I found an old PCB Capacitor: should I be worried?

[bobbletrox]

That's PCB as in polychlorinated biphenyls by the way.

My dad pulled out an old valve radio from his shed this afternoon, and as we were looking it over I told him to watch out for old leaking capacitors because the could contain PCBs.  The thing is, my dad is a bit old and not quite with it, and felt he had to physically poke and touch said capacitors...which I found out after a bit of research actually do contain PCBs!

Now, being the paranoid neurotic that I am, should I be overly concerned?  I washed my hands with soap afterwards as a precaution, and told my dad to aswell, but should I be worried about objects I may have touched inadvertantly too?  Then again, the caps might not have been leaky -they were Ducon Duraseals after all.

[bobbletrox]

I just read up on PCBs and found out that it's generally only exposure to large amounts of PCBs over time that you have to worry about.  I thought it was "Come into contact with them in any way and die a horrible death".

dangerous substances freak me out  :oops:

[petemoore]

Exposure to dangerous chemicals can mess you up...

[guitarhacknoise]

I just read up on PCBs and found out that it's generally only exposure to large amounts of PCBs over time that you have to worry about.  I thought it was "Come into contact with them in any way and die a horrible death".

dangerous substances freak me out  :oops:

.... as they should!
the cooling oil used in the high-voltage step down transformers used to contain tons of pcb's, now imagine one blowin' up and showering your neighbor hood with flaming hot dropplets of pcb tainted oil! actually MOST of these transformers have had the oil changed out and now proudly display a huge "no PCBS" sticker. allthough there are still a few around that do contain the bad stuff, they don't have to change it out till they have to repair it so.....
anyways i know a bunch of "old timers" that used to have to change out the connecting lugs on these babys, and they would literally just open 'em up and swish their hands all through that stuff, and they're still with us! i'm pretty sure your old man will be just fine.                                          

now, not to say pcb's are not toxic, but said "oldtimers" do like the joke:
no Politically Correct Bull Shhhhiii.....

[bobbletrox]

I know a bunch of "old timers" that used to have to change out the connecting lugs on these babys, and they would literally just open 'em up and swish their hands all through that stuff

lol...I don't feel so bad now.  Thanks  

[sir_modulus]

People shouldn't worry That much bout all this stuff. Solder is really bad for you (as it burns organic as well as inorganic materials) but noone cares much. And besides IMO poor venting of solder /etching fumes can be much worse.

[Brian Marshall]

we run in to pcb transformers at work every now and again.  Scarry stuff.

[bwanasonic]

For a fun *Eco-thriller* that involves descriptions of nasty levels of PCB exposure, check out "Zodiac" by *cyberpunk* author Neal Stephenson.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553573861/qid=1086073903/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-7305509-1193746?v=glance&s=books

Unless you were chewing on those caps, I don't think you have too much to worry about though.

Kerry M

[bobbletrox]

Unless you were chewing on those caps

:shock: *spits out cap*

[ErikMiller]

I think you should be worried, but mostly about being addicted to audio electronics to the point that you have your poor Dad digging old radios out of his shed for you to mess with.

When the family starts to suffer, the addiction has truly taken hold and become destructive.