Severity of Solder Fumes and Precautions

Nowadays it is possible to learn soldering from videos on the Internet. There are many videos on how to do soldering, what equipment you will need, etc. However, one thing that a “How to do soldering” video doesn’t cover is the safety and the toxicity of soldering fumes. This is because if you choose to go down your own learning path, it is your responsibility to decide what to learn and when to learn it.
In fact, it’s not that hard to figure out where solder fumes are harmful and where they aren’t. If you do it long enough, in a closed room where there is not enough air circulation, it shouldn’t take long to feel sick. It is a feeling that the eyes can change their focus slower, loss of energy where you feel like a sack of potatoes and much more. It is also known to cause nausea and dizziness. And that’s not all. Primarily, heavy metals such as lead in the solder will penetrate through the air and also the skin.
So how do we protect ourselves from this? By not soldering? Well, for those who don’t do it as a full time job, they can try not to get caught up in the hype of it so much and do it for its purpose, only when needed. Other than that, there are a ton of other preventative measures
Here are some of them:

1) Use air extraction tool
The first and most necessary precaution is the use of air extraction tools. It is also the one with the most technical aspect and also not very cheap. Now there are solder fume extractors that have hoses with specially designed air intake heads that will remove most of the concerns. They don’t just pull the air, they also filter it through their specially designed filters for soldering fumes. Well, when we say filters, we have to stop there. The filters used in some of the solder fume extractors (especially the cheaper Amazon ones) can be inadequate. Most of them only come with simple charcoal filters and that alone is not enough. Of course, it’s better than nothing, so if you don’t want to pay for expensive ones, you can think about going with it. For those who want to have a more robust filtration, they should buy a 3-filter fume extractor specifically designed for soldering. It will come with a pre-filter, a HEPA 13 filter and an activated carbon filter. The prefilter will do the first filtration for larger particles such as dust. HEPA 13 filter will capture heavy metals and most organic compounds. And lastly, the activated carbon filter will capture other organic compounds, especially those that create the odor.
The purified air should be much safer compared to others. However, it is still necessary to ventilate the room as much as possible.

2) Use lead-free solder
Did you know that back in the day, solder contained mercury? Well, if you know how toxic vaporized mercury can be, that was the way things were. Nowadays we have government regulations that are very careful about what solders are made of. Even in the circuit board industry, people started using lead-free solder. The most common type of solder is still lead-based. They melt faster and are easier to use. However, lead-free solders are mostly based on tin and don’t contain as much lead. It can be considered to use tin based solders when possible. However, the downside is the amount of heat, correspondingly the amount of flux will increase. So while it reduces the heavy metals, it may increase the release of flux fumes.

3) Don’t overuse flux
Flux contains many chemicals that can cause irritation to the respiratory system. Therefore, do not use more flux than necessary. In addition to the heavy metals that solder contains, flux also contains many substances, especially organic toxic compounds. Fortunately, it is easier to capture organic compounds with filters than heavy metals.

4) Ventilate the room properly
Even though you might use fume extractor and other measures, a part of fume won’t go into the air extractor. Even if you use filteration tools, the air they put out may still contain some of the toxic gases. So air recirculation still makes perfect sense, even with the best fume extractors.

5) Wear protective mask
A mask designed to protect against chemicals will help you work longer and reduce the amount of gases entering your system. Keep in mind, however, that the mask will also affect oxygen flow. You may want to consider opening the mask in a clean air environment and returning to work.

6) Take regular breaks
The air in the work environment will be affected by soldering fumes. The speed of this affection depends on the measurements taken in the first place, but it is safe to say that you will be good by taking regular breaks. These regular breaks can take place in a different room from the one where the soldering is taking place, and at that time the room can be ventilated.

7) Wear protective cloth
It is possible to smell solder and flux from your clothes and skin if you solder for long enough. As an extra precaution, you might consider wearing a protective suit. However, this shouldn’t be necessary for those who don’t spend that much time soldering and have adequate ventilation in their room. Just know that solder fumes are the last thing you want in your work environment.