Since childhood, everyone knows that it is necessary to handle the thermometer with care, since the mercury balls that leak out when it is damaged are very dangerous for the human body.
Today, electronic thermometers are also produced, but the accuracy of their measurement is much inferior to the usual mercury thermometer. However, these devices are extremely fragile, and it is very easy to damage them. Therefore, everyone needs to know how to collect mercury from a broken thermometer correctly.
It should be noted that mercury itself is non-toxic. Its evaporation is dangerous for the human body, and this process occurs already at 18 degrees. In the event that you or your family breaks a mercury thermometer, you should act quickly.
Actions in case of damage to the thermometer
In order to prevent children, older people, as well as pets from inhaling toxic fumes and carrying it around the apartment, it is necessary to remove them from the room where the damaged thermometer is located. It is advisable to send everyone out of the house in general to the street.
In the room where there are fragments of a broken thermometer and leaked balls of mercury, it is necessary to open the windows and close the door.
Open windows will lower the temperature for less mercury evaporation, and closed door help prevent the spread of toxic fumes to other drafty rooms.
On the threshold of the infected room, it is necessary to put a rag soaked in a disinfectant solution. In the home first aid kit, there will certainly be potassium permanganate. It must be diluted with water and moistened with a rag in the solution.
The concentration of the mercury safety solution should be as high as possible. When using potassium permanganate, the concentration can be determined by the color of the solution. The brighter and more saturated it is, the stronger the solution.
A solution of potassium permanganate can also be moistened with materials that will be used in the cleaning process. Metal balls adhere more easily to wet surfaces. At the same time, you can collect mercury and disinfect contaminated surfaces.
Before collecting mercury from a broken thermometer, change into clothes that you don’t mind throwing away after cleaning. If the mercury balls scattered in the visible area, then try to limit it, for example, using newspapers soaked in water.
Prepare everything you need. All used tools, clothes in which cleaning was carried out, after the mercury is removed, must be packed in bags and given to the employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations or SES.
If mercury gets on the carpet or upholstered furniture, then it will need to be processed. This is done by representatives of the SES, who must be invited to measure the pollution of the house and carry out demercurization.
How Not to Do
Many people who find themselves in this situation begin to panic, as they have heard about the extreme danger of mercury. However, it should be remembered that the metal in the thermometer is not enough to be fatal.
Therefore, you should not be nervous, you need to calm down, think about how and with what to remove mercury, and systematically carry out cleaning.
First of all, you need to remember that it is forbidden to remove mercury with bare hands. Hands must be protected with gloves. When deciding how to collect scattered mercury, remember that you should not use a vacuum cleaner or a broom for this purpose.
It is unacceptable to dispose of the collected metal on your own, simply by throwing it into the garbage bin at home or on the street or the toilet. Mercury from a thermometer does not have the usual property of a metal to be attracted to a magnet, it behaves directly in the opposite way.
Therefore, you should not try to remove it with a magnet, liquid metal will be repelled from it and pollute more large area.
How to protect yourself while cleaning
They collect hazardous metal, having previously protected the skin and respiratory tract from toxic fumes. Put on gloves on your hands and a respirator on your face.
If you don’t have such an item at home, then you can use a gauze bandage. Shoe covers should be worn on the feet. Collecting mercury from a thermometer is not so easy, this process takes quite a bit. long time.
To be on the safe side, take breaks while cleaning by going out into another room, onto a balcony, or outside. Take off your protective equipment before leaving a contaminated area and put it back on when you return. This will prevent the spread of metal throughout the apartment.
In order to prevent evaporation of the metal, place the collected balls in a container of water. All clothing and protective equipment must be carefully packed after cleaning. It is impossible to wash things that have got particles of mercury, they must be disposed of in accordance with safety rules.
How to collect mercury from a damaged thermometer
When choosing a way to remove mercury from a broken thermometer, it is necessary to consider on which surface the hazardous metal is located. The collection methods on a smooth floor or table and on a carpeted floor or upholstered furniture are different.
