Aerosol brake cleaner is a wonderful helper when working on "guy" projects. Just spray it at a greasy part and it takes away 100% of the gunk. It was mentioned at length in a post about keel pivot rebuilding, so I thought I'd put up this thread about the danger of using it with heat.
Tetrachloroethylene is the chemical name for brake cleaning fluid. It is related to dry cleaning fluids. Unfortunately, when exposed to heat, it generates deadly phosgene gas, a highly toxic chemical that can kill at rates of a few parts per million.
Brake cleaner is a problem for novice welders who sometimes clean metal pieces prior to welding, then sicken or kill themselves when weld heat causes the chemical conversion. See the magazine article at the link below:
http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm
One should also avoid direct contact with skin (don't hold a part while you spray it). Brake cleaner is a very volatile (evaporates easily) solvent which means it absorbs almost immediately into your skin. This is good advice when using any solvent (turpentine, gasoline, alcohol). All of these will transport through your skin and into your blood stream. Just imagine a baseball glove. If the chemical you use would be absorbed by the glove, it'll be absorbed by your skin too!
Enjoy your rebuild projects and stay safe!
Tetrachloroethylene is the chemical name for brake cleaning fluid. It is related to dry cleaning fluids. Unfortunately, when exposed to heat, it generates deadly phosgene gas, a highly toxic chemical that can kill at rates of a few parts per million.
Brake cleaner is a problem for novice welders who sometimes clean metal pieces prior to welding, then sicken or kill themselves when weld heat causes the chemical conversion. See the magazine article at the link below:
http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm
One should also avoid direct contact with skin (don't hold a part while you spray it). Brake cleaner is a very volatile (evaporates easily) solvent which means it absorbs almost immediately into your skin. This is good advice when using any solvent (turpentine, gasoline, alcohol). All of these will transport through your skin and into your blood stream. Just imagine a baseball glove. If the chemical you use would be absorbed by the glove, it'll be absorbed by your skin too!
Enjoy your rebuild projects and stay safe!
