Fume and Workplace Safety · 0:40
What's the worst-maintained extraction system you've ever come across?
Nathan — The Guy Who Fixes It The worst maintained extraction system I ever saw was a wet collector being used for both aluminium and steel dust. Mixing those metals can create thermite, which is extremely dangerous. The collected material was emptied onto the floor, and unfortunately, the factory burned down about a month later. Never mix different metals in the same extraction system.
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Hey there everyone, Nathan from Extractability here. " It was a reminder for you chemists out there who know not to mix metals. Make sure you don't mix metals inside the filters of fume extraction and dust extraction units.
They were grinding aluminium and steel into one wet collector. Obviously, rusted aluminium and rusted steel together make a nasty compound called thermite. They were emptying it out onto the floor, and unfortunately, their factory burned down about a month later.
Don't mix metals inside your extraction.