You can collect mercury from the floor or from the table using a syringe. You can also use an elastic syringe. It is recommended to collect mercury with materials with a sticky surface. It can be a packing sticky tape or a band-aid.
Metal balls can be removed with paper towels, newsprint soaked in water or vegetable oil. You can also use plain paper, sweeping metal particles on it with a brush. You can collect small beads with a cotton pad moistened with water.
Observe the conditions for storage and safe use of the fragile measuring instrument. Storing the thermometer in a case designed for this and in a specially designated place will avoid a situation in which you have to clean up a broken thermometer.
After use, it must be immediately removed to its place, so it can become an easy prey for small children or animals who decide to play with a shiny object. Even if you don't have children or pets at home, leaving the thermometer on the couch or on the table can cause you to accidentally brush it off or crush it.
How to remove mercury from fleecy surfaces
If mercury is on the upholstery of furniture, carpet, and other soft surfaces, then the task becomes very complicated. However, there are ways to collect metal balls in this situation as well.
If the pile is not long, you can use adhesive tape, cotton or paper napkins. Relatively large particles in a soft surface can be removed in this way. Small particles are more difficult to remove. The carpet will need to be taken out into the street, hung vertically, laying an oilcloth under it.
After that, the carpet must be carefully knocked out from all sides. Oilcloth with particles that have fallen on it must be disposed of in the same way as the rest of the tools and clothing that you used when cleaning.
One of the most difficult tasks in collecting hazardous metal from a broken thermometer is to remove the smallest particles trapped in the floor crevices.
To remove small metal balls from hard-to-reach places, use a knitting needle or something similar. You need to wind a cotton wool on one horse of the knitting needle, moisten it with water and extract mercury in this way.
To see even small particles of mercury, use a flashlight or a portable lamp. Thus, it is possible to carry out cleaning more thoroughly by examining all corners of the room where the thermometer crashed.
After the visible metal elements are collected, it is necessary to disinfect. To do this, you can use bleach, a solution of potassium permanganate, Whiteness. The concentration of the disinfectant should be maximum.
It is necessary to carry out disinfection measures several times: immediately after cleaning, and then for some time daily.
Treat with a disinfectant solution not only those surfaces where mercury was located, but the entire area of \u200b\u200bthe room. After that, you need to carry out a thorough cleaning using soap or detergents that you use constantly.
Clothing, materials and tools that were used during the cleaning process must be carefully and tightly packed in plastic bags. They should not be disposed of in bins intended for general waste.
Hand over all used items to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. This service must be notified of the incident. They will give recommendations on how to act in this situation.
After cleaning for some time, it is necessary to ventilate the room where the thermometer was broken daily. If the level of mercury vapor exceeds the permissible level, this will help to avoid poisoning through the respiratory tract.
Pharmacies sell special indicators that can be used to determine the level of pollution in a residential area. Also, for this purpose, you can call the employees of the SES.
If preventive measures did not help, and the thermometer still broke at home, you should not panic. Report your problem to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, calmly remove the consequences of the disaster, observing safety rules.
If you do everything right, then no dangerous consequences a broken thermometer will not have. It can happen to anyone, and believe me, it happens every day.
How to collect mercury if a thermometer breaks at home? — This issue is very important and has been relevant enough for a long period of time. Despite new technologies and safe modern electronic thermometers, many remain faithful to thermometers with mercury. In this article, we will consider all the rules of behavior in unforeseen situations and the disposal of mercury balls.
What is a mercury thermometer?
Why in modern world still use such a dangerous thing and keep it at home, because there are infrared and electronic devices that are completely safe? The thing is that mercury thermometers have a number of advantages compared to all innovative technologies.
Benefits of a mercury thermometer:
- The medical device is the most accurate. Its performance is considered the closest to that of a reference gas thermometer.
