Mercury vs Becquerel

[daniel]

I just started with mercury development and came across a Bacharach MV2 mercury sniffer (now obsolete) on ebay. There are a few on there now ranging from $50 to $600. It was dirt cheap and was advertised in working condition so i bought it. When it arrived I charged the battery and tested it in the fume hood with a small amount of mercury and it reacted to the mercury fumes then zeroed out as I moved to fresh air. It has a built in mercury filter to zero the insrtument when in contaminated air too. It is very simple to use, just turn it on and zero the meter in clear air and then it is ready to use. It has proven to be very useful and I have tested my venting and fume hood to check for any signs of mercury leaking into my workspace. I also found out the even after I swab out the inside of the mercury pot with some alcohol and cotton balls after it has cooled and the mercury cup was removed, the inside walls of the pot were generating enough mercury vapor to warrant an airtight container when not in use. The pot is an original 8 x 10 Century darkroom pot and it has a stainless steel removable cup with a lid. The cup holding the mercury has a gasket and forms and airtight container with the lid and does not leak any vapor. I would highly recommend buying one but it may be a gamble on whether or not you get a working unit. Just ask if it powers up and it has any paperwork with it. Mine looks like new and it came with a certificate of calibration from a few years ago. There is also a newer type of mercury detector but it is a bit more expensive.

[Andy Stockton]

Hi Daniel – I applaud your effort to stay mercury safe. I bought a Jerome mercury vapor analyzer a while back on e-bay and using it has been quite an education. My experience has been that any item that comes into contact with mercury has a strong potential to continue to give off mercury vapor. This can take place even when there is no visible mercury contamination on the article. The vapor levels frequently exceed safe limits. The only containers that seem to consistently seal in the vapor are glass bottles with a tight sealing PTFE lined cap. I have found that many kinds of plastic bottles allow vapor leakage. The other thing that helps a lot is storing a small glass jar within a larger glass jar. The main outcome of my testing is that I no longer store any mercury in occupied areas – it is kept in protected outdoor locations – this includes my mercury pot which is vapor tight when closed. I believe it is possible to be safe around mercury by exercising prudent storage methods, but encourage people to err on the cautious side as the vapors are invisible if a measuring device is not available. If you can get a meter at an affordable price, do so. If not set containers of mercury indicating powder in your mercury storage and working areas and monitor them. The powder is inexpensive and fairly sensitive in my experience. It is useful to keep a small sample in a sealed jar near the open powder container so you can make an accurate color comparison easily.

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