Re: Tank cleaning and descaling.

by mikethebike Sun Jan 19, 2014 2:26 pm

Dutto wrote:Mike,

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a "bleaching agent" (as used in hairdressing salons to produce "peroxide blondes") but it is not the stuff we commonly refer to as "bleach" and buy in the shop.

This is sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) which is a chlorine compound.

Sorry.

Ian

Reference:
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PS I stick two litres of Tesco's Thin Bleach into my rainwater system at least once a month to keep the bacteria at bay.

Ian, i bow to your chemical knowledge.
However us laymen call all those products bleach.
i believe sodium hypochlorite reacts unfavourable with an acid to give Chlorine gas.Not a nice gas to breath.
That's why i used a qualified chemist in my factory,not me.!
regards
mike h&s uppermost.

by Dutto Sun Jan 19, 2014 3:03 pm

Mike,

One of my favourite memories of an oil refinery I worked on was talking to one of the "Lab Rats" after taking in a few samples for analysis.

"You wouldn't get me working out there." he said "Those furnaces, columns and compressors are too dangerous for me."

He then stuck his head under a vapour extraction cabinet and sucked neat Tetra-Methyl Lead (TML) from a bottle into a pipette with his mouth!

I tip-toed away in fear to get back out to the furnaces, columns and compressors!!!

Best regards,
drinksallround

Ian

by mikethebike Sun Jan 19, 2014 4:25 pm

Hi Ian, i will not scare you with my stories in Electroplating.
Suffice to say i had more than enough Sodium Cyanide solution to kill all of Luton town.
i had the only antidote, that had to be used very quickly.The local hospitals appeared to not keep that.
Unfortunately if you use it and the person did not have Cyanide poisoning it was very nasty!!
I never used it thankfully.
The same in the Forces, i was NBC qualified, and I knew about Nerve gas and had seen the antidote,i forget the name, maybe Antropine? but it was a large syringe full and that was dangerous if given by mistake.!!
maybe not up to the standard of your stories however.

regards

mike

by Dutto Sun Jan 19, 2014 8:53 pm

mikethebike wrote:Hi Ian, i will not scare you with my stories in Electroplating.
Suffice to say i had more than enough Sodium Cyanide solution to kill all of Luton town.
i had the only antidote, that had to be used very quickly.The local hospitals appeared to not keep that.
Unfortunately if you use it and the person did not have Cyanide poisoning it was very nasty!!
I never used it thankfully.
The same in the Forces, i was NBC qualified, and I knew about Nerve gas and had seen the antidote,i forget the name, maybe Antropine? but it was a large syringe full and that was dangerous if given by mistake.!!
maybe not up to the standard of your stories however.

regards

mike

Mike,

The antidote for cyanide gas poisoning is Amyl Nitrate.

As you point out, the local hospitals don't seem to carry it which is why mate and I used to carry it with us when we went out on forest protection work gassing rabbits with Cymag.

It comes in a fabric covered glass ampoule that you are supposed to break under the victim's nose and then tell them to breath in deeply.

I understand that, apart from it also being used as an antidote for certain nerve gases in the Armed Forces, it is also much favoured as a stimulant during certain same-sex sexual encounters!

When I informed my mate, a retired Gunnery CPO from the Royal Navy, of it's alternative use as a sexual stimulant his response was immediate "I bloody knew it." he said, "If it's any good keep it to yourself. That's probably why the Officers always held on to the key to the onboard cabinet."

When I pointed out the "same-sex" element it just seemed to confirm his views! Whistle1

Luckily, I have never had to use any of the ampoules whilst gassing rabbits; or during any other activities!! wave

Best regards,
drinksallround

Ian

by Bartfarst Sun Jan 19, 2014 10:05 pm

A few years ago I needed to remove the fresh water tank from our Harmony for maintenance. Rather than scale, the contamination most evident was sand, a surprising amount of which was present. I can only assume that somewhere on our travels we'd taken on board some duff water, or it had got washed into the vents. Remember there are four holes in the top of a Harmony tank which are prone to loosing the drilled bungs essentially making them open to the atmosphere.

by inspiredron Sun Jan 19, 2014 10:18 pm

I recall filling our water tank once in Brussels. A couple of weeks later when I emptied the tank at home there was an amazing amount of sand at the bottom ehich had not been there before the fillup in Brussels!

by mikethebike Mon Jan 20, 2014 1:43 pm

Hi Ian, regarding the antidotes.(1) Cyanide.
Yes i remember the capsules but there was another antidote that you would not be able to buy,it came in a kit.Some regulations about the selling of.!! I had that. Should be locked up i think.
Antidote (2) Nerve gas poisoning . That's was Atropine i think. never saw that outside the forces.

regards

mike