3 ms·
> though its acute toxicity is quite low That's the key problem, which encouraged its use in cleaning (especially drycleaning). Its effects come much later, p
by hilbert42 3y ago
> though its acute toxicity is quite low
That's the key problem, which encouraged its use in cleaning (especially drycleaning). Its
effects come much later, prolonged use rots the liver and kidneys and it's understood to be a carcinogen.
It's a damn good solvent though, I used to use it before the ban although I always avoided its vapors (as soon as I got the slightest whiff of its sweetish smell I'd move away or take evasive action).
- kragen 3y agoi'm too young to have used it for cleaning myself, but i've always heard it was amazing at cleaning things
- hilbert42 3y agoIt is. When I was a kid you could walk down a street full of shops and you didn't even have to look up to know you were near a drycleaning shop because of the characteristic odor CCl4. Once the drycleaning industry almost exclusively ran on the stuff. Tragically, many people like its sweetish odor or at least they don't find it objectionable. No doubt its 'pleasantness' cost many lives. Edit: incidentally, chloroalkanes such as trichloroethylene, C2HCl3, and 1,1,1-trichloroethane, CH3CCl3, and 1,1,2-Trichloroethane, CH2Cl—CHCl2, are also excellent solvents/cleaners and have similar sweetish smelling odors and can easily be confused with CCl4. They are all toxic in varying degrees (generally the fewer the hydrogen atoms the more toxic they are). Trichloroethylene (aka trichlor, Trilene) also used to be used as a volatile anesthetic as well as a cleaner. It's much safer than CCl4 and that was known even when I was using it as solvent/cleaner. I thus took less precautions with it than with CCl4. I recall once cleaning some electronic equipment in a confined space and when I got up to exit my legs collapsed under me. In 30 sec or so I was back to normal.