What to do if a thermometer with mercury breaks at home

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Previously, a mercury thermometer was in every home. Although an electronic device is increasingly used now, an old thermometer can also be found in many families. To avoid problems, it is important to know what to do if a thermometer with mercury breaks at home.

Consequences of a mercury spill

If a thermometer was broken at home, you should not immediately take a broom and a scoop. Mercury is a liquid substance, its vapors are dangerous, they are toxic to humans. Although it is not enough in the thermometer, it is enough to poison a dozen people.

The difficulty is that the mercury balls are difficult to collect, since the particles are usually small. And if the house has wooden floors, they penetrate the space between the planks.

If the room is poorly ventilated, dangerous vapors can harm a person. Therefore, it is important to take emergency measures to dispose of the remains of a broken thermometer.

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Urgent actions

Mercury vapors are dangerous for everyone living in the house, including animals. The spread occurs quickly, so the consequences should be eliminated immediately.

If a thermometer with mercury breaks at home, you should call the Ministry of Emergency Situations at 01 or 112. Experts know what to do to eliminate mercury. And before they arrive, it is better to leave the house.

But often people prefer to act on their own. Then you need to know the rules of behavior, otherwise you will not cope with the problem.

The emergency measures are as follows:

1. People and animals should urgently leave their homes.
2. Anyone who will deal with the problem should be equipped with medical gloves, a gauze bandage soaked in saline solution, shoe covers.
3. In the room where the emergency occurred, you need to open a window. There is no need to create a draft, so keep the door closed to prevent harmful poisons from entering other rooms.
4. It is necessary to make a solution of potassium permanganate, moisten a cloth in it, and then put it on the threshold of the room.
5. You should inspect the place where the thermometer was broken. A flashlight or lamp will come in handy.
6. Glass shards need to be removed. It is important to be careful - glass is thin, so its particles are almost invisible.

Cleaning should be done only after the indicated steps. It is necessary to work carefully, without haste. Only if the rules are followed will it be possible to avoid harm to health.

After cleaning, you need to solve the problem of disposing of the remnants of a broken thermometer. It is forbidden to throw it into the trash bin, even if it is tightly packed. Disposal of mercury-containing components as a hazardous component is carried out by special organizations.

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Can a magnet be used

It is believed that residual mercury can be removed with a magnet. This is a mistake, since the substance in question is a diamagnetic and its particles do not stick to a classical magnet.

But if you have a stranded copper wire and a bottle of hydrochloric acid, thanks to these tools you will be able to create an excellent magnet:

1. Untwist the end of the wire, forming a "brush".
2. Dip the wire in hydrochloric acid, bring it to the place where the thermometer broke, and observe the attraction of mercury. Sometimes it is required to shake it off over a container to eliminate magnetized drops.
3. During work, you need to use a magnifying glass to evaluate the quality of cleaning.

The used wire is disposed of together with other residues.

Methods for removing mercury

The choice of method, what to do if a thermometer with mercury breaks at home depends on the type of surface on which it happened. A hazardous substance can get under the skirting board, between the floorboards, on the carpet, furniture.

You should act like this:

1. It is necessary to lift the broken thermometer and place it in a container with water. Then the fragments are also collected there. It is important to ensure that mercury does not leak out of the glass residues.
2. You will need thick paper (a small piece), with which you need to make one from small balls. It is collected with a cotton swab and then placed in a container with water.
3. With the help of the adhesive part of the tape or plaster, you should treat the surfaces where the broken thermometer was located. This will allow you to collect even the smallest particles of the hazardous substance. The plaster or tape is thrown into the water.
4. Take a lighting device to inspect crevices and corners. If the thermometer has been broken near the wall, then the baseboard will have to be detached for high-quality cleaning. From these areas, the balls are removed using a medical syringe. Everything used in the liquidation of the consequences is placed in a container filled with water.
5. It remains to wash the surfaces where the remains of the thermometer were, with water, to which bleach was added.

If the processing takes a long time, every 15 minutes you need to leave the room and go out into the air. When cleaning, the window must be completely open and the door must be closed. These emergency measures will help you quickly remove the hazardous substance from your home.

Processing of carpet, furniture, soft toys

If the balls of mercury are on the carpet or sofa, the actions will be as follows:

1. If there is a carpet on the floor, and the furniture is upholstered with lint-free material or leather, then the mercury is eliminated in the same way as on the floor.
2. If the thermometer is on a long pile carpet, it is advisable to discard it. And if it's a pity, then the carpet is rolled up and placed in a tight bag. The bundle is taken out into the street. An oilcloth should be spread on the ground, and a carpet should be hung over it. Mercury should be carefully knocked out of the pile. Collect the balls from the oilcloth and place in a container with water.

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When cleaning is completed, it is better to take the carpet to the garage or summer cottage for 2-3 months. There the product must be deployed. This will help the vapors fade away.

If the thermometer is broken near toys, mercury can get on them too. You need to get rid of such things, because they will be toxic for a long time, mercury will evaporate.

If the thermometer breaks, you need to know about the weathering time of mercury. If the cleaning is done well, the windows are left open for several hours. At this time, no one should be in the room.

Disposal

If the fragments of the thermometer are collected, packed in bags, the question arises where to take it. There is a special disposal service. Things that have come into contact with mercury are also handed over there.

If a thermometer with mercury breaks at home, you can fix the problem, the main thing is not to panic. Contact the Ministry of Emergency Situations - experts will tell you what to do first. They will help you to accurately clean the room and dispose of the remains of a hazardous substance, observing safety measures.

Summarize

1. If a thermometer crashed at home, you should call the Ministry of Emergencies.
2. You can clean the premises yourself, observing safety measures.
3. The disposal of the mercury may differ depending on the surface on which it is found.
4. After that, it must be disposed of.