Epoxy Gas?

[BillyBudd]

With 2" of snow on the ground, my boat building effots switched tack. Yesterday I epoxied several small plywood sheets outside (using house-warm epoxy), took them into the house, wrapped them in sheet plastic and now (next morning) they have set up. Questions: Does epoxy give off gas, fumes, stuff into the air that is harmful? I do wear a mask when mixing, applying as the books suggest. So is storing the wet sheets in the house a bad idea?

[Jim Mathieson]

Yes the wet epoxy gives off fumes.I'm thinking of doing a similar thing with my bulkheads this year .I plan on putting up plastic sheeting to block the air in the porch room with woodstove going low.
You could cover the sheets in plastic taped at the edges .

[paul oman]

Nearly all the epoxies these days are "100% solids" which is to say 0% VOC (zero volatile organic solvents) - however they may still smell slightly, especially the curing agent which has a similar structure to ammonia.

paul oman
www.epoxyproducts.com/marine.html (http://www.epoxyproducts.com/marine.html)

[Jim Mathieson]

OK Paul,
I'm actually using your premium brand,does this mean I don't need a good 3M filtered mask on when wetting out glass and it can cure in house?

[George Roberts]

The part you smell is not good for you.

100% reactive solids means that all that you smell will try to react with your mouth, nose, and lungs. Lacking a reaction site it will pass though your mucus membranes and try to react internally.

Do what you can to avoid casual contact with your epoxy.

[JimD]

I have no idea what is or isn't in any epoxy gasses but I have used several brands and they all seem to make me wheeze and itch. Which makes me one of those epoxy sensitive guys I suppose and if you develop these symptoms you may have to take more careful precautions than most people.

[Jim Mathieson]

I got sensitised when sanding green(uncured) epoxy!!
Now a rash appears on my forarms from epoxy sanding dust!
I'll tred softly here with a 3M chemical filtered mask and use longer gloves like Vets use now!

[Wild Wassa]

Oyster Mike, sent me a photo of epoxy burns or an industrial dermatitis(?) on a face. I told him that I thought that I had epoxy burns to my upper eye lids from the fumes. The photograph that Oyster sent to me, looked bad, my eye lids were bad.

The problem was easily rectified (for me) by using a barrier cream for a week or two then, which is still needed when I'm standing over fumes for long periods. I thought that the burns, the reaction that I had, was from the hardener's fumes. Each time I used the hardener or even openned the hardener, I had a reaction, until I started using the barrier cream. The problem was only short term, a while back, for which I'm thankful but watchful.

Warren.

[ 11-15-2004, 09:11 PM: Message edited by: Wild Wassa ]

[kc8pql]

Originally posted by Wild Wassa:
Oyster Mike, sent me a photo of epoxy burns or an industrial dermatitis(?) on a face. I told him that I thought that I had epoxy burns to my upper eye lids from the fumes. .This must be a really individulized thing depending on body chemistry or something. I went through about 75 gals. of epoxy on my boat and never got so much as a pimple.

[Wild Wassa]

An accident, as told to me by an ex-convenor of the Health and Safety Group of the Master Painter's Association, here in Canberra.

About forty years ago, painters were electrostatically spraying epoxy in a new building, MacArthur House. At dusk one of the painters switched the room lights on, on one of the floors, causing a spark which caused the vapours to ignite, killing seven painters, in the explosion. A very bad reaction to have with fumes.

Warren.

[ 11-15-2004, 09:43 PM: Message edited by: Wild Wassa ]

[kc8pql]

I suspect that may have been caused by solvent thinner.

[ 11-15-2004, 09:47 PM: Message edited by: kc8pql ]

[ion barnes]

You can never have too much ventilation. But individual people do react individually. There are some accent sprays and perfumes that the moment I smell them, my sinuses swell up! And yet epoxy and polyester resin, cedar dust, pine dust, etc do not affect me.

One item though, some people do not realize they have an alergy to latex. It has become a serious issue in hospitals but still not identified as a problem the public domain.

[Bruce Hooke]

This post from Paul Oman ended up on the Teredo Navalis thread...I think it was supposed to be in this thread:


Originally posted by paul oman:
all the epoxy chemists I have worked with take great care not to touch the epoxy with their skin but none worry about fumes.

paul oman
progressive epoxy polymers

[BillyBudd]

The only smell that comes to my nose from wet and uncured epoxy is something like toast -- the same smell that comes about when mixing two little tubes of epoxy from a hardware store. But, in my example of 3 smallish pieces of plywood, I wrapped them in sheet plastic to contain them (but didn't tape it shut) and left that near to the woodstove. When I came in to the house, there was no noticeable smell even when standing by the stove, but when I put my nose down to this package, there was. Then I moved it to an out of the way closet for the night. Did this for 2 coats and then, yesterday, with reasonably warm weather in the forecast, I struck.

With a high yesterday of 48, I used the RAKA cold cure epoxy, got the 3 pieces on the boat, covered the top piece with plastic and placed an old electric blanket on that and heated it (temperatures around 60F+ under the blanket) until after dinner. I'm not too easy about leaving an unattended electric blanket on all night in a barn, so I switched it off. The epoxy was firm by 6PM and will progress more tomorrow and, besides...Would raccoons have slipped under that blankie for a snooze?

I've not had any reaction...yet, from epoxy. But I wear latex gloves, mask, glasses, long sleeves.

[Russell Sova]

I thought these fumes were a proven carcinogenic. The industries that use epoxy are required to wear protective equipment to meet OSHA requirements.

[Bruce Hooke]

Originally posted by Russell Sova:
I thought these fumes were a proven carcinogenic. The industries that use epoxy are required to wear protective equipment to meet OSHA requirements.The West System MSDS's are located here (http://www.westsystem.com/frames/tier3/usingepoxy/msds.htm) . I just looked over the ones for 105 Resin and 205 and 206 Hardener. I did not look at all of the MSDS's and I did not check other manufacturer's MDS's. I am by no means anything like an expert in industrial safety or any related field. THAT SAID, if I am reading these documents correctly, these products do not appear to be or contain known carcinogens in any sort of meaningful quantity. The implications of the sections about inhalation appear to be that if you are only using epoxy in small quantities, then inhalation should not be an issue, and even if you are coating large areas, if you have good ventilation then no respirator is called for. If you are covering large surfaces with epoxy and do not have good ventilation then put on a respirator. If you are heating the epoxy then have good venilation and a respirator as well as a good fire extinguisher at the ready!

As is always the problem with applying an MSDS outside an industrial setting, what they say is that there must be "adequate ventilation" but without trained safety specialists with fancy equipment it is pretty hard to determine what "adequate" is. So, one is left to read between the lines...

Also, REMEMBER, there are MANY formulations of epoxy out there. Some may well be very carcinogenic because of specific materials used in their formulation.

[Wild Wassa]

Originally posted by kc8pql:
"I suspect that may have been caused by solvent thinner."

There could have been a dust component as well, that helped ... but I'm guessing. Electrostatic spraying and dust have caused explosions.

Warren.

[ 11-17-2004, 12:24 PM: Message edited by: Wild Wassa ]