We still have mercury thermometers in our homes. Few housewives trust their electronic counterparts. Therefore, the question of how to collect mercury at home if the thermometer is accidentally broken still remains relevant.
Assembling houses
Liquid mercury is a strong poison. At a temperature of 16–20 degrees it begins to evaporate quite quickly. If you constantly breathe mercury vapor, it will gradually accumulate in the body. In addition, many people admit serious mistakes, not knowing how to properly collect mercury.
Flowing from the thermometer, the liquid metal appears as hundreds of very small silvery balls. They can spread throughout the apartment. Some balls will break, turning into fine dust, which will settle on all objects in the room.
Be sure to open the window - you need to ventilate the room from harmful fumes. This will need to be done throughout the week, while avoiding drafts.
When starting to collect harmful metal, make sure that you are wearing latex gloves. Put shoe covers on your feet, and if you don’t have them, wrap regular bags around your shoes.
Don't forget also about a damp gauze bandage that will cover your nose and mouth tightly enough. This will help you avoid inhaling mercury fumes.
Never collect mercury with a vacuum cleaner. You should also not use a broom. It will only crush mercury balls.
There are several reasons for this:
- The liquid metal will settle on the internal parts of the vacuum cleaner, making it a mercury distributor.
- By heating up, the vacuum cleaner will only increase harmful fumes.
- If you use a vacuum cleaner or broom, mercury will spread throughout the room even faster.
Then a logical question arises: how to collect mercury from the floor.
How to do it right
You can collect mercury balls with an adhesive plaster, tape, syringe or wet paper. From my own experience, it is best to use adhesive tape.
You can also use a soft brush: sweep the mercury balls onto a piece of paper.
Place all used material, broken thermometer, and rubber gloves in a jar filled with water. Carefully close the container with a lid.
Remember, mercury should not be thrown away with garbage or washed down the drain. This is very dangerous for environment.
After all the mercury has been collected, the room must be washed with any disinfectant. This could be a solution of potassium permanganate, chloramine, or bleach.
As a last resort regular one will do soap solution. With these products you need to wash not only the floor, but also the walls of the room where the thermometer was broken.
Mercury on the carpet
Sometimes a thermometer can break on the carpet. What to do to collect mercury from the carpet?
First of all, you need to roll the rug from the edges to the center. This is done so that the balls do not scatter throughout the room. For the same purpose, the carpet must be placed in polyethylene or packaging film.
Hang the carpet product outside, but before doing this, do not forget to put cellophane under it. Knock out the carpet with gentle blows and leave it to freshen up for a while.
Remember, carpeting and things that contained mercury must be aired for 3 months.
Clothes should never be machine washed. It will be better if you get rid of such things.
Finally, a few tips:
- After you have collected all the mercury and cleaned the room, invite special services to your home to check the level of mercury vapor concentration.
- Use carefully ferric chloride to treat the room. This chemical compound in itself is quite toxic.
- The process of collecting mercury can take a long time, so stop every 10 to 15 minutes and drink plenty of fluids.
- One thermometer contains about 2 grams of mercury, which can pollute 6 thousand cubic meters of air. Therefore, do not throw away mercury with regular trash.
Be careful with items containing mercury. If possible, it is better to replace them with safer analogues.
About how to get rid of broken thermometer Few citizens know. Many people simply throw out damaged thermometer elements and make a standard wet cleaning premises. However, careless handling of a substance of the first hazard class can lead to serious health complications. If you think about how to remove a broken thermometer, at home it turns out that there are no available means. Even if you try to thoroughly clean and remove visible particles from the floor surface, mercury can remain in the room for up to 30 years.
Despite the fact that the metal balls are not dangerous to humans, the substance begins to actively evaporate, entering the air of the room. How to remove mercury at home correctly is not something you should think about. It will not be possible to neutralize harmful fumes using household cleaning products.
How to remove a broken thermometer?
You should know that mercury vapor does not have a specific odor or color, which is why it is impossible to detect foci of its spread on your own. Household advice on how to remove mercury from a thermometer using paper, a brush, tape and other improvised means will not help in completely cleaning the room.
Attention, mercury does not react to the following substances:
- Salt;
- Vinegar;
- Soda;
- Alkaline cleaning agents;
- Chlorine;
- Lemon acid.
You can find out how to remove mercury from a thermometer correctly by calling hotline on-duty team of environmental assistance specialists. They eliminate toxic substances using special demercurization solutions.
How to collect mercury from a thermometer yourself?
There are no special connections for cleaning a room at home. In order to neutralize mercury vapor, special laboratory conditions will be required. Although visible particles may be collected on their own, there will be metal balls in hard-to-reach areas.
