Toxic spray for dust removal?

I bought a can of VELOCITY Dust Remover Spray from Radio Shack, assuming it was compressed air, but when I used it on my keyboard a few minutes ago I noticed that it was actually "Tetrafluoroethane" which is toxic under certain conditions. Why couldn't they simply use compressed air?

Brightnorm

Norm,

Inexpensive "spray cans" are only good for ~50psi(?) pressure. Higher pressure would require thicker/stronger/more expensive cans! If filled with compressed air, they could only hold ~3 times the can's volume of gas before exceeding the can's ~50psi-rated strength, and the "run time" would truely suck! (Putting it in flashaholic terms. ) To get more "blast-minutes" of "runtime" they select stuff that is a liquifies at below ~50psi at room temperature. It permits them to get a lot more cubic feet of (room temperature) gas into the can! The state change trom a liquid to gas is endothermic- (makes the can get very cold while you are spraying!) It's kinda complicated- just use the stuff in a well-ventalated area.

~30 years ago there was some aerosol "contact cleaner" sold in auto/motorcycle shops- I forget the brand. In motorcycle use, it was not uncommon to spray contact cleaner on ignition points while the engine was running. This particular brand used a flammable agent, which we found out the hard way. :green:

Larry

brightnorm said:

I bought a can of VELOCITY Dust Remover Spray from Radio Shack, assuming it was compressed air, but when I used it on my keyboard a few minutes ago I noticed that it was actually "Tetrafluoroethane" which is toxic under certain conditions. Why couldn't they simply use compressed air?

Brightnorm

Click to expand...

well, you could adapt it to recharge your AC in your car!! Probablby cheaper to buy it in airduster form.. At the place I worked at some kid would fill soda bottles up with that stuff (liquid form), cap it and throw it on the ground. It would explode in a huge cloud of vapor! He also burned it a few times with a lighter, my god that was toxic I bet, as it would feel like acid hitting your lungs.. ACK!!! I think old school R-12 when burned produces mustard gas poision? That was in a lot of hair spray back in the day. Just think kids lighting that on fire!!

Thanks for answers

BN

It's R132a refridgerant. Combuston byproducts are carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen fluoride, and oh yes, carbonyl fluoride (flourophosgene, great stuff for killing gophers). One brand of dust blaster I had was propane, squirt some of that in your computer, set back to admire your work and light a cigarette.

When I used to work at CompUSA during college, I noticed that the cheapest airduster in the computer tools aisle "Windy City" brand, was simply pure ethane…

Since the employee discount was "at cost", a co-worker and I bought several cans for $.50 each. We amused ourselves that winter by inverting the cans, hosing down the snow banks in the parking lot after hours, and making "burning snow" that wouldn't melt. The ethane would still boil at 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit when it touched the "hot" snow, and would actually chill the ice while it was burning.

whiskyepapa: if what you say is correct, then yes it felt like lots of CO2 hitting your lungs/nose. That same burning sensation. I don't know what the 2 floride agents "feel" like though.... I don't want to ever be around that stuff burning again!! Tetraflorathane is 132a, that's why I said put it in your car's AC system!

My dad has an old can of air duster, that is actually R12. Belive it or not we are going to tap the can and use it to re-charge an older R12 car AC!

Check to make sure it doesn't desolve your keyboard! I got some "contact cleaner" from Radio Shack that desolved some plastic parts!!!