Anyone splashed with electrolyte?

[BoyntonStu]

What was the electrolyte, how strong was it, was it hot or cold, where were you exposed, what happened?


BoyntonStu

[godoveryou]

Saltwater - nothing, dog loved it.

NaOH - Chemical Burn, forearm, I would guess 75F, typical 3%, hurt and itched for about 4 hours despite treatment.

KOH - Narrowly escaped a cell bursting due to unpredicted production spike while adjusting PWM and eating a sandwich. That's the last time lunch and HHO went together. No damage to equipment.

[Painless]

The last cell I tested had 2 teaspoons of KOH flake in 1.75 gallons of distilled water, I got some on my hands more than once but didn't notice any ill effects which surprised me, not even heat.

[mario brito]

What was the electrolyte, how strong was it, was it hot or cold, where were you exposed, what happened?


BoyntonStu

NaOH - 1 Deseart spoon / 1 liter water.

Temp - Not too hot.

Results : Skin burn in my hand. Nothing very nasty. Lost some hair that is growing again.

[overtaker]

Yes I was. I was testing a 60 plate design in my driveway ( big plates ) in a small garbage can. After the test I was pouring out the electrolyte and distilled water into a 5 gal. bucket when the bucket tipped over splashing me in the face, neck and arms. The electrolyte was a drain cleaner. I try to always have the hose on and a gal. of white vinegar on hand. Thankfully I did. I hosed off quickly and washed with the vinegar several times. I ended up with red marks on my face which went away after several days. Thankfully I wear glasses but I still should of been wearing my full-face shield. It was a scary moment for sure. Please be careful out there!

[redneck323]

I have taken my cell out of the car to change it since i wired it +-+-+- and obviously got too much heat it has been out for some time. I have been debating on what step im going to take next since money is tight. I wanna build a dry cell but time is an issue as well since i drive a tow truck my "me" time is very limited. I do want to build a dry cell and get to a point where i can trust a cell in the hands of my wife since she drives alot more. But anyhow i was talking to some friends today about it and decide to show them my cell completly not thinking i pulled it out open it up and put my hands all over it. A few min. later notice my hand starting to burn and then it hit me what i had done. So immediatly came here to the forum and did a search for chem burn cause i knew i couldn't be the only one to be so careless so now i sit here typing after washing in vinegar with a blister not bad but still burns. I was extremely surprised at the delay in the burn showing up must have been 5-10 min later ??? I would have thought it would be a quicker reaction then that but anyhow FOLKS be careful. Not only does it burn but is toxic has hexavalent chromium in it so i hear and after watching Erin Brokavich i dont think that stuff is no joke!! Any how good luck

[SmartScarecrow]

I've been working with this stuff for quite a while ... if you play with long enough, eventually you will have an unfortunate accident ... and yes, I have had a few ...

the worst one I experienced was last year at the Jarboe's Mill show in MD ... I had brought my gear to show only ... I had been told there would not be a 120vAC outlet available for me to run my gear so had not planned on actually demonstrating it in operation, just showing folks how it was built ...

late in the show, someone found an electrical outlet and twisted my arm, challenged me and basically goaded me into performing an unplanned demo of my HHO torch setup ... like an idiot, I complied ...

well, to make a long story short, I had a bit of an equipment malfunction related to a blown feed hose ... a lot of electrolyte in a lot of different directions ... I got a face full of it ... another fellow managed to breath in a decent quantity of electrolyte mist ... it was NOT fun at all ...

the only saving grace is that the fluid mix I typically use is weak enough that you could brush your teeth with it if you wanted ... I typically use about 20 grams of KOH in a gallon of distilled water as my standard ... so while it was a bit scary, and bless his heart, ZeroFossilFuel went into a panic attack over it, the resulting damage was really pretty minor ...

I think I got the worst of it with minor chemical burns on my hands that were healed within a few days ... some redness and irritation only ... the fellow who breathed in a bit of the stuff coughed for a few minutes but indicated no ill effects ...

yes, our devices on some conditions do produce minute quantities of hexchromium ... this should not be dismissed as a non-issue, but nor should it be held as being more of a problem than what it really is ... the volume of this material yanked out of the stainless steel is in most cases, insignificant ...

common sense handling of the material is all that is normally required ... we are not dealing with radioactive nuclear waste ... I tried to use some of my electrolyte fluid as week killer in my back yard ... sprayed that crab grass real good with the stuff ... crab grass was never healthier ...

[Q-Hack!]

AgNO3 - turned my hands black for a week.

[BoyntonStu]

AgNO3 - turned my hands black for a week.

When I experiment, I am always outside and I keep a mop bucket close by.

The bucket is filled with water with some vinegar added.

I also have an open gallon milk container with a higher concentration of vinegar in watwer nearby.

Finally, I keep an open gallon of vinegar.


When I "think" that I "may" have some electrolyte on my hands, I quickly dip my hands into the bucket.

I have had hot 20% KOH solution spray onto may hands, and by dunking them into the bucket, I was not injured.

If my hands get wet and if they feel slippery, in the bucket they go.


Lye and oil makes soap. Slippery.


FWIW

BoyntonStu

[H2OPWR]

In one of my previous video's I was using 8 cups of KOH per gallon (do not do that). When draining the solution quite a sew splashes came in contact with my hands. Horrible pain and burns that took three weeks to heal.

[Painless]

Despite my much earlier comment, I've since had maximum strength electrolyte poured all over my forearms and splashed up into my face. My glasses protected my eyes but some did manage to get on the soft skin inside my lips. That was sore as hell for a few days. The burn marks on my hands and forearms went away after about a week.

In short, always wear rubber gloves and BE CAREFUL!

[Q-Hack!]

In one of my previous video's I was using 8 cups of KOH per gallon (do not do that). When draining the solution quite a sew splashes came in contact with my hands. Horrible pain and burns that took three weeks to heal.

Ouch, I can't even imagine that kind of concentration.

I have experienced the slippery fingers with NaOH that you talk about Stu. I always have my 5 gallon bucket available for doing my volume testing. I just rinse my fingers off in the bucket and continue on.