- Wide temperature range environment at which the thermometer correctly measures body temperature. This is possible due to the special properties of liquid metal: it freezes at very low temperatures and melts at very high temperatures.
Important! Even in extreme conditions measuring body temperature with a mercury thermometer is not difficult.
- Due to the fact that the device can be easily disinfected by immersing it completely in a special solution, it is often used in medical and healthcare facilities.
- The cost of the device is low and affordable for everyone, which is especially important for many today.
- Indisputable advantages are also simplicity and ease of use.
Important! Find out how dangerous its concentration is.
Unfortunately, the mercury device also has disadvantages, one of which crosses out all its advantages and makes the thermometer an undesirable item in a home first aid kit.
Disadvantages of a mercury thermometer:
- To measure body temperature accurately, you should devote 5 to 10 minutes to this process, which is not very convenient.
- The glass cone is very thin and can easily break on mechanical contact with a hard surface. At the same time, mercury, which spreads over considerable distances, quickly turns into a toxic and poisonous vapor. The consequences of such an accident (and you can’t call it anything else) can even lead to death.
By the way, many have already switched to using less accurate, but safer thermometers and completely abandoned mercury thermometers. But if you are not one of these people, then you must definitely have information on how to remove mercury from a broken thermometer at home.
Consequences of a broken mercury thermometer
Mercury is a liquid metal and looks really beautiful. But looks are often deceiving. The metal belongs to the first class of especially harmful substances. Already at an air temperature of 18 degrees, mercury evaporates, infecting the air with harmful toxins.
Important! The evaporation of the entire volume of mercury from the thermometer leads to an excess of the concentration of the maximum permissible norms by more than two million times. This is the most main reason why you need to know how to collect mercury if a thermometer breaks at home.
By inhaling contaminated air, a person can get serious problems with health:
- Headache;
- Disorders of the gastrointestinal tract;
- Problems related to the functionality of the kidneys;
- Stomatitis;
- Decreased hemoglobin in the blood;
- Dermatitis of varying complexity;
- Arrhythmia;
- visual impairment;
- convulsions;
- Unstable mental state.
The first signs of mercury poisoning
If you did not make it to the maximum short time collect mercury, if the thermometer breaks at home, you may feel the following ailments:
- General weakness, drowsiness, fatigue;
- Headache;
- Irritability;
- dizziness and nausea;
- Loss of appetite;
- Trembling of hands and feet;
- Increased sweating.
If the poisoning is severe, then the following symptoms may be added to the described symptoms:
- Metallic taste in the mouth;
- Pain when swallowing;
- Bleeding gums;
- Increase in body temperature;
- Runny nose;
- Diarrhea;
- Confusion of consciousness and inadequate perception of reality.
Important! It is worth knowing that mercury vapor poisoning may not appear immediately. If you hesitated and could not immediately collect mercury when the thermometer broke at home, the consequences of this nature are quite possible:
- an acute type of poisoning can be felt a couple of hours after inhaling air with vapors;
- chronic - only after a few years.
Prohibited actions in case of an accident with a mercury thermometer
Panicking, people do not think about how to collect mercury from a broken thermometer at home correctly, and begin to do completely prohibited actions, which only worsen big picture. Therefore, first of all, we will indicate what cannot be done:
- Under no circumstances should you touch the mercury droplets with your bare hands.
- It is forbidden to throw the particles of a broken thermometer into the garbage chute or in the trash.
Important! Two grams of mercury in a thermometer can pollute six thousand cubic meters of air.
- In order to collect mercury faster, if the thermometer breaks, it is forbidden to drain the remains of mercury into the sewer, since the liquid metal settles in the pipes, and it is impossible to remove it from there.
- Do not collect mercury with a vacuum cleaner. The use of such a technique will only help the metal evaporate faster and spread the vapors around the apartment. The vacuum cleaner, moreover, after collecting mercury will have to be thrown away, as it will become dangerous for residents.
