Dear members I have a few 3-legged stoves, Svea, Optimus, etc.. They all do have heat resistant washers on both sides of their spirit cups. Should I wory about Asbestos? Should I remove and replace them? Daryoush
If the joints are sound you might as well leave them in place for no other reason than convenience. They represent negligible/no risk if undisturbed and negligible/no risk if removed either, in my opinion. I daresay a health and safety specialist might have a different view, but they'd probably raise eyebrows at the concept of burning liquid fossil fuel in a stove as a safe and environmentally friendly pursuit. John John
Hi Svea, I am with John and Murph, there is very little danger if they are still intact. If you feel you really want to change them, or if they need replacing you can change them with the ones Kerophile sells in members service's. They are asbestos-free and in my opinion far better. If you are worried in changing them and releasing any fibres, you can either soak the burner prior to stripping it or doing it outside.
The hazard of asbestos is in breathing loose airborne fibers. It can only happen when you remove those washers, and they crumble. Just put a few drops of oil on the washer at the start of removal, and no loose fibers will come out. Yonadav
Yup, asbestos tastes like crap. From a Canuck in the country that leads the world in the production and export of asbestos. How're you doing Mike, got your little 123 purring like a happy kitten on a bearskin rug in front of a nice warm fire. Stan
Lol, haven't lit a 123 in months, sadly, Stan. The stove in my camper has been pulling it's weight tho, polenta daily and a camp-oven full of chicken stew on saturday in the oven. Lowest setting is perfect for 'walk away and leave it' camp-oven action Your wee stove turned out nice, good save!
Hi Thank's John, Murph, Mr. Optimus, Yonadov and Stan for your replies. All of you had the same opinion, That's great. Yours Daryoush
I see you have avoided Mike's name in the lineup of names to thank, Daryoush. Perhaps his - to my mind very clear and humorous - reply was rubbing uncomfortably? Some people on CCS might recall my stance against unfounded fear, like 'exploding' petroltanks for instance. After prostitution fear-mongering must be the oldest profession of mankind. And it makes victims -like you initially?- as well as winners: I know a guy making a killing with his 'asbestos-removal' services. Space suits, breathing gear, plan of goal, plan of approach, plan of execution etc. etc. It's a hoot: a legal - and even revered! - form of extortion in fact. The pun from the Southern Hemisphere serves to bring this 'asbestos scare' back to normalcy; only then are we able to deal with it adequately. Good luck with your project(s) that might need no tampering with after all. Regards, Mike
Somewhere along the line asbestos got a reputation similar to cyanide and high level radiation. Mainly, it seems brought on by class action suits brought by predatory lawyers. It takes many years of constant and heavy exposure to asbestos to cause health problems. Even then, only a few get them. I would give no thought whatever to the asbestos contained in a pair of stove seals. Remember, not one of us is getting out of this alive because life is a sexually transmitted terminal condition. There are real concerns in life, So relax and enjoy the ride. Gerry
Hi Thanks Mike, Gerry, and Ross for your replies. Mike, I did not get offended by what Mike said, but I did not get the meaning. Since it seemed clear to you, then kindly translate. And if you could, I like to know what you meant by "pun from southern hemisphere". Ross, you answered my next question. How could you tell if they are asbestos bearing or not. Best Daryoush
Hi Gerry, "only a few" is a slight understatement! Of all the people working with asbestos on a regular base about 10% die from it. It is a slow and VERY painful death, as quite a few people that worked for the company I now work for can testify. That is, the few that are still above earth. Once diagnosed, all you can do is arrange your funeral. That's all there's left. We also know of wives and children that died from it, having inhaled the dust hubby/daddy carried home in his cloths. Asbestos is a wonderful thing, easy to win, easy to work with, can't rot nor burn etc etc etc. Only drawback, it is a killer!!! Best regards, Wim
The way I understand it, the risk of getting killed from inhaling asbestos pertains to whether the tissue in your lungs will react badly to the fibres you DO inhale. If you inhale a few fibres, there's a high possibility none of them will set off anything. Then again, it only takes ONE. A bit like playing russian roulette with a barrelful of revolvers, and only one round. It's a small risk, but also a foreseeable and avoidable one. I don't make a habit of picking up supposedly unloaded guns and firing them at my temples either! I've got plates of asbestos all over the ceiling in my basement due to old fire regulations. I tend to think of it as a negotiable risk letting them sit, but I sure as hell won't go drilling through them or the like.
The matter is: have we to be really scared by asbestos?, well, yes and no. I am geologist, and in my region (Tuscany) there are teth of quarries that produce gravel for roads and railways, from a rock called "gabbro" (serpentinite is the scientific name) that contain from 5 to 15 % of asbestos. As soon as the danger became known, any quarrying and crushing operations have been performed under sprayed water: result: the epiteloma cancer in the workers went down to the same percent of people not working with asbestos. There is a lot of eco-terrorism about asbestos, mainly sponsored by firms that sell asbestos substitute for the industry. DO NOT breathe the powder (it is enough to wet any asbestos suspected material before working it) and you are reasonably safe. It is like gasoline: it is at least as carchinogenic as Asbestos, and moreover it is volatile and it burns. As pressure stove "aficinados" all of us are exposed to that danger, at list many thousand times more then being exposed to asbestos powder from old gaskets. let's not breathe asbestos powder, NOR gasoline vapors. Have fun and be safe. Orsoorso
A few years ago I wanted to replace my garage roof which was made of corrugated asbestos. I rang a couple of companies who wanted £200-300 to carry out a 'survey'. Rang my local council who sent a guy round free of charge. He told me that asbestos is fine as long as you don't break it up. He advised me to to hose the roof down, unbolt the complete sections, and take them to my local council recycling centre where they have an asbestos container. Funny thing was, during the time he examined the roof and we discussed the health risks of asbestos, he must have smoked half a dozen cigarettes! Terry
Daryoush - how to tell? Dunno for sure but I treat the green & brown 'solid' washers with less caution than the soft silver/grey coloured ones. Just to help keep Dutchmike's blood-pressure down that caution is minimal but appropriate.
Asbestos is a dangerous substance and should be treated with care and consideration. In the bad old days, asbestos was sold in hardware stores, loose, by the pound and was scooped out of the bin and put into a container. It was mixed with plaster to make pipe lagging and other uses. My grandfather established the hardware business in 1892, and my uncle succeeded him. My father worked in the store as a boy and young man, and told me stories of scooping the asbestos into paper bags for customers. All of these men lived into their 90s and died of causes other that abestosis. As Wim said, the serious danger was in industries like shipbuilding, boiler making or anywhere someone was exposed frequently to friable / dry asbestos in enclosed spaces. It is a terrible disease and a terrible way to die, but if handled with care, and wetted when removing stove gaskets, it should pose no serious hazards. Paul
