A Thermometer In An Apartment Crashed: What To Do, How And How To Collect Mercury At Home, How Long It Takes To Dry Out Of The Apartment

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

What to do if a thermometer breaks in an apartment

Probably, more than one adult can remember how in childhood he played with enthusiasm with small balls of mercury, naturally, not knowing what it is. And what horror gripped the parents when they noticed it … A broken mercury thermometer is a frequent phenomenon, but therefore no less dangerous, so it is very important to know what to do to correctly neutralize its particles in the corners of the apartment.

Content

• 1 What is the danger of a broken mercury thermometer

  • 1.1 Why mercury vapors are dangerous for different households
  • 1.2 Symptoms of mercury poisoning
  • 1.3 What is mercury and what is the danger of poisoning with this metal - video

• 2 What to do if it crashed in the apartment: rules for cleaning the room

  • 2.1 What not to do if a thermometer breaks in the house
  • 2.2 How to properly collect mercury and what not to do - video

What is the danger of a broken mercury thermometer

In 2007, the use of mercury thermometers in European countries was banned, but this has not yet affected our state. The inhabitants of our country still use an extremely accurate but dangerous temperature measuring device. It is worth noting that the danger in the thermometer is not the metal itself, but its ions, which are formed during the oxidation of mercury in the fresh air.

Mercury as a metal is safe in itself, but the vapors formed during its oxidation are very dangerous to health

When the temperature rises above +18 degrees, the evaporation of mercury begins. And just metal vapors are extremely toxic. When you inhale them, they reach your lungs, where mercury is oxidized by special enzymes. It is the oxidized metal that causes destructive processes in the body.

Why are mercury vapor dangerous for different households?

In general, the danger of mercury vapor is its destructive effect on nerve cells. Mercury poisoning in children can cause mental retardation and severe nervous disorders. If a child ate such a ball, you will see the result almost instantly - the face will turn blue, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting will appear. In this case, the baby should be drunk with a slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate or milk and induce vomiting, while calling an ambulance.

Pregnant women are also at a special risk zone, since couples, getting into a woman's body, cross the placenta and directly affect the unborn child. As a result - incurable malformations, its delay or fetal freezing, serious illnesses.

Never leave a small child alone with a thermometer to avoid spillage and swallowing of mercury

Mercury poisoning symptoms

In the acute stage, intoxication with mercury vapor can manifest itself as follows:

• loss of appetite;
• the head starts to hurt;
• gums swell and begin to bleed;
• it becomes painful to swallow;
• a metallic taste appears in the oral cavity;
• saliva is abundant;
• nausea and vomiting occur;
• severe abdominal pain, sometimes accompanied by diarrhea with blood;
• pneumonia develops quite often;
• in the most serious cases of poisoning, death is possible after a few days.

Depending on the state of health of the person, some signs of poisoning may not appear.

With a small amount of scattered mercury, you may not feel the effects of poisoning in any way. But, if the metal is not removed from the home, after a while, accumulating in the body, it will manifest itself. Thus, you may feel constant tiredness and sleepiness. Irritability will periodically manifest, headaches often begin, intelligence will decrease, memory will become worse, attentiveness will weaken.

A persistent headache is one of the signs of chronic mercury poisoning

With a long stay in a room where mercury was once scattered, pressure decreases, the heart begins to fail, and hand tremors develop (tremors). In children, all of these symptoms appear much faster and are more acute.

What is mercury and what is the danger of poisoning with this metal - video

What should be done first of all in case of a thermometer break:

• remove from the premises children, animals and everyone who is not involved in demercurization (disposal of mercury);
• open all vents and windows to reduce the air temperature (the lower the temperature, the slower the mercury evaporates) and airing;
• close the door to the room where the thermometer broke in order to avoid the spread of mercury vapors to other rooms;
• at the entrance to the contaminated room, lay a rag soaked in a manganese solution (2 g of substance per 1 liter of water, or a slightly pink solution);
• call the nearest department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, asking for help;
• start cleaning the room.

What to do if he crashed in an apartment: rules for cleaning a room

1. First of all, the person who will remove the remnants of mercury from the room must protect himself from its effects. To do this, wear a disposable medical mask on your face or tie a cloth dipped in water or soda solution around your nose and mouth. Protect hands with rubber gloves. You need to pull shoe covers or ordinary plastic bags on your feet, which should be removed when leaving the infected room.

