Fairy Liquid Substance

[chris day]

Hello People

Changed a pull chord within the bathroom of a house, the house is currently being rented out and i carried out an accessory change on behalf of the landlord. (pull Chord switch)

During the change i noticed green fairy liquid substance coming from all the accessories in the house including the pull chord which i removed.

I have done some reading online and the substance is toxic and lowers in insulation resistance of the installation.

I have put in writing to the landlord that the situation has the potential to be dangerous and could at some point cause harm to persons or damage property as a way of covering myself.

Is this excessive of me or should i go further and issue a Danger Notice?

 

[Vitesse]

Loads of houses around my way built in the later 60's, early 70's. Seen green goo lots of times. I've had it on my fingers on more times than I care to remember when cleaning it up a bit in a the back of a switch or socket. So long as you don't lick your fingers or pick your nose you will be fine, just make sure you wash your hands after.

The only time I have seen a problem with it, is when there was so much of it it had leaked into a sealed light switch and was affecting the contacts and causing the switch to be intermittent.

As Dave says it's only really treated as toxic waste if you are doing a rewire and pulling the stuff out. Purely on the amount of it you will potentially be exposed to.

 

[Billsays]

A few paragraphs below from the article.....

"There are possible Health and Safety issues of retaining, working with and the disposal of contaminated wiring and accessories. Deposits of the product must not be permitted to be exposed for causal contact, particularly in areas accessible to children. "

Note the word retain.

"Di-isoctyl phthalate is a toxic substance"

Not the sort of stuff you want running down your walls or pooling in the screws of switches.

"NICEIC strongly recommends that advice is sought from the Health and Safety Executive as to appropriate action when dealing with installations so affected."


And you think the OP is foolish (or worse) for highlighting this??

 

[Richard Burns]

As a chemical product di iso octyl phthalate is not hazardous except at very high concentrations, think eating a very large meal of it every day to have a lethal effect, studies indicate it may have reproductive effects and burning it gives off irritant fumes.
However because the green goo is a breakdown product the hazards of the material that is produced have not been investigated in detail.
There is some consideration that it may cause skin irritation.
As this product is a fairly unknown material precautions should be taken to ensure that you are not exposed to this material to any significant extent. General good hygiene and the use of gloves or barrier creams should reduce any chance of adverse effects. Cleaning away any residue that extends beyond the accessories would be a good idea and if the option for a rewire becomes available this would be a useful exercise to reduce any potential risk.

 

[Midwest]

Here's another link about the subject, although some of you might find the author unpalatable ));

http://www.napitonline.com/downloads/CP 6 07 P 28 Ask Eddie Green Slime.pdf

I have come across this stuff a few times on my travels, and indeed left the clients with a copy of this leaflet, and left them to make up their own minds (IR was acceptable). Only one has gone for a full rewire, and that was probably because the house was being refurbished anyway. I also noted that the substance affected the terminations (imperial stranded), and cleaning couldn't remove all of it. So I guess, over the course of time, this will have a detrimental affect on the installation.

Personally, if I had a house with 1960's wiring, with or without green goo emanating from it, I would have it rewired; but that's just me being picky.

Ohhh, and I can vouch for the 'low toxicity' of this stuff, having rubbed my eye once, whilst dealing with the crap