kerosene odors

[leakyroof]

Thanks for the interesting feedback so far.

What I'm taking away from this is that I should be probably a bit more cautious using these products, even if they aren't particularly offending or affecting me.  Or at least, I would be well served to understand them a bit more.  I did read that odorless mineral spirits have been somewhat refined, so there are _less_ toxic compounds present.

In a basement setting, in the wintertime, what might this mean?  I do wear a vapor respirator when applying anything stronger than shellac or Osmo, and of course gloves.  However, I can't really be opening the door and blowing the fan. 

Usually, I will apply finish and leave for a few hours. For the project I'm working on now, I'm using Arm R Seal and while it has a strong odor after applying, I don't smell it once I go upstairs. By the time I come back down, I'm usually smelling a bit of an oil smell but nothing too wild.  Are the vapors from this product heavier than air?  And if so, what happens to them?  Does it flash off and become less problematic over time?

Sorry for the questions - the conversation has stimulated my creativity about all the way I might be poisoning myself and others . 

  One thing I didn't think got mentioned ,but bears mentioning....  I too have a basement shop, and have learned the hard way that VOCs are sneaky.... out gassing finishes that have enough petro-chemicals in them also make my gas dryer load smell 'burnt' after running a dryer load of clothes. I've learned not to do laundry with any drying finish like that in the basement, and to hopefully not have it drying in the basement in the first place if I can help it and the weather outside is agreable for drying correctly.
  Water based or Shellac don't give me the burnt smell of the clothes out of the dryer, only finishes with petro VOCs.

We didn't put two and two together until we'd rewashed a few loads of clothes..... [embarassed] [embarassed] [embarassed]
Similar smell running an LP torpedo style heater out in my garage due to the poor flame control of that heater, and if I'm using any spray chemicals like Brake Clean in the closed garage, or haven't left the door open long enough to vent any VOCs out of it as well

 

[mino]

Thanks for the interesting feedback so far.

What I'm taking away from this is that I should be probably a bit more cautious using these products, even if they aren't particularly offending or affecting me.  Or at least, I would be well served to understand them a bit more.  I did read that odorless mineral spirits have been somewhat refined, so there are _less_ toxic compounds present.

In a basement setting, in the wintertime, what might this mean?  I do wear a vapor respirator when applying anything stronger than shellac or Osmo, and of course gloves.  However, I can't really be opening the door and blowing the fan. 

Usually, I will apply finish and leave for a few hours. For the project I'm working on now, I'm using Arm R Seal and while it has a strong odor after applying, I don't smell it once I go upstairs. By the time I come back down, I'm usually smelling a bit of an oil smell but nothing too wild.  Are the vapors from this product heavier than air?  And if so, what happens to them?  Does it flash off and become less problematic over time?

Sorry for the questions - the conversation has stimulated my creativity about all the way I might be poisoning myself and others . 

For a basement show, consider a ventilation unit with recuperation and a dedicated outlet to the roof or a few meter off the house if not possible otherwise. You do not need to keep windows open, but you really do want negative pressure in the basement so your house does not act like a chimney for any stuff released in the shop...

Even a simple recuperation setup - like a pipe-in-pipe to the roof- with a low volume fan for circulation will do wonders and not only during winter.

 

[Ron B]

VOCs from my painting knocked out my water heater.  I replaced my gas water heater this summer then decided I needed to paint parts of the basement.  I saw this as an opportunity to get rid of some oil based paint that I wanted to get rid of.  I forgot how strong oil based paint is. I also did not realize my water heater had a flammable fume sensor.  When finished for the day, I found the sensor had shut down my water heater. I finally got my new water heater working again.  I did some touch-up the next day so I shut down the water heater-unplugged the vent blower and turned off gas and water.  When I was done and had the room aired out I tried to turn the water heater on again, but vapor sensor had tripped and was now locked out.  I was able to remove the sensor, take it outside and let it air out for 24 hours and got it to work again.  I tried to buy a new sensor as a spare, but the plumber supplier warehouse did not stock them.  I have one on order.  At the price of a new sensor, it would have been cheaper to buy a gallon of Sherwin Williams best and never used that oil base paint. 

 

[jeh]

VOCs from my painting knocked out my water heater.  I replaced my gas water heater this summer then decided I needed to paint parts of the basement.  I saw this as an opportunity to get rid of some oil based paint that I wanted to get rid of.  I forgot how strong oil based paint is. I also did not realize my water heater had a flammable fume sensor.  When finished for the day, I found the sensor had shut down my water heater. I finally got my new water heater working again.  I did some touch-up the next day so I shut down the water heater-unplugged the vent blower and turned off gas and water.  When I was done and had the room aired out I tried to turn the water heater on again, but vapor sensor had tripped and was now locked out.  I was able to remove the sensor, take it outside and let it air out for 24 hours and got it to work again.  I tried to buy a new sensor as a spare, but the plumber supplier warehouse did not stock them.  I have one on order.  At the price of a new sensor, it would have been cheaper to buy a gallon of Sherwin Williams best and never used that oil base paint.

Of course there are no latex paints that can compete with oil-based products. I have not heard of a flammable fume sensor, but it probably saved your day and your house. Everyone should be educated that oil-based paints and other products like mineral spirits, gasoline and everything else that comes in a metal can from the paint section of your hardware store cannot be used near fire sources. A lot of products have a picture of squiggly lines floating to a water heater with a tiny flame.