- It is forbidden to use a broom while collecting mercury. Thus, you will only break the balls with rods and contribute to their rapid evaporation.
- Collecting liquid metal with a magnet will only have the opposite effect. Rather, mercury will be repelled by a magnet, rather than attracted. This is due to the very weak magnetic field liquid metal.
- You can not wash - either by hand or in a washing machine, clothes and shoes that have come into contact with mercury.
- It is forbidden to open windows and doors at the same time in the room where the incident occurred. A draft will contribute to the rapid evaporation of the metal.
How to remove mercury from the floor from a thermometer at home? Preparatory work
The main rule in eliminating the problem is to keep a sober mind. Don't panic. Keep calm. If you do everything calmly and correctly, then dire consequences can be avoided.
First steps:
- First of all, remove the elderly, pregnant women, children and animals from the apartment.
- Close the door in the room where the trouble occurred, open the window. Make sure there is no draft.
- Prepare a lamp or flashlight to better see all the grains.
- Remove broken thermometers from surfaces.
Equipment
Be sure to take care of your safety. For this you will need:
How to collect mercury from the floor from a thermometer?
The following items will help you quickly and completely remove mercury from the thermometer:
- Rubber syringe;
- Knitting needle;
- Copper plate;
- Syringe;
- Wet cotton;
- Patch;
- Scotch;
- Wet newspaper;
- brush for drawing;
- Glass jar filled with water.
How to collect mercury from the floor if the thermometer is broken. Cleaning steps
Having performed the first steps, protecting yourself from direct contact with mercury and having prepared everything you need, you can proceed to important issue: how to collect mercury from the floor from a thermometer correctly so that nothing remains. The whole process is divided into three stages:
- Demercurization - collection of all metal balls.
- Chemical demercurization - cleaning the premises with disinfectants.
- Appeal to the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
Demercurization:
- Use a lamp or flashlight to illuminate the scene. Carefully inspect all surfaces.
Important! If mercury gets into Stuffed Toys or clothes, then the best option would be to put them in a plastic bag and throw them in the trash. If the items are very dear to you, then take them out carefully to the street so that all the remnants of mercury evaporate from them.
- Start collecting with large balls. This way you will avoid their subsequent division into smaller elements. To do this, bend a sheet of thick paper into the shape of a scoop and use a knitting needle or a copper plate to collect mercury droplets in it.
- Carefully move the balls of mercury that are not far from each other into one pile so that they reunite.
- Collect small droplets with adhesive tape or plaster.
- You can remove mercury from a thermometer from hard-to-reach places (crevices on the floor and furniture) using a cotton swab soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate. A syringe with a thick needle may also come in handy in this case.
- To collect mercury from the carpet, if the thermometer is broken, a syringe will help. After that, it should be taken to Fresh air carpet so that all remaining microparticles are completely weathered.
- Put all the particles that you managed to collect into a jar of water. All the materials used during cleaning are also collected there: cotton wool, adhesive tape, plaster, cotton buds. After removing all the remnants of the accident, the jar must be tightly closed.
Important! The water will prevent the mercury from evaporating and spreading through the air.
- Place all items of equipment and tools in a bag, tie it tightly. The package can be thrown into the trash.
Important! The entire demercurization process can take several hours. During it, you should take breaks - every 15 minutes go out into the fresh air. So you can additionally protect yourself from poisoning with harmful fumes.
Chemical demercurization
For further processing, a disinfectant solution should be prepared. You can use one of the following recipes.
Solution #1:
- Mix a few crystals of potassium permanganate with water. The liquid should be dark brown in color.
- Add salt and vinegar to the solution, taking into account the proportion: 1 tablespoon per 1 liter of brown liquid.
- Pour in a pinch citric acid and mix the solution thoroughly so that all the ingredients are completely dissolved.
Solution #2:
- Dilute 1 liter of bleach in 5 liters of water.
