A word of caution to those opting to wear latex or nitrile gloves. Please choose your protective equipment very carefully for chemical compatibility. In the long run, it's not dirt that hurts. For example, latex is severely degraded by or transparent to the following:
1. Toluene
2. Xylene
3. Turpentine
4. Gasoline
5. Kerosene
6. Lacquer thinner
7. Diesel fuel
8. Methyl Ethyl Ketone
9. Acetone
10. Carbon Tetrachloride

Basically, there are very few petroleum products or useful solvents that can be safely handled using latex gloves. Check the petroleum products warning on a pack of latex condoms if you need some convincing. Reaching for a can of Berryman's? Not with latex gloves. You might as well be soaking your hands in Xylene. If you want to know about a specific chemical or solvent I can probably provide some direction. The best general material for chemical resistance is butyl.
For carb cleaners use nitrile for short exposure <1-1.5 hrs. and Viton for extended use up to 8 hrs.
Close behind the gloves during solvent use should be appropriate respiratory protection. I can probably give you some guidance there if you need it as well.
There are very few materials that provide substantial protection against everything. The gloves don't have to get eaten away for harm to be done. Some materials are so permeable to certain vapors that you might as well be wearing nothing at all. On your hands, that is.

People die from brief exposures to some very common solvent vapors, so don't imagine that it being sold on the Pep Boys shelf implies any degree of safety or harmlessness.
Now if you are cleaning out the intake manifold and want to get absolutely stoned to the bejesus until Hendrix arrives in person to provide the mental soundtrack while you work, then by all means skip the respirator. Chances are you aren't smart enough to notice the missing brain cells, and nobody else will miss them either since they must already know that you won't be getting into Mensa anytime soon.

val

Very good points! Scientific supply companies can provide gloves made out of materials that are designed for some of the chemicals mentioned. They do not last forever - protection in some cases means slowing down the permeability. They are expensive, but should be changed well within the permeability rating time for the glove/solvent combination. As an example, in one accident with radioactive toluene, a single drop spilled on a latex clad finger. The individual immediatly stripped off the glove (less than 3 seconds elapsed time). There was already radioactive contamination on the skin of the finger tip, even though the glove wasn't torn!!! The latex was about as effective at stopping toluene as a screen door is at stopping wind! By the way, Toluene absorbs through your skin just about as quickly, and is a hepato-toxin - it goes to the liver and proceeds to destroy tissue!

On respirators, there are various cartridges designed for different chemicals. The paper "painters masks" are useless for solvent protection. A half face respirator with the appropriate cartridge is a must when working with some of these solvents, as well as LOTS of proper ventilation. (I have seen toluene exposively ignite from static electricity.) The respirator must be properly fitted to your face - a beard will compromise the protection abilities of the respirator, and using the wrong cartridge will be useless. Also, your lungs should be in good shape before you wear a respirator, as they are restrictive to airflow. There are battery/fan power assisted respirators available, and some of them work with a beard as well.

All this is not mere hysteria. Reactive Airway Dysfunction, Chemical Asthma, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity can all occur from a single exposure, and the damage can often be cummulative over multiple small exposures. Gloves and a respirator may not be very macho, but either is having to use a bronchodilator spray and a portable oxygen tank to walk up a flight of stairs! Work safe!

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JCE
87 300E, 62k miles
Smoke Silver

[This message has been edited by JCE (edited 05-02-2000).]

The self appointed safety rep gives his blessing!

One last point about reserators, some of the modern paints sauch as Imron and Alumigrip are what I beleive are called epoxy based and it is the fumes that will kill you, lterally, and are not removed by normal respirators.

This is s true story.....I knew a guy who did automotive work on the side such as painting, and bragged that he could pait Imron with just a partical mask, actually bragged! One night his wife sent his 10 year old son out to the garage to fetch him for supper and the son returned to say that dad was passed out drunk "again" in the garage. Well the wife was smart enough to know that there was no way Sam could have drunk enough beer in two hours to pass out.......and went out to check. Sam had nearly been aphixiated (or however you spell that) from the caustic fumes. He lived to tell me the story in person. As outrageous a story as this sounds, it is true, it is funny and it is sad all at the same time. Shakespeare could not have written a better story!

Regards,

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Deezel
87 300TDT
150,000 miles

Excerpt from Val's post: "For example, latex is severely degraded by or transparent to the following:
1. Toluene
2. Xylene
3. Turpentine
4. Gasoline
5. Kerosene
6. Lacquer thinner
7. Diesel fuel
8. Methyl Ethyl Ketone
9. Acetone
10. Carbon Tetrachloride
. . . Check the petroleum products warning on a pack of latex condoms if you need some convincing."

Brian's comments: Hmmmm . . . I don't remember ever putting on a condom and sticking my "Tallywhacker" in any of the above substances. Unless they're using 'em in some newfangled feminine product Seriously, for those young ones out there I think Val means NEVER use petroleum-based "lubricants" (read: Vaseline) with a condom.

That's your comedy and sex-education lesson for today.

Brian