In addition, many people make the mistake of trying to collect mercury without an individual suit. chemical protection. No one knows how to collect mercury from hands. When coming into contact with poison of the highest hazard class, special precautions must be taken.
How to remove mercury if a thermometer is broken on the floor?
Most often, the thermometer can be damaged if it hits the floor or other hard surfaces. Use dry or wet cleaning in this case not advisable. Mercury from a broken thermometer on the parquet cannot be removed with a vacuum cleaner or broom. Specialists treat the floor with a demercurization solution until it is completely clean.
How to remove mercury from a broken thermometer on a carpet?
The substance is absorbed especially quickly into any types of fabric products. That is why, if toxic metal gets on any fabric surface, be it a sofa or carpet, it will lead to complete contamination. It is impossible to clean such products. You shouldn’t think about how to reassemble a broken thermometer in this case - the interior items will need to be thrown away. Otherwise, the daily evaporation of harmful vapors into the air of the apartment will follow.
Is it possible to collect mercury from a broken thermometer from the bathroom?
It happens that a person, due to inexperience, may try to pour mercury into the water supply. There are no ways to collect mercury from water. This situation can be considered the most dangerous, since the entire water supply system will be contaminated. The threat lies in the daily consumption of liquid supplied from the tap. You should find out in advance how to properly reassemble a broken thermometer without consequences or poisoning.
How to collect mercury from a broken thermometer in bed?
The problem is that the substance is quickly absorbed into any porous surfaces and instantly begins to evaporate. The mercury that fell on sleeping area, infects him completely. It is recommended to change the furniture, and check the room where the mercury spill occurred using a mercury metric complex. The specialists who carry out control measurements will give instructions on how to reassemble the broken mercury thermometer correctly and without consequences. The gas analyzers they use in their work allow them to accurately determine the source of harmful fumes.
How to collect mercury from a broken thermometer without consequences?
It is advisable to contact the on-duty specialists of the Mercury Service. They search for harmful substances along the entire perimeter of the apartment; all interior items are examined. When a thermometer is broken, mercury penetrates into places that are difficult to explore on your own. In addition, after carrying out demercurization work, specialists will eliminate all particles of the damaged device. In this way, not only will the air in the apartment be purified, but also the contamination of other residents of the house with mercury will be prevented - a thermometer thrown into the trash container also carries a danger.
All people monitor their health to one degree or another. If you feel unwell, you need to measure your body temperature. This simple and safe procedure allows you to quickly and accurately determine the condition of the body.
Mercury thermometers are most often used for this purpose, since they are inexpensive and more accurate than their electronic counterparts. The disadvantage of glass mercury thermometers is that they tend to break.
Leaked mercury can cause serious harm to the human body, so you need to be able to quickly and correctly remove it from the surface on which it has landed. Despite the rarity of such situations, everyone should know how to collect mercury from the floor.
Why is mercury dangerous for humans?
Most often, mercury spills from a broken thermometer or lamp.
Mercury is the only metal that room temperature is in a liquid state. It is a white-silver liquid that begins to evaporate already at +18°C.
In order for mercury to turn into a solid, it must be cooled to -38°C, which is difficult to achieve at home. From a broken thermometer it flows out in the form of balls scattering across the floor in all directions. Balls of mercury rolled into different places at room temperature begin to evaporate, poisoning the air.
Mercury poisoning occurs when excess mercury vapor enters the human body. When air with a mercury content of 0.25 mg per 1 m3 of air is inhaled, the substance settles in the lungs.
At higher concentrations, liquid metal vapors are absorbed by the lungs and human skin.
One thermometer contains 2 grams of substance, which in milligrams is 2000 mg. This amount of mercury can poison from 6000 to 8000 m3 of air with rapid evaporation. The air volume in an apartment with an area of 50-60 m2 is 125-150 m3. If a thermometer breaks, the volume of the dangerous substance may be enough to poison 10 people.
The most dangerous thing is mercury vapor
Poisoning at low concentrations of the substance does not occur instantly, although in some cases a weak organism that is not resistant to mercury can receive an excess dose in a matter of minutes.
Once ingested, mercury settles in human organs, causing great harm to the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, brain and skin. The first symptoms may appear after several hours, so it is difficult to immediately determine the degree of poisoning.
Metal vapor poisoning occurs very quickly
The first symptoms include weakness and dizziness. Then comes nausea and migraine. Further, an upset stomach, pain in the throat and bleeding from the gums and nose begin. All this leads to high fever, cough and inflammation of the lungs, which are accompanied by swelling, including swelling of the respiratory tract. In extreme cases, a mental disorder occurs where the person's consciousness may become unsettled.
