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I run a repair shop and occasionally we do soldering work, but nothing too crazy. I was wondering what are the documented health effects when exposed to solder smoke. We do have an open space with low ceilings. I'd say we solder maximum of about 10 minutes a day at most. I do have the smoke absorber, but techs don't tend to turn it on if your just soldering a few points on the board.

What are some documented health effects when exposed to solder smoke 10 minutes a day. I mean we aren't inhaling this stuff directly, its just in the same work area.

Patoshi パトシ
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  • Anecdotally, I can assure you that exposure to flux fumes can aggravate asthma. Reference: personal experience. – Spehro Pefhany Mar 26 '15 at 20:04
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    I doubt you'll find documented studies on people with that little exposure to flux fumes. I've read studies on the effects it has on people that solder all day every day for years, and the basic summary is that it causes aggravated asthma and that there are a portion of long term electronics employees that have to leave the industry because they start having reactions to the fumes (trouble breathing). For your situation though, not valid. – I. Wolfe Mar 26 '15 at 20:07

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Here's some links http://www.wellerzerosmog.com/health_risk/

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg249.pdf

http://www.elexp.com/Images/Health_Hazards.PDF

That last one mentions asthma as noted above. It's been a long time since I worked anywhere without fume extractors. Even the poor startups were willing to buy whatever I thought I needed for health or safety reasons :). So people are concerned about the liability involved.

Some Hardware Guy
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