removing solder fumes

[SimonW]

Dear All,

I find myself using the soldering iron more frequently these days. I am concerned about the impact of solder fumes on my health.

Being short sighted means I can see things in more detail closeup than normal sighted people (without specs). When I solder the fumes immeditaly go up me nose. :-<.

What choices are avaiable for the hobbyist?, any homemade solutions?

Cheers!

 

[Hero999]

Use PC power supply fan or even a vacuum cleaner to suck the fumes away from you.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

You can buy fume extractors, even ones which actually fit on your soldering iron. However, your concerns are probably completely groundless?.

I was part of a government study a couple of years ago, into this very issue.

The only concern was the flux used (which has now been changed for one that's nowhere near as good!) - apparently there was a suspicion that there was a VERY slight possibility that the flux fumes may trigger asthma attacks in a VERY tiny percentage of asthma sufferers. The tests I was involved in were for service engineers, who solder on a daily basis, but not continually like on a production line.

The outcome was that fume extraction should be used in a production environment (soldering 8 hours a day), but there was no need for any such precautions in a service environment.

However, I don't even believe there was any conclusive evidence that it caused any problems in the first place, even for production workers.

 

[andy257]

You can buy fume extractors, even ones which actually fit on your soldering iron. However, your concerns are probably completely groundless?.

I was part of a government study a couple of years ago, into this very issue.

The only concern was the flux used (which has now been changed for one that's nowhere near as good!) - apparently there was a suspicion that there was a VERY slight possibility that the flux fumes may trigger asthma attacks in a VERY tiny percentage of asthma sufferers. The tests I was involved in were for service engineers, who solder on a daily basis, but not continually like on a production line.

The outcome was that fume extraction should be used in a production environment (soldering 8 hours a day), but there was no need for any such precautions in a service environment.

However, I don't even believe there was any conclusive evidence that it caused any problems in the first place, even for production workers.

Nigel has been inhaling solder fumes for many many years and he turned out ok didnt he???? maybe its made him a bit grumpy but that could just be old age.

lol

on a more serious note i solder almost everyday at work and we have bench fume extractors specifically for soldering. Although ive inhaled my fair share of fumes i dont think it will cause too much harm if your using approved solder.

Andy

 

[Hero999]

I don't know whether they're any long term heath effects though breathing flux fumes is uncomfortable and they do seem to irritate my chest so I'd rather not breath them if I can help it.

 

[Ambient]

the fumes will come at you just because you are breathing in. I usually just slowly exhale while soldering a joint. It works. And also open up a window to get a slight breeze.