<x-charset ISO-8859-1>Hi This, hopefully, is my first successful post. My 3 previous ones never appeared. Anyways. Methanol is not a major problem, provided you take reasonable precautions. We go through a fair bit of the stuff (several drums every month). We ground the drums, ventilate the area and make sure that fumes are removed. We've been using it for over 20 years with no injuries unless you count the guy who dropped a drum on his toe while showing how easy it was to handle the drums. Please don't ask for details, its a painful memory, but the toe only hurt for a couple of days. Gloves, eye protection and organic vapour masks are specified and not optional. The vapours are heavier than air and quite flammable at the right percentages, but then so is gas and cheap scotch. When I used to mix fuel for modified snowmobiles methanol was the least toxic of the stuff I used to use. Nitro Methane and Nitro Benzene were far worse while the 111 Trichorethylene we cleaned with is something I just don't want to think about. No gloves and no masks, just youth heavily laced with bravado and stupidity. If you use the stuff outside for racing or whatever then the vapours disperse unless you are in an enclosed area. In that case an organic vapour mask is not at all a bad idea and be careful of vapour buildup. There is quite a lot of information on toxicity at http://www.inchem.org/documents/hsg/hsg/v105hsg.htm. If you think you're going to get your hands wet I'd use latex gloves and not nitrile. Both provide excellent protection from methanol, but latex is better for NaOH. http://www.adenna.com/pdf/Chemicals%20Resistance.pdf . I'm assuming that you're mixing for biodiesel. By the way, bought my first biodiesel today in Unionville, Ontario. Ran my truck for a bit and in less than 10 kilometers the engine quieted down and seems much smoother. Subjective I know, but I think that I'll record some decibel readings at various speeds and then retry it with straight diesel. I've gotta get into production. Hope this helps Regards Paul Marks 2003 F250 SD Crewcab. 5months & 26,000 km 1984 300SD Mercedes (converting to WVO) 267,000 km 1988 GM 18' flatbed diesel - no idea of km various gas & propane & electric ----- Original Message ----- From: Go Hoff To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, March 05, 2004 10:09 AM Subject: [biofuel] Methanol Hazards - provocative mail
There are warnings all over alt fuel sites about dealing with methanol because of course it is nasty poisonous stuff. I have not been experimenting with the process cuss the info on 'journey' and elsewhere scared me. However I just started re-talking to an old friend who has been driving methanol race cars for 34 years. He is a non drooling family man with 5 children and a multitude of grandchildren with a vitality many 30 year olds lack. Apart from messing with methanol 6 months of the year he does a lot of head slamming, violent body 'G' forced exercises, explosions, engulfing fires and heavy disagreements between crew and promoters - between rounds, routinely. I get the impression that he and his crew sort of slop methanol around from the barrel to the container to the race car - he assures me they do not wear special clothing or breathing apparatus, he doesn't remember if they wear gloves but supposes they do if they have them on at the time. I remember buying an USA made hammer in the 70*s it was hung with labels and stuff saying to wear protective glasses, gloves, overalls etc and to keep children and pets away, not to leave it unattended and to hide it or lock it up from potential thieves - failure to do any of that stuff would void it's warranty - it was a hammer for goodness sakes - are you Americans nuts? Anyway, I would really like to know if anyone has died by handling - not drinking because that is deathly - methanol, and if so if the poison intrudes through the skin or the airways. Hmm... I Guess this is a bit beyond our competence maybe but even my doctor agrees, stay curiouse - try and work it out. Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ </x-charset>