- You can also use any chlorine bleach and mix it with water in a ratio of 100 ml to 800 ml, respectively.
Important! Wallpaper and laminate cannot be processed with such a solution, as this will irrevocably spoil the material. him, by by and large, used in public institutions, such as Kindergarten, hospital or school.
Solution #3:
- Dissolve 40 g of soap and 50 g of soda in 1 liter of water.
- Stir the components thoroughly until each is completely dissolved.
How to remove mercury from the floor if the thermometer breaks? Disinfecting the room:
- Put on rubber gloves.
- Wipe all surfaces in the room with a soft cloth soaked in the prepared solution.
Important! Particular attention should be paid to cracks in the floor and furniture, skirting boards.
- After 8 hours, wipe all treated surfaces with clean water rag.
Important! After cleaning with a bleach solution, wipe the surfaces clean water follows in 20 minutes.
- After treatment, the room must be ventilated for at least 2-3 hours.
- Throughout the week after the incident, the apartment must be cleaned daily.
What to do after removing the remains of a broken thermometer
Once you have finished cleaning the apartment, you should take care of the collected residues:
- Call 101 and find out where it will be possible to transfer a jar of mercury drops to an employee of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
- If you still have doubts about the quality of cleaning, then call the staff of the sanitary and epidemiological station. Using a special device, they will be able to measure the concentration of vapors in the air of the apartment.
- Take care of your own health, because during cleaning even in equipment there is a chance to get poisoned. For this:
- Rinse your mouth thoroughly weak solution potassium permanganate.
- Brush your teeth.
- Take a few pills activated carbon.
- The next day, drink as much liquid as possible: tea, juice, compote, water, coffee.
Important! If the child managed to swallow a drop of mercury, do not panic. Mercury balls are not absorbed by the intestines and are excreted without any problems along with feces.
Once you've dealt with the aftermath of a home accident, it's time to consider buying a safer appliance. Read detailed reviews:
Knowing how to collect mercury if a thermometer breaks, you are somewhat protected from the deplorable consequences of poisoning with harmful toxins. But only to some extent. by the most the best option there will be a complete rejection of unsafe items for measuring body temperature and the use of alternative devices. It is impossible to foresee situations with a broken thermometer, as well as the consequences of such a nuisance. Protect your home, especially if there are children in it.
In many homes, body temperature is still measured with mercury thermometers, although many people know how insidious they are. One awkward movement - and a lot of moving silver balls scatter from a broken glass case around the room in different sides. What to do? How to collect mercury from the floor without harming yourself or your loved ones?
In this article:
Why are mercury balls dangerous?
Mercury is a liquid metal that evaporates even at room temperature +18°C. Its vapors are the strongest poison, they have no smell, therefore they are even more dangerous. From a broken thermometer, 2-4 grams of this metal are released, capable of contaminating up to 6 thousand cubic meters air (unless, of course, all this is not removed in time). Drops-balls roll into cracks in the floor and baseboards, hide in the pile of carpets, stick to slippers and spread throughout the apartment. Mercury evaporates and gradually poisons the air. A person, being in the room where the thermometer crashed, inhales these fumes. Poisonous metal accumulates in his liver, kidneys, brain and so-called mercury intoxication develops. The skin is covered with incomprehensible rashes, stomatitis appears, the kidneys and nervous system. And prolonged exposure can even cause insanity. Creepy, isn't it? How to act to avoid all this?
What to do if the thermometer breaks
- Immediately remove everyone from the scene of the "catastrophe", especially children, if any. You will not even notice how these curious creatures will immediately begin to explore the contents of the thermometer and play with funny live droplets scattered on the floor.
- Close all doors to other rooms. Avoid drafts that will spread dangerous balls throughout the room. Only after cleaning can you open the window and ventilate the room. And this will have to be done not for a day or two, but for three months.
