This is topic Carbon and asbestos in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Geoff Bradley (Member # 658) on 06-03-2002, 11:44 PM:
Just wondering guys how many of you are still running Carbon and still have the asbestos covered wire from your rectifier to your lamphouse?
I should qualify this by saying - how many have it set up in your home?
I've run into some interesting conversations with the local Fire Department around my booth.Regards
Geoff
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 06-03-2002, 11:50 PM:
Get rid of the asbestos wire. Most of that wire is so old the fibers flake off. Use the stuff other manufacturers use with their xenons.
Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 06-04-2002, 07:59 AM:
I'll offer an opinion here.Unless required by law...KEEP your asbestoes coverd wire. It is the safest DC cabling I know...it will not catch fire or melt. If you have it covered up in greenfield (or liquidtite) it doesn't pose a casual contact hazard. I've actually seen potental fires stopped by the stuff. The asbestoes scare was a bit over the top. Sure, in enough quantity and breathing it there is a serious health hazard but in some applications, it's benefits far outweight it's risks. I truely believe more people will die from the lack of asbestoes than the harm it posed.
Like any potentially hazardous substance, it's use should have been based on need and benefits vs it's potential danger. An asbestoes cable covered up isn't going to harm you.
Any fiberous substance has the potential to cause lung problems. I'm sure that before I changeover...er pass on...that Fiberglass will come under fire for silicousus.
Steve
------------------
"Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"
Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-04-2002, 08:12 AM:
Some links:
http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/asbestos/index.html
http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/asbestos/index.htm
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/phs9004.html
http://rex.nci.nih.gov/INFO_CANCER/Cancer_facts/Section3/FS3_21.html ------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion
Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 06-04-2002, 09:24 AM:
Asbestos never hurt anyone until they started screwing with it and it got airborne.------------------
"Asleep at the switch? I wasn't asleep, I was drunk!" - Homer Simpson
Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 06-04-2002, 10:00 AM:
I like asbestos. 
However, the EPA can go to hell.
Posted by Gordon Bachlund (Member # 124) on 06-04-2002, 07:33 PM:
I'll second Ken's motion!
Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 06-04-2002, 08:40 PM:
Those asbestos covered hi-amp, low-voltage cables can carry a heavy load while remaining cool because they contained multi-strand copper wires, each one fine but so many that any heat was dissipated easily and the cable ran with near zero resistance. But before reusing, check with an ohm meter or bend them throughout their length. If not extremely flexible, the copper has been damaged and its resistance will be high enough to produce more heat than light. I've made emergency repairs cutting out the damaged lengths. But I'd agree,
wrapping to contain asbestos particles is a wise health move.
Gerard........................................................
One time, in 'jection Camp,
I stuck a flute in a lamphouse
and blew the circuit, Breaker.
-.....
Flute stuck in LampHouse
Haunting notes stream through darkness
Reflected from silver screen.
-Ono Basho
Can her lamphouse
Auto-detect silver flute
From my eternal lamp...?
-Nogo Basho
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 06-04-2002, 08:44 PM:
Also the teflon repleacemtn is too stiff for the feed motor mechanisms
You can get a fiberglass sleave that can be placed over the aspestoes cable to prevent fiber issues
Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 06-04-2002, 09:57 PM:
FYIAsbestos is a transparent aqua colored rock that is fiberous. The rock "sheds" its fibers, and these fibers become air borne rater easily...when inhaled, they become imbedded in thy lungs where they eventually create a major aw 
! this is the lay-persons explanation.
Posted by Josh Jones (Member # 447) on 06-04-2002, 10:22 PM:
In my home setup, I have asbestos wire running from the arc switches to the lamps. Welding cable runs to the rectifiers and switches. Never had a problem, and it is nice and cool to the touch. Welding cable also works very well as it is constructed the same way. It is however, quite pricey. My kniesley xenon lamp also has asbestos cable for the arc leads.send some pictures of your setup when it is all done
Josh
------------------
"Film is made of silver, video is made of rust"
'nuf said
Posted by Geoff Bradley (Member # 658) on 06-04-2002, 11:45 PM:
Thanks Guys.
Will do Josh.
I had a rather shocked (not due to set up) inspector raise his eyebrows quite a few times at the wire.
It still seems very flexible and he didn't seem to mind holding it or bending it. The other guy with him didn't seem to give a hoot.
He actually said that if it stays put he had no problem with it.
His actual word I believe were," I don't assume you're going to be picking at it or scraping it with a knife are you?"
I got the feeling they were going to go into a good cop/bad cop scenario to judge my reation.
They kind of got off the topic and then turned their attention to the rectifiers. While they chatted and probed, I changed the catbox.
They said they would be back. They have not seen this type of thing before in a residence. If they only knew! 
Personally I'm more afraid of the ceiling tile you can buy.
Like my Dad, who had me in the booth when I was as tall as a take-up magazine said, which pretty much echoes Steve, Ken and the Gordons-
You leave it alone, it leaves you alone.Thanks
G
Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 06-05-2002, 04:33 AM:
They came and did an asbestos abatement in my theatre -- created a sealed environment with negative air pressure and all and when the dust all settled (literally), the had created more of a hazard than before anything was touched. Another company had to come in and do it all over again. IN all that, none of the surveyors who spec-ed out the building every mentioned the Peerless lamphouse wire -- sitting there as it has done for the last few decades, not hurting anyone. I don't sniff it; I don't chew on it, and I don't even recall coming into direct contact with it very often. If it makes you a little nervous, just wrap electrical tape around it -- although THAT probably would be more contact with it than you would get in 20 years of normal operation.Also, remember the scare they sent out a few years back where they were cautioning everyone about the dangers of electical radiation exposure and that even using electric blankets could cause cancer. Supposidely people who worked in high energy environments were at risk? Well, for years I worked a booth that had two big Knisley rectifiers right in this very smallish booth with us; we used to use them as a table -- we'd sit at these things all day long, eating, reading, while they hummed away, happily radiating all that electrical energy right at our brains when we were sitting AT them, and at our gonads when we were sitting ON them. That was 30 years ago -- so far so good.