Why does it have to be that color??

[pbmods]

Just for fun, I thought I'd post about my fun adventures with my lab's SRU (Silver Recovery Unit).

In a poorly-rendered nutshell, photographic film uses specially-treated silver to save images when you take pictures. During the photofinishing process (for color film, anyway), the processor creates colored dyes that form the actual image and then washes off the silver particles. A similar process occurs when the prints are made. Since silver present in the processing machines' waste fluid is hazardous when dumped in the municipal sewer system, it has to be collected and refined before the waste fluids can be disposed of. Hence, we have a silver recovery unit on site (there are other solutions; this is ours).

Anway, it's my least favorite machine to work with. I dunno. Something about brown waste fluid plus pressure plus lots of clicks and LOUD alarms. Just doesn't sit right with me.

And then it breaks.

After a fair amount of troubleshooting, I found that our drainwash pump (which pumps all the processed fluid to the sewer) is shot and will have to be replaced. Ok. That's a 44-pound part that I get to replace. Whee.

So in the meantime, our processed waste fluid now drains into a bucket.

'Cause, you know, we love high-tech solutions here in my lab

But the fun doesn't stop there. We can't process anymore because the high-pressure alarm is going off. Turns out, there's a clogged tube in there... somewhere.

So now I've gotta start disconnecting tubes and fittings and flushing them with hot water. Whee.

So here I am, all decked out in my ever-stylish PPE, and I get to work. My last coherent thought as I start disconnecting the fitting from the first cylindar is, "Huh. I wonder why the tech told me to wrap a few garbage backs around this when I..."

*SPFWEEEEEEESH!*

SRU -> <- Me

And that, boys and girls, is why you always wear an apron when working with hazardous chemicals.

And of course, once I got all the tubes cleaned out (which also involved lifting out a couple of 60-pound cylindars, why not), the high-pressure alarm went right back on, which makes the SRU now the third machine that I'd love to just pick up and throw out a window.

The things I'll do to save my employer $500 on a tech visit....

[jb17kx]

I get told that I look quite good in a full-face respirator with chemical gloves and leather apron when working with two-pack polyurethane clear coat paint. Lovely stuff, on a cyanide/sulfur base. Now we have a much better spray booth, though, so I only have to wear a half-mask. Still, there are other occasions where a face shield and dusk mask are worn, and I get complimented on my appearance in those.

All the same, it sure does suck to get covered in any sort of chemical (like the time I over pressured a bottle of automotive paint using a faulty airbrush, so that when I removed the bottle it practically blew up in my hand. Paint bloody everywhere, or when I poured paint thinner over my hands, believing it to be water.

[BrassCowboy]

I know far too well exactly what you experienced, but seriously, the techs are there for a reason. Call next time.