The right equipment
If the operation to destroy the mercury is delayed, put a damp gauze bandage over your nose. Every 10-15 minutes, try to leave the room to another room or fresh air. Protect your hands with rubber gloves, put ordinary garbage bags on your feet if you don’t have disposable shoe covers on hand.
Tools and methods for neutralizing the mercury "catastrophe"
Find a glass container with a tight lid to serve as a container to store the mercury. Be very careful that this container does not accidentally tip over and break. Pour it in cold water. Place the thermometer in a plastic bag.
Forget about the existence of a broom in the apartment and do not try to collect mercury with a vacuum cleaner. The rods of the broom will crush the balls even more and turn them into poisonous dust. She will rise into the air, settle on furniture and walls.
If you want to use a vacuum cleaner, be prepared to throw it away immediately after cleaning. Mercury will cover the inside of the device with a thin film, and it will safely evaporate there, especially during operation, when the engine will heat up. But that's not all. The microdroplets drawn in by the vacuum cleaner together with the air, safely bypassing the filters, will fly back into the room and disperse throughout the apartment.
Available demercurization methods
- How to collect mercury when the usual methods are not suitable? Use the most common syringe - tighten the balls inside like a vacuum cleaner, release the contents into the prepared jar of water. It is especially good to catch naughty droplets under baseboards and from cracks with it. After that, you will have to dispose of the syringe.
- Dampen paper towels sunflower oil- mercury droplets stick to them perfectly. You can do this with a newspaper soaked in water or wet cotton balls. The insidious metal also sticks to copper wire, adhesive tape, and adhesive plaster. Try to collect it with a soft brush on a piece of paper.
- After collection, be sure to treat the room with bleach or soapy water, even if you are sure that you have collected everything. Wash not only the floor, but also the walls. Fill cracks in the floor with chlorine solution. Suitable for this and a solution of potassium permanganate. Use a disposable cloth, which you immediately place in the trash bag. And if you, on someone's advice, are going to treat the surface of the floor with ferric chloride, be careful: it is also very toxic. Why poison yourself twice? In addition, indelible stains may remain after it.
After all the procedures, you, as a liquidator of a mercury accident, need to take a shower, rinse your mouth with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, brush your teeth and drink 6-8 crushed activated charcoal tablets. And, of course, drink plenty of fluids to prevent poisoning. Mercury, as already noted, is collected in the kidneys, and through them you will remove this poisonous metal.
If mercury gets on the carpet
What to do if the thermometer crashed on the carpet? Carefully fold the cover from the edge towards the center so that the balls do not roll out onto the floor. Put it in a whole plastic bag. Movement should also be from the periphery to the center.
It is better if the product is thrown away.
What to do in an emergency? Who to contact?
Mercury vapor is a class I poison. Even in small quantities, they cause irreversible harm to humans and animals.
If you break a mercury thermometer or spill mercury, provide ventilation, leave the contaminated area and call the mercury collection service immediately.
Entrust search and demercurization to professionals with certification. Specialists go to the place of emergency with all the necessary equipment.
The mercury metric complex is included in State Register measuring instruments. After diagnosing the degree of contamination - a thorough demercurization. We guarantee the complete elimination of mercury contamination. Specialists carry out work according to the readings of the device, until the premises are completely cleaned of toxic mercury vapor. Control measurement - free of charge!!!
Work is carried out in residential and non-residential premises, offices, country houses as well as in open areas. Soil samples. Preventive air analysis for mercury vapor content.
MERCURY DISPOSAL SERVICE 24/7 HOTLINE: +7 495 968 10 86
We specialize in carrying out a full range of works on waste disposal I-IV class danger.
Complies with the requirements of GOST R ISO 14001-2007(ISO14001:2004)
Disposal and destruction of contaminated items
Things that have come into contact with mercury should be aired for three months. Only after that you can wash them and continue to use them, but it is better to throw them away.