The great danger is that mercury is odorless, tasteless and brightly colored. The so-called silver water can for a long time remain completely invisible to humans.
It is important to know that children and women are more susceptible to mercury poisoning.
Safe mercury removal
Before collecting mercury from a broken thermometer, you need to quickly make some preparations. It is also necessary to quickly select the appropriate tools in order to completely get rid of the harmful substance.
Initial steps
If the thermometer breaks and mercury rolls out in balls on the floor, the first thing you need to do is remove the children from the room. Then, all those who will not participate in the cleaning, including pets, must leave it.
After all the unnecessary people have left the room, you need to open the windows to enter Fresh air. The door must be tightly closed. It is advisable to carry out the ventilation procedure in such a way that drafts do not carry air into other rooms.
You can collect metal balls with a syringe or syringe
Before collecting mercury from a thermometer from the floor, you need to protect yourself with gloves and a cotton-gauze bandage. It is advisable to have rubberized or completely rubber gloves. A bandage for respiratory protection can be soaked in soda solution. This will give greater protection. You can make a bandage yourself from bandages or gauze.
You should not step on mercury balls, so it is better to wear some shoes wrapped in cellophane on your feet.
Before removing the mercury, all the fragments of the broken thermometer are collected. To avoid cutting yourself, you need to carefully place them in a jar of water, which can later be closed with a lid and given for disposal.
All these measures must be taken before collecting mercury. The most important thing is to take care of the safety of others.
How and with what mercury is collected
Mercury must be collected in a container with water. This is done so that the liquid metal cools and stops evaporating. For more information about collecting mercury, watch this video:
The following devices are well suited for collecting mercury balls.
- Syringe - a medical rubber bulb is very suitable for collecting harmful mercury balls. Even balls that have rolled into the cracks are pulled into it.
- A large syringe without a needle, like a syringe, will work well to draw in harmful liquid metal.
- Mercury beads stick well to tape, adhesive tape and adhesive tape.
- Using a brush, you can remove balls of the substance by rolling them onto a sheet of paper or foil. Then, the harmful material collected on the sheet must be placed in a jar of water.
- Cotton wool soaked in water, sunflower oil or potassium permanganate can also be used to collect mercury. She will stick to them.
The most important thing is to clean calmly, consistently and carefully. If you use protective equipment, mercury vapor will not cause much harm. Therefore, after completing the initial steps in in the prescribed manner, you can sequentially start assembling the rolled balls. It is important to place all collected elements in a container of water, which must be kept closed.
Room treatment and precautions
After cleaning, the room in which the mercury has scattered must be thoroughly washed. This can be done using a chlorine-containing liquid. It is necessary to wash the floor, baseboard and, if possible, walls with a chlorine solution. The chlorine solution must be left for 15-20 minutes, then rinsed off clean water. For more information about cleaning principles, watch this video:
The room must be ventilated daily for 7-10 days. It is advisable to maintain a high temperature inside the room so that the remaining mercury can evaporate and leave the room. Ventilation is carried out at dense closed door to avoid drafts and movement of potentially hazardous air into other rooms.
You cannot stay in the room overnight until the preventive treatment is completed. Rolled under the baseboard or into something else hard to reach place A ball of mercury can cause considerable harm to human health.
Personal hygiene measures after cleaning
Personal clothing used for cleaning must be hung outside for ventilation. Then it must be chemically cleaned.
After finishing cleaning, you must wash your hands with soap. Then you need to thoroughly brush your teeth and rinse your mouth with a manganese solution. After this, you can take a shower to cleanse your entire body.
For preventive purposes, a person removing mercury can take up to 10 tablets of activated carbon. It is also recommended to drink as much as possible throughout the day. more water, from 3 to 5 l.
All other interior items that have had contact with mercury are collected and taken outside. They can only be used after chemical treatment.
The first drug for mercury poisoning is activated carbon
Depending on the complexity of the situation, you can contact specialized services that will help eliminate the infection. Work like state organizations based on sanitary and epidemiological stations, as well as private companies certified in this area.
As a last resort, you can contact the emergency response service by calling hotline 01 to receive advice and procedures for the time it takes for the rapid response vehicle to arrive.
Mercury in different quantities found in thermometers, thermometers, fluorescent lamps, televisions and other equipment.
If this metal, harmful to human health, gets into the open space, you need to carefully and consistently carry out the entire range of actions aimed at protecting nearby people.
Mercury vapor is a strong poison. It is important to remember this when coming into contact with her beautiful white and silver balls.