The smell.

[bob_CBR]

I have been doing some welding today. Will post pics as soon as I find my data cable. My welder is currently in the cellar of my house. After about 10 min of welding, I stopped and went upstairs to a very angry girl friend. She said the smell was bad and could see smoke/dust/fog in the air. I have a cold so can not smell anything.

So the questions are: what is the smell/fog in the air and am I missing key health and safety stuff?

Using a Clark 160T welding mild steel on max power using argon shield gas.

She now told me i can not weld in the cellar any more. LOL

 

[R Kraft]

It is almost impossible to clean metal well enough, to not have metal oxides, paint and oil fumes or zinc oxide vapors.
Sorry to say you need to ventilate your welding space.
Robert

 

[Hitch]

You get a certain amount of fumes which tend to build up fast if there is no where for them to go. Its a combination of many things, from gas, wire, metal... you cant escape it.

Jave a read of this page


Is installing an extractor an option?

 

[bob_CBR]

I will sort this out.

Well as my house is very old. The cellar was for storing coal. Thus, T have a blocked up coal shoot that i guess i can convert to have some kind of extractor fan. This would sort my problem out. She misses is not very happy with me right now. LOL

Cheers all.

 

[Hitch]

Perhaps a seal on the door, the sort of thing you might find on an external door, and an extractor through the coal shoot, Welding bench right under it. It would be much better for you to have extraction aswell

 

[Rubber Duck]

Who owns the house where the cellar is?

If you do, then thuff **** carry on welding in the cellar. If she does then you'll have to find somewhere else to weld.

 

[runnach]

The misses is not very happy with me right now. LOL

Cheers all.

Time for a new model me thinks, put out an add for new lass with poor eye sight and, no sense of smell

 

[bill_gj]

Ermmm......shouldn't you be careful of setting the house alight? Any old rags or dust accumulations might smoulder if there's welding sparks about.

 

[Sparkey]

Time for a new model me thinks, put out an add for new lass with poor eye sight and, no sense of smell

Yeah or a lass who is a welder too....
I loooove the smell of some miggin' in the morning...


But i can understand what she's saying tho...for someone who isn't in the metal buisness it smells bad! My hubbie complains about me too sometimes...it seems to stay in your hair that smell...

 

[pedrobedro]

Unblock the chute grate and put a fan in there to blow it outside, let the neighbours have some as well Grinding and cutting discs are the worst for stinking the place up and that really hangs on your overalls.

 

[zzr1200]

She said the smell was bad and could see smoke/dust/fog in the air. I have a cold so can not smell anything.

So the questions are: what is the smell/fog in the air and am I missing key health and safety stuff?

Using a Clark 160T welding mild steel on max power using argon shield gas.

She now told me i can not weld in the cellar any more. LOL

I can understand the smell/dust/smoke....not nice inside the house.

H&S...Is it a good idea to be using "An Inert Gas" in a confined space, where the only ventilation is above your head, unless of course your well insured and the girl friend is the named beneficiary????

Clark 160 Mig welder with Argon, should it not be Co2/Argon Mix.

Sensible Girl you've got there, look for adverts for a workshop or buy a shed...

zzr

 

[bob_CBR]

LOL. Lots of good posts there.

Funny thing is she bought me the mig welder for Xmas, then the first time i use it i get "You can use that again in the house"

It is not like i have a shed or anywhere else to weld, but in the garden. It is to big to move up and down the stairs all the time.

Well today will be looking at sorting my welding area out. Have some kind of removable cover on the coal shoot, extractor fan, welding bench under extractor and seal the door better.

As for trading my Girl Friend in i will go no lower than two camels !!!

 

[bill_gj]

Certainly sounds as if you now have unspoken approval for a decent shed.

 

[TechnicAl]

If she can smell it upstairs you (in the cellar) are being over-exposed to the fumes. You should do something about it for for own health.

 

[bob_CBR]

no shed coming.

I kind of killed my hopes for a shed when i opted to have a 25, 000 litre koi pond.

 

[TechnicAl]

a shed would have been drier for welding

 

[Drains]

How about a floating shed then?

 

[Robotstar5]

Or a concete shed in the pond with watertight windows and you could watch the fish while you weld

 

[snowcat]

use the welder to make a submarine then weld in the submarine...

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

How about a floating shed then?

I can do you a nice line in floating duckhouses , bigger than the one I sold to you know who .. cheap at £25,000 as well.

Extracting fumes & smells from the basement is a must those fumes are heavier than air it is not only absorbed via your lungs , you injest it in your saliva and it ingresses through your exposed skin. That soup eventually hits your brain and nervous system. If your lass becomes pregnant it could also seriously affect the baby whilst it is developing and as it grows up.

When extracting have two extraction points, one on the floor and one at roof height , in the bottom of the cellar door have a swing one way inlet flap so that when you are exracting you are drawing air from within the house .. Don't have any windows open on the side that has the extractor when you are using it, for you will suck fumes back in , in an ever increasing re cycle .
Before you put the one way flap in have a think about doing it , possibly ducting the incoming air so that there is not a short circuit route direct to the extractor points , a bit of a clean air swirl around the walls and floor is very useful to scavenge fumes so a multi leg duct system is some
times needed.

That coal chute . Bung a decent grille on the outside and set it in concrete , put a UPVC window frame in the biggest part of the wall opening and then use marine ply to mount the extractor on the frame with lots of quality UPVC screws. That way if there is a prob with the fan at a later date you can easily remove it and blank the hole till you get it sorted.

Machine Mart used to do some 300 to 1,000 mm fans for such purposes.