But a jar of mercury, the remains of a thermometer and all the devices with which you collected metal should be voluntarily handed over to the Ministry of Emergencies. Do not be surprised if you are politely redirected to a pharmacy or housing office. Be stubborn and persistent, demand the disposal of this poisonous metal.
In no case do not pour liquid with silver balls into the sewer, toilet bowl and do not throw the thermometer and contaminated things into the garbage chute: do not pollute the environment.
After all this headache, be sure to visit your nearest pharmacy and purchase a safe electronic thermometer.
We still have mercury thermometers in our homes. Few housewives trust their electronic counterparts. Therefore, the question of how to collect mercury at home, if the thermometer is accidentally broken, still does not lose its relevance.
We collect at home
Liquid mercury is a strong poison. At a temperature of 16–20 degrees, it quickly begins to evaporate. If you constantly breathe mercury vapor, it will gradually accumulate in the body. In addition, many people make serious mistakes, not knowing how to properly collect mercury.
Flowing out of the thermometer, the liquid metal is a hundred very small silver balls. They can spread throughout the apartment. Some balls will break, turning into fine dust, which will settle on all objects in the room.
Be sure to open the window - you need to ventilate the room from harmful fumes. This will need to be done throughout the week, while avoiding drafts.
When starting to collect harmful metal, make sure that rubber gloves are on your hands. Put on shoe covers on your feet, and if they are not there, wrap ordinary bags around your shoes.
Do not forget also about a damp gauze bandage, which closes the nose and mouth tightly enough. This will help you avoid inhaling mercury fumes.
Never vacuum up mercury. You can't use a broom either. It will only crush mercury balls.
There are several reasons for this:
- The liquid metal will settle on the inside of the vacuum cleaner, making it a mercury distributor.
- Heating up, the vacuum cleaner will only increase the harmful fumes.
- If you use a vacuum cleaner or a broom, mercury will spread even faster throughout the room.
Then a natural question arises: how to collect mercury from the floor.
How to
You can collect mercury balls with adhesive tape, adhesive tape, a syringe, or using wet paper. From own experience, it is best to use adhesive tape.
You can also use a soft brush: sweep it with mercury balls on a piece of paper.
Place all used material, a broken thermometer, rubber gloves in a jar filled with water. Close the container carefully with a lid.
Remember, mercury should not be thrown away with garbage, flushed down the drain. This is very dangerous for the environment.
After all the mercury is collected, the room must be washed with any disinfectant. It can be a solution of potassium permanganate, chloramine, bleach.
In extreme cases, a regular soap solution will do. With these means, you need to wash not only the floor, but also the walls of the room where the thermometer was broken.
Mercury on carpet
Sometimes the thermometer can break on the carpet. What to do, how to collect mercury from the carpet?
First of all, you need to roll the carpet from the edges to the center. This is done so that the balls do not scatter all over the room. For the same purpose, the carpet must be placed in polyethylene or packaging film.
Hang the rug outdoors, but don't forget to place cellophane under it before doing so. Knock out the carpet with light blows and leave to freshen up for a while.
Remember, carpeting, things on which mercury was aired for 3 months.
Under no circumstances should clothes be machine washed. It would be better if you get rid of such things.
Finally, a few tips:
- After you have collected all the mercury and cleaned the room, invite the special services home to check the level of mercury vapor concentration.
- Carefully use ferric chloride to treat the room. it chemical compound quite toxic in and of itself.
- The mercury collection process can take a long time, so take breaks every 10 to 15 minutes and drink plenty of fluids.
- One thermometer contains about 2 grams of mercury, which can pollute 6,000 cubic meters of air. Therefore, do not throw away mercury with ordinary garbage.
Be careful with items containing mercury. If possible, it is better to replace them with safer analogues.
Why is mercury dangerous?
