[Electrical Contractor]

Hello,

I am an Electrician who is responsible for replacing damaged metal electrical raceways (EMT and Aluminum Clad Cable)
in the crawl space beneath a dialysis treatment center. The raceways were damaged from the chemicals used in the dialysis process. The raceways run near leaky PVC plumbing lines that carry the chemicals to each patient station. From what I have gathered I am either dealing with acetate or bicarbonate or both. What type of protective measures do I need to take in order to be safe?

Thank You,
Jim

[Borek]

Neither bicarbonate nor acetate are toxic (well, everything is toxic to some extent, these two are quite safe). They are used in quite low concentrations, but when leak dries out salts crystallize and they probably can become irritating. Rubber gloves should do. Probably even gloves with just rubber covered fingers.

[Electrical Contractor]

Neither bicarbonate nor acetate are toxic (well, everything is toxic to some extent, these two are quite safe). They are used in quite low concentrations, but when leak dries out salts crystallize and they probably can become irritating. Rubber gloves should do. Probably even gloves with just rubber covered fingers.

Borek,

Thank you for this most helpful advice. May I ask which one of these chemicals corroded the raceways, and how?
There is some sort of white substance attached to these raceways. Should we wire brush these off? If so, do we need to wear a respirator?

Thank You,
Jim

[Borek]

What are raceways made of?

[Electrical Contractor]

What are raceways made of?

Hello Borek,

The EMT is made of galvanized steel and the MC cable is made of Aluminum.

Thank You,
Jim

[Borek]

Galvanized steel - that means they will be corroded by any solution containing any dissolved salt, even just kitchen salt. Corrosion is an effect of presence of water and air oxygen, ions present in water just lower water resistance, making corrosion faster. Corrosion is an electrochemical process - that means something gets reduced, something gets oxidized at the same time. Reduction consumes electrons, oxidation produces them - for both reactions to take place at the same time charge has to flow from one place to another, the lower the resistance, the easier it is for the charge to flow, the faster the corrosion. Obviously what you learned as an electrician helps to understand what is happening here

Brushing whatever is there is a good idea - otherwise you risk fast corrosion in future. You can't do anything about future leaks, but the solid present is to some extent hygroscopic - it will get water from the air moisture, water+salt gives the same solution that speed up corrosion previously.

Respirator - the simplest one should do, as I told you earlier you are not dealing with anything toxic, so it is just to prevent breathing dust in general. In case your skin gets irritated simply washing it with water should help.

Note, just in case: no guarantee that the information given is reliable, I am honest and doing my best, but I can be wrong.

Some more information about both sodium acetate and sodium bicarbonate:

http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/s2666.htm
http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/s2954.htm

[Electrical Contractor]

Hello Borek,

This is insightful and interesting stuff. Reduction consumes electrons while oxidation produces them. A charge has to flow from one place to another, this requires low resistance (metal).

Thank You,
Jim

If you ever need some electrical advice I will be glad to help, Commercial, Industrial, Residential and a hobby Tesla Coils.



Good Day and Good Premises (Ayn Rand)

[Borek]

You got it slightly wrong. One of the reactions takes place on the metal surface, the other in the solution. To speed up the process you need lower resistance of the SOLUTION, resistance (or rather conductivity) of the metal doesn't play any important role here. Solution conductivity is proportional to amount of dissolved ions.

[Electrical Contractor]

Thank you for clarifying this for me.
"Solution conductivity is proportional to amount of dissolved ions." (acetate and bicarbonate?)