Posted by Peter Ceresole on September 14, 2006 at 15:20:27 from 80.177.22.49 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Primus blowlamp (Was Beckfoot Hot Water) posted by Owen Roberts on September 14, 2006 at 11:28:12:
Possibly the flux was more poisonous than the solder.
I think that's right. I interviewed an old chap who used to solder car radiators at Austin/Longbridge. The copper radiator was assembled, then the ends put on, and he would take the whole radiator in his hands and dip one end into flux and into a trough of molten solder in front of him, flip the radiator over and dip the other end. That would complete the job. We had footage of him doing it, from an Austin PR film of the '30s. He said that (1) the radiators were jolly heavy and (2) the fumes from the flux were horrid. You could see them in the film. It looked dangerous- although he'd survived without apparent harm. But that kind of thing, like harm from smoking, is statistical. Harmless to some, dangerous to many.
The last strip of plumbers’ solder that I bought about 4 months ago was marked "Not to be used on domestic water systems".
Yup. The lead dissolves in warm water, and now that its toxicity, especially for children, is understood, it's realised that it dissolves significantly in cold water too. In the 'good' old days, it was thought that with chlorinated water supplies the main danger was the lead going into solution as lead chloride, which is much more soluble in warm water than in cold. So cold water supplies were still carried in lead, with an 'insoluble' inner coating of lead chloride, while hot water pipes were gradually changed to copper. It was well after the war that the penny dropped; we were indulging in mass poisoning, especially of children, but of adults too.
Remember, for decades we cheerfully used lead in paint and in petrol. Not any more.