Chemistry question - formaldehyde

Psycrow

Psycrow

Psycrow

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Kirkcaldy, Scotland
Random question, does formaldehyde react with any metals? Working on a lab building and some of the rooms will be fumed with formaldehyde, just wondering if its going to eat unsealed light fittings or anything like that.
Thought I'd ask here before going to the effort of looking for stuff through google since its 99% crap now a days.

Ta
 
No idea what its the old school name for, someone's got to be bored at uni, doing a chemestry degree and looking on OCUK ;)
 
no its fine - and just call it formaldehyde - thats the name everyone uses.
what is it being used for though? - its relatively toxic and i wouldn't want to breathe any of it in.
 
Formaldehyde is used to fumigate bug labs (Tissue culture rooms). You have to be well clear of it as it's very dangerous, the main problem being that as soon as you can smell it it starts to 'fix' those receptors in your nose which means you can no longer smell it. as it's routinely used I would think that reactions would be slight otherwise all the electrical sockets would have to be sealed.
 
No one will be in the rooms when fumed. If its used routinely where you work Bill101, I take it the sockets are just your standard exposed type?
I didn't think it would do anything, but someone was talking about it reacting with copper which would be bad news.
 
Apparently it's bad with cast iron, not with Copper. But it is strong at Oxidising so ring the manufacturers of the formaldehyde and they will be able to give you some good information
 
I wouldn't think so, when somethings plugged in it will form a crude seal anyway. Its mostly just exposed copper in the light fittings and exposed terminals of sockets.
 
too right no one will be in the room! I think the exposure limits are something like a couple of parts per million. We have tissue culture suites and quite often a Formaldehyde bomb is set off if contamination occurs. The whole building is given notice of the exact time and location of the fumigation and a senior safety officer has to be present at the start and the end (24 hours normally) Sockets are the normal type. The lab should be sealed, normally tissue culture ones are when designed, though it should be checked that nothing has breached the seal
 
Some data from the MSDS

STABILITY
Stable: Unstable.
Conditions to Avoid: Heat- and moisture-sensitive.
Materials to Avoid: Brass, Steel Copper, Copper alloys, Acid
anhydrides, Strong oxidizing agents, Strong reducing agents
Paraformaldehyde is incompatible with isocyanates, oxides, and
bronze.

Skin Contact: May cause skin irritation.
Skin Absorption: Toxic if absorbed through skin.
Eye Contact: May cause eye irritation.
Inhalation: Toxic if inhaled. Material may be irritating to
mucous membranes and upper respiratory tract.
Ingestion: Toxic if swallowed.
TARGET ORGAN INFORMATION
Heart. Liver. Kidneys. Eyes.
CHRONIC EXPOSURE - CARCINOGEN
Result: This product is or contains a component that has been
reported to be probably carcinogenic based on its IARC, OSHA,
ACGIH, NTP, or EPA classification. Formaldehyde has caused nasal
tumors in laboratory animals;
formaldehyde levels below the
recommended TWA of 0.5 ppm is not considered hazardous.
 
that suggests that it would be damaging to electrical equipment, but if your labs don't use sealed sockets and everything still works ok then perhaps its a very tiny reaction.

What do you recon, err on the side of caution? How many other labs have you worked in and were they the same, everything exposed?
 
Last edited:
Psycrow said:
No idea what its the old school name for, someone's got to be bored at uni, doing a chemestry degree and looking on OCUK ;)
Click to expand...

I fit all three and as such have a huge disposition to not doing extra chemistry :p

But are there any specific metals your worried about?

The people doing the fuming (as i think they've just done it here) generally seams to empty the whole room, and would probably tell you to remove anything of value/at risk, but i wouldn't leave anything expensive in there anyway, mainly cause formaldehyde **** stinks.
 
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