Do not collect mercury balls with a vacuum cleaner, hard broom or mop. This will lead to even greater crushing and acceleration of the spread of poisonous metal vapors

2. Prepare in advance for storing the collected mercury a glass jar filled up to half or two thirds with water or a pink solution of potassium permanganate. To make the metal clearly visible, direct the light of a table lamp or lantern to it from the side. Roll large mercury particles with smooth movements with a soft brush on a sheet of paper, and then pour into a jar.

3. Begin collecting the mercury. Use a syringe, a needleless syringe, and a small brush to collect small silver balls. When assembling, pay special attention to the gaps between the floorboards, the space under the baseboard and other indentations where mercury may have rolled. To remove the silvery balls from the crevices, pour in sand and sweep with a soft brush.

A syringe and syringe can help you collect mercury hands-free

Mercury can be removed from the carpet with adhesive plaster or tape; a magnet is also suitable. If possible, the carpet can be hung on the street for ventilation for at least a month, but even then it is not a fact that this will completely cleanse it of mercury residues. It is advisable to wash the carpet in a soap and soda solution.

Mercury can be collected from a bed or sofa with your hands, protected by rubber gloves, or with two sheets of paper. In this case, it is imperative to call representatives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations to check the level of contamination of the room with poisonous vapors. If some of the balls have managed to evaporate and soak into the upholstered furniture or mattress, they will no longer be able to be used.

Sometimes, unknowingly, mercury gets into the toilet. And, if the balls have not yet settled on the bottom of the toilet or have not entered the drain, they can be removed from there. For this you can use an enema. You can also carefully pick out all the water in the drain and pick out the mercury with a magnet or with your rubber gloved hand.

Pink potassium permanganate solution is the best way to neutralize mercury

4. Disinfect the room. To do this, wipe all surfaces with a light pink solution of manganese (this concentration will be enough to neutralize the metal) or a solution of soda and soap (40 g of laundry soap grated on a coarse grater and 30 g of baking soda are taken per liter of water). You can wash off this disinfectant from surfaces after two days. During this time, the solution will neutralize the smallest particles of mercury that have settled on different surfaces of the room. If mercury gets on your hands, they are thoroughly washed in the same solution.

It is advisable to immerse all items used for collection in the same jar, if it fits, or in hermetically sealed bags. After collecting the mercury, you should contact the Ministry of Emergencies to find out how to dispose of the collected silver poison. It is also desirable that they come to measure the level of contamination of the room with mercury and, if necessary, carry out its professional demercurization.

The container into which the broken thermometer and mercury from it were immersed should be hermetically closed and handed over to the Ministry of Emergency Situations for disposal

What not to do if a thermometer breaks in the house

• It is very dangerous to vacuum the place where the thermometer crashed, as the deadly balls will be crushed even more, and the mercury vapor will remain in place. In this case, the unit itself will be contaminated with poisonous metal. If the contaminated room was nevertheless cleaned with a vacuum cleaner, the device should be carefully placed in two bags and tightly tied, and then taken out of the house to a place where mercury-containing items are disposed of. The room should then be re-demercurized using the methods described above;
• you can not remove mercury with your bare hands, you should definitely use latex or rubber gloves;
• do not use cleaning agents to clean the area where the thermometer has broken. Certain chemicals can react with mercury, creating gases that threaten your health;
• you must not walk in rooms that are not contaminated with mercury in shoes that have come into contact with toxic metal, otherwise other rooms will also be contaminated;
• it is dangerous to throw mercury balls into the trash can, as this metal will gradually poison the entire environment;
• do not throw mercury into the furnace - the smoke coming out of it together with the residual vapors also poisons people and nature;
• mercury must not be discharged into the sewer. When it gets into it, suspended vapors are formed, polluting the entire sewer system and continuing to slowly destroy the health of all residents of a multi-storey and private house;
• it is unacceptable to wash objects and things contaminated with mercury in the washing machine. The device will be contaminated with its fumes, and mercury will also enter the wastewater.

How to properly collect mercury and what not to do - video

Reviews

Now you know what to do if a thermometer breaks in the house. And if a similar situation occurs in your home, do not get confused and protect your household from poisonous mercury fumes.