Toxic vapors of this metal (and they begin to evaporate at a temperature of +18 ° C) can enter the body. Moreover, for sure, some of the drops will “scatter” and penetrate into the cracks of the floor and baseboards, carpet pile, etc. You will not notice them, but mercury, actively evaporating, will gradually poison the air and your body. This poison is cumulative, that is, it gradually accumulates and "settles" in the body.
What is the risk? The accumulated mercury causes chronic mercury intoxication: after some time, a metallic taste appears in the mouth, stomatitis, dermatitis and anemia, headaches, problems with stools, kidneys, tremors in the limbs.
How to remove mercury
Very carefully, but, as ecologists say, you can do it yourself. First, you need to remove children and animals from the room. If it's cold outside, open a window: this will slow down the evaporation. But it is important to prevent a draft, otherwise the mercury will “scatter”.
It is worth putting on shoe covers or plastic bags on your feet so as not to step on mercury. On the hands - rubber gloves, on the face - a disposable mask with gauze soaked in soda solution inside.
The next step is to prepare a glass container (which is not a pity, then you have to give it away) with water or a solution of potassium permanganate. It will need to place the collected substance and fragments in it.
We take two sheets of paper and a cotton swab moistened with a 0.2% solution of potassium permanganate. An alternative to cotton wool is scotch tape, a wet paint brush, dampened paper, a syringe. With their help, you need to roll balls of mercury onto a sheet of paper and place in a glass container.
The container with mercury and water should be tightly covered with a lid and it is better to take it to the balcony - away from heating appliances. But in any case, do not throw it into the garbage chute or flush it down the toilet.
Treat the place where there was mercury with a concentrated solution of potassium permanganate or chlorine.
How not to collect mercury
In no case should you collect mercury with a broom or vacuum cleaner. Mercury, together with air, will pass through the motor of the vacuum cleaner, and on the parts of the motor made of non-ferrous metals, a mercury film is formed - an amalgam. And then microdroplets of mercury will dissipate with air throughout the apartment.
“Once we came to a call to a grandmother who broke a thermometer,” says Alexander Kuksa, technical director of the Testeco laboratory. – The maximum allowable concentration of mercury is 300 nanograms. When the thermometer broke, the figure increased to 7,000. But that's nothing. Then she wiped the mercury with a wet cloth and vacuumed the room. The concentration increased to 156,000 nanograms."
Washing clothes in which you removed the mercury is also not worth it. It can lead to harmful metal contamination washing machine. All things that have come into contact with mercury will have to be thrown away.
Where to take a broken thermometer in Moscow
In theory, everything is simple. Call with mobile phone by number 112 (from the city - 01) and say that the thermometer has broken. Your address will be written down, if the tips above did not help, they will consult and come directly to the house. It's free.
In practice, it all depends on the workload of the ministry staff and the place where you live. If for some reason the Ministry of Emergency Situations cannot promptly help you, you can call a paid mercury cleaning service. It is expensive - from 5,000 rubles and more (plus a 50% extra charge for leaving at night).
“The procedure and its price depend on the situation,” explains Alexander Kuksa. – We come, collect mercury, then use devices to measure the concentration of mercury vapor in the air. If it is still elevated, we are looking for local sources - mercury balls could roll into the cracks of the parquet, behind the sofa, get into the pile of the carpet.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations does not always take minor cases with a thermometer. In our practice, there was a story about a woman who bought new apartment in the center of Moscow and found a three-liter broken jar of mercury on the balcony. Here, of course, the employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations quarantined the house, carried out measurements, monitoring and processing for six months.”
"R The tart is transferred for storage to a special unit of constant readiness of the Fire and Rescue Center GKU (Moscow, Marshal Zhukov Ave., vl. 79), - explained Recycle in the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Moscow. “Further, mercury and mercury-containing wastes are sent for further processing to Ecotrom Research and Production Enterprise, which has an Agreement on the procedure for interaction between the Main Directorate of the EMERCOM of Russia in Moscow.”
Collected mercury is usually put back into production - for example, it is purchased by factories producing measuring instruments.
