I almost killed myself

I am trying to figure out how I did this.

I was using off the shelf furniture stripper to strip the paint off the floor of my challenge car. This is in my 500 sq ft garage. Being winter in Canada it's not warm. I have a 125k BTU propane heater. I have a C02 detector in the garage and rarely work in there when the heater is running and it's never set off the detector (detector works fine).

Well... Paint stripper + Propane heater = disaster. I started coughing badly after 2 min. Another min later I puked on my lawn.

Initially I thought it was my asthma as I have 1 really bad lung with little to no capacity. An hr passes and a friend comes over and we putter away. Again I put a bit of stripper on the floor.. walk over to the bench and turn on the heater..

This time it happens even quicker. We run outside and open up the doors.

Decided to work in the cold and just deal with it.

Any ideas as to what chemical I made?

Not sure, but it sounds like when you heat paint stripper it does not nice things to you. Maybe you should wait until spring to do that, when you can open some doors.

You didn't make any chemicals, the solvent in the stripper was evaporated by the heater. There wasn't enough ventilation and you were overcome by the fumes. The fact you have a breathing problem probably influenced the severity of the reaction. On the bottle there is probably a mention of using the chemical in a well ventilated area or to use proper safety gear. You should have had ventilation and/or proper fume mask. I'd invest in a fume mask and take this as a lesson learned.

Brake cleaner and propane heaters do it to me. I don't like garage heaters. My attached garage is fully insulated and doesnt freeze, some insulated Carhartt bibs and a hooded sweatshirt are great!

And yes, real Carhartt. The Walls stuff is for chumps.

I'm glad you are OK.

Now, I'm gonna chew you out.

Many paint strippers contain dichloromethane (methylene chloride). The fumes of this can be metabolized to carbon monoxide in the liver.

Your unvented propane heater is also giving off carbon monoxide, as well as consuming oxygen.

Carbon monoxide decreases the oxygen content of blood.

Since you already have lung issues which leave you oxygen challenged, what you did was really stupid, and yes, you could have died. Easily.

The labels on BOTH the paint stripper AND the propane heater BOTH SAY USE ONLY IN A WELL VENTILATED AREA. Additionally, the paint stripper says to not use near open flame.

You violated all of these guidelines, as well as making yourself a prime candidate for a Darwin award by NOT READING THE DIRECTIONS.

Thankfully, you survived. This round.

Now, get rid of the damned unvented heater, NEVER use stripper in unventilated areas, and READ THE INSTRUCCIONS BEFORE USE.

Sorry to be harsh. That was stupid. Glad you're OK.

The methylene chloride vapor in the air was being ingested by your propane heater and burned, creating god knows what.
I looked at MSDS, ATSDR, and Osha sites, no one talked about what happens when it's burned, only about vapor exposure.
Best case is that it oxidized into simple CO gas, worse case, one of the nastier chlorine containing gases, hopefully not similar to Freon oxidation (i.e. Phosgene gas).

(Glad you are OK)

Edit: Found this site:

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1959RSPSA.250..197H

which says that it oxidizes into CO and HCl (Hydrochloric Acid !!!!)

So yes, breathing HCl vapor might irritate the lungs.

93gsxturbo wrote: Brake cleaner and propane heaters do it to me.

That's because you're making phosgene gas!!!

Holy crap, google it if you don't know what it is.

Shawn

As noted above you were dumb and maybe very very lucky!!! You know that now and I don't think piling on will help anything.

I strongly recommend that you give your doctor a call and explain what happened. Especially considering your pre existing lung condition.

erohslc wrote: The methylene chloride vapor in the air was being ingested by your propane heater and burned, creating god knows what. I looked at MSDS, ATSDR, and Osha sites, no one talked about what happens when it's burned, only about vapor exposure. Best case is that it oxidized into simple CO gas, worse case, one of the nastier chlorine containing gases, hopefully not similar to Freon oxidation (i.e. Phosgene gas). (Glad you are OK) Edit: Found this site: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1959RSPSA.250..197H which says that it oxidizes into CO and HCl (Hydrochloric Acid !!!!) So yes, breathing HCl vapor might irritate the lungs.

acid fumes are nasty

Are you trying to win a Darwin Award?

I've done the Hydrochloric Acid fumes accident. Wasn't fun.

The initial fail qualified for the Darwin award.

Trying it again (with a friend)...priceless.

SVreX wrote: The initial fail qualified for the Darwin award. Trying it again (with a friend)...priceless.

Seriously. What's next, drinking coolant because it smells sweet?

rotard wrote: Seriously. What's next, drinking coolant because it smells sweet?

Naw, we do an "identify the leak - taste test" in my mechanics class. They're putting a "bitter" agent in coolant now. So sad...

(just kidding)

(well, mostly kidding)

Wow. Glad you are OK. But like SVreX says, if you have to, wait till spring. Dead guys don't win Challenges.

Rookie move.

Everyone knows you're supposed to let the garage fill up with fumes before igniting the heater.

You've all seen this, but link anyway.

Naw, seriously, don't do that. And don't operate the heater in a closed garage.

I repost this link a lot, but everybody needs to re-read this article a few times a year to remind themselves not to screw around with chemicals. Myself included.

Common cleaners can turn into poisonous gas

Don't forget that ours is a dangerous hobby - your biggest risk is not just busting a knuckle.

Be careful, guys.

For indoor paint stripping, try Citristrip. It does not contain Methylene Chloride and can be used indoors. I used it to strip a car and it worked OK, not great. It did the job but took longer and required more elbow grease. But it was useful because I wanted to strip paint in the garage during the winter. I found it at my local Home Depot store.

dlmater wrote: For indoor paint stripping, try Citristrip. It does not contain Methylene Chloride and can be used indoors. I used it to strip a car and it worked OK, not great. It did the job but took longer and required more elbow grease. But it was useful because I wanted to strip paint in the garage during the winter. I found it at my local Home Depot store.

As a general rule, it's a bad idea to breath in the fumes coming off of ANY solvent.

Difference with Citristrip, it uses Citrus Oil (byproduct of making OJ), which is not an aromatic solvent, so no fumes.
Also commonly used in hand cleaners, 'Goof-Off' label and glue remover, etc.
Works by direct contact of the oil to the item to be err, ... softened.

Also, smells Orangy-fresh!

Trans_Maro wrote:

93gsxturbo wrote: Brake cleaner and propane heaters do it to me.

That's because you're making phosgene gas!!! Holy crap, google it if you don't know what it is. Shawn

I read about welding when there was brakeclean on the part was bad, but didn't know that a heater would get hot enough to make the phosgene gas, just burn the fumes.

I thought it smelled funny...

erohslc wrote: Difference with Citristrip, it uses Citrus Oil (byproduct of making OJ), which is not an aromatic solvent, so no fumes. Also commonly used in hand cleaners, 'Goof-Off' label and glue remover, etc. Works by direct contact of the oil to the item to be err, ... softened. Also, smells Orangy-fresh!

We have people here that expose themselves and others to poisonous gases. We're trying to use broad sweeping generalizations in the name of safety.