the handful of applications where leaded solder is really hard to replace, why introduce a hazard that's fairly easy to avoid?

author: loki42
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2023, 12:31:11 pm
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on October 03, 2023, 04:56:17 pmI hope this last bit is a joke too.The best way to avoid lead from solder is not use the silly old fashioned stuff. 100c is nicer to use anyway and comes with modern fluxes and ball sizes.I had pretty serious eye problems from flux fumes many years ago but now I've got good fume extraction. Air quality monitoring sounds like a good idea given the low cost of some solutions even though calibration might be challenging.

author: higheredundead
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 04, 2023, 01:24:55 pm
content: Yes, that's pretty much where I'm at. The solutions are low cost and if they come from factory calibrated, then they should be good. Moving away from lead is fine and there's still flux (so assuming VOCs are an issue).There are solutions out there for detecting vaping in schools (like Canaree that will do both VOC and particulate matter:https://pierasystems.com/products/canaree-i5/) so it might work in a soldering (even lead free) environment, but it hasn't been directly tested for that.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2023, 09:16:01 pm
content: The alexa air monitor or Ikea air monitor ($10) should be fine for basic check, in a hobby environment. Lots on aliexpress as well. See the many threads on here for how to build or buy a proper filter/ventilation. Which I assume you will do or have done already.If you are doing some sort of required workplace monitoring, get a proper certified particulate meter.Quote from: ajb on October 03, 2023, 06:50:08 pmThe oddity with this study is they keep mentioning and referencing welding. I know that "welding" can be a translation for soldering in some languages, but they literally cite metal welding studies. Then mention 63/37 solder at the end. Weird.Here are some other studies:Quotehttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12701538/Quotehttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10807039.2020.1730690(available on scihub)

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2023, 02:12:26 pm
content: Quote from: higheredundead on October 03, 2023, 01:26:04 pmThe thing is, none of those sources mention what temperatures are used. Electronics soldering is performed at low temperatures, where lead is unlikely or even incapable of vaporizing. (Some sources say 400C, others 450C, others 500C, all much higher than normally used in electronics with leaded solder.) In contrast, a sheet metal worker soldering copper would typically use a blow torch, whose flame is around 2000C, easily capable of heating small amounts of solder well into vaporization temperatures. Since none of those sources even specify what kind of soldering it is, we have no clue what temperature range they were considering.I concur that in electronics soldering, the real concern is flux fumes.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2023, 02:59:55 pm
content: Some relevant resources:https://www.hse.gov.uk/asthma/solderers.htmhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/oce4.pdfhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg249.pdfhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/sr20.pdfhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg248.pdfhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/mdhs/pdfs/mdhs83-3.pdfhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/Research/rrpdf/rr900.pdfNotably absent from all of their discussion of soldering risk (which they otherwise cover amply) is lead. And indeed, the page on lead doesn’t list soldering as an at-risk occupation:https://www.hse.gov.uk/lead/mostatrisk.htm

author: Pinkus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2023, 04:29:40 pm
content: I do have two air quality monitors, one of them is portable and quite old.The stationary one is this:https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B09LCLYXJ6Beside several parameters, they are measuring small particles in the air. Both were (the non portable one still is) used in my workshop. I can tell you: Both of them alert after aprox. 15 minutes when you do manual soldering. When I run my soldering oven (which even has a fume outlet to the outside! but some can still smell it if reflowing) they both will alert me very quickly. I need to run my air cleaner with hepa filter and activated carbon filter on full power for a while to clean the air.These small particles from soldering can reach the alveoli. They are at most the size of bacteria and therefore cannot be seen with the naked eye. The particles have a tendency to carry toxic materials due to its reduced diameter and increased surface area. The small PM easily penetrates deep into the bronchi and alveoli, corroding the alveolar wall in the lungs.In epidemiological studies, severe health effects are associated with particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers.I can only smile when people take a fan to blow away the soldering fumes .... they breathe in the fume parts 30 seconds later anyway, as it spreads in the air throughout the room. Only a decent air cleaner can help.By the way, I can recommend a Weller WFE solder fume extraction, mounted directly to my JBC soldering iron - this sucks (and filters) away already >90% of the soldering fumes directly at the soldering tip, immediately after the occurrence.And I can highly recommend any (even if cheap) air quality monitor if it checks PM 2.5 particles (needs a small pump inside to constantly suck in air). And there will be no way around an air cleaner with HEPA filter.But of course there will also be those here who think it would not be necessary because they know people who have been soldering for 30 years without any problems without such newfangled stuff.