An arc welder in the datacenter: what could possibly go wrong?

https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/01/who_me/

by LorenDB • 2 years ago

41 19 2 years ago

mikewarot3• 2 years ago

Welding is a very easy way to die. All you have to do is weld something with chromium in it, without proper breathing protection and ventilation.

It will be painful and untreatable as you die over a few days.

More information:

https://www.lincolnelectric.com/en/safety-resources

pavel_lishin• 2 years ago

I, uh, would like to learn more about this, as someone who's going to be buying welding stuff this summer.

bzax• 2 years ago

https://www.osha.gov/hexavalent-chromium

rolph2• 2 years ago

well ventilated area and respirator will do you good,as well as common soap and water after.

oxy acetylene gas weldingisnot so bad for radiated energy, but you should protect yours eyes bare minimum.

if you are doing arc welding, mig or tig, cover up as much skin as possible and try to use some sort of barrier to occlude UV and highfrequency EM flux.

a long career doesnt have to end with problems.

reaperman• 2 years ago

Wear a half-face respirator with an “Organic Vapor” cartridge + “P100” filter and you won’t have much to worry about.

It doesn’t solve all problems (like if there’s too much other stuff and not enough oxygen), but it handles almost any airborne harms that you’d expose yourself in a non-insane DIY situation.

DougN7• 2 years ago

Wow I’m glad you said that. I was thinking of doing some hobby welding and I’m the exact kind of fool that would think I can jump in and do this without knowing enough.

mikewarot3• 2 years ago

I was quite surprised when the ventilation safety video was the first part of the Welding class at Pumping Station One in Chicago a decade ago. I don't mind welding hot rolled steel, but anything else is always suspect, in my book.

lazide• 2 years ago

1) taking a class or some training is a good idea, since yes you can hurt yourself.

2) it would be exceptionally difficult to hurt or even kill your self this way. More common is something like zinc poisoning (rarely fatal, easily miserable) from welding on galvanized steel, or getting uv or spatter burns, or shocking yourself (rarely fatal, often amusing!). Some things like tanks need special training. I’ve been welding for decades and have literally never heard of anyone getting chromium poisoning.

3) you’re more likely to accidentally set yourself or something else on fire (I’ve only done it once, keep a spray bottle of water around and you’ll usually be fine)

Personally I figured the article was talking about generated EMF crashing some important computer systems. But it was only talking about tripping fire alarms, which someone stupidly thought didn’t need to be disabled while literally melting metal indoors with a high powered electric arc.

Welding can be dangerous if you have no experience with industrial processes (aka have no idea what dangerous looks like in context), but it’s not a death wish. The only people I’ve heard having real issues were folks doing lots of welding in tight enclosed spaces without proper PPE, or welding on improperly purged fuel tanks.

WheatMillington• 2 years ago

Welding of steels containing chromium (stainless steel and high tensile steels) is done commonly, including in home shops with little PPE. It's not like if you weld steels containing chromium you'll immediately die, it takes a lot of exposure.

Like all other toxic exposures you should do what you can to mitigate it, but you're kind of overstating the danger of welding chromium-containing steels.

throwaway984393• 2 years ago

Lol wut? It causes cancer, it doesn't kill you within days.

IAmGraydon• 2 years ago

That might be the most hyperbolic description of hexavalent chromium exposure I’ve ever seen. It’s a powerful carcinogen and repeat exposure is known to increase chance of cancer. I’ve never seen a case of it killing anyone in a few days like you describe. Are you thinking of hydroflouric acid exposure?

mikewarot3• 2 years ago

I was told that breathing zinc fumes would make someone sick for a few days, but they'd recover. (Zinc flue) I was further told that inhaling chrome fumes would kill me.

I think we've just uncovered a metaphorical truth.

rolph2• 2 years ago

i think you are looking for potssium dichromate(VI)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_dichromate

rurban• 2 years ago

Most welders get testicle cancer

pvaldes• 2 years ago

Thanks for that link. I'm happy with my Lincoln electric but had missed this videos.

buildsjets• 2 years ago

Welding is an incredibly useful skill that can be easily learned and safely performed by anyone with reasonable hand-eye coordination.

robertclaus• 2 years ago

Interesting that the thing going wrong was such a brief part of the post.

winrid• 2 years ago

I used to rent a space in my landlord's backyard. My arc welder would always make his radio turn to static :D

I had a lot of fun putting bigger motors on motorcycles with it, though.

An arc welder in the datacenter: what could possibly go wrong?

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