Hi - This is my first post and thought I would mention a precautionary statement about catalytic converters. The potential issue relates to the packing material that holds the ceramic honeycomb within the metal jacket. The reason I mention this, is that upon me opening up two of my converters, I encountered a white fluffy material (packing material) that looked very much like a friable asbestos containing material. I have a friend who runs a PLM laboratory (asbestos bulk analytical lab) in Denver, CO and had him look at the material. It was over 60 percent Chrysotile asbestos. From my stand point, since I already suspected this would be the case, I took a few precautions:
1) Prior to cutting open the metal jacket of each converter, I soaked the catalytic converters in a bucket containing a couple tablespoons of laundry detergent with about 4 gallons of water. I let the converters sit in the solution for a total of about 4 or 5 minutes, and during that time, I flipped the converter end to end, just to make sure it was good and wet.
2) Prior to cutting open the metal jackets, I placed the converter in a medium sized cardboard box with the top and about a foot and a half cut off. Then I taped a clear piece of plexiglass as a see through lid. On one side of the box, I cut two holes just big enough to fit my hands and a Sawsall cord through and on the opposite side at the bottom, cut a hole, just big enough to fit the nozzle of my HEPA vacuum. NOTE: I used a HEPA vacuum, not my house vacuum nor my shop/wet/dry vacuum.
3) I turned on my HEPA vacuum, and commenced to cutting the converters open (in the box). Trust me, it was a pain holding onto the converter while sawzalling in a cardboard box.
4) When I was done, I collected a sample and brought it to the lab for analysis.
5) Waste disposal was easy, I just called up this abatement company and asked if i could throw it in their dumpster that they use for small quantities of waste generated from miscellaneous projects.
At any rate, I thought this may help make some folks aware and to be a bit cautious when opening converters. Some folks may think that they don't put asbestos in things anymore or haven't for years. Simply not true, since in the US, there was really only the "spray ban," but later I think the EPA's rule was overturned. In reality, industries in the US don't want asbestos in the products they manufacture due to the liability associated with it. Imports from another country, completely different story.
1) Prior to cutting open the metal jacket of each converter, I soaked the catalytic converters in a bucket containing a couple tablespoons of laundry detergent with about 4 gallons of water. I let the converters sit in the solution for a total of about 4 or 5 minutes, and during that time, I flipped the converter end to end, just to make sure it was good and wet.
2) Prior to cutting open the metal jackets, I placed the converter in a medium sized cardboard box with the top and about a foot and a half cut off. Then I taped a clear piece of plexiglass as a see through lid. On one side of the box, I cut two holes just big enough to fit my hands and a Sawsall cord through and on the opposite side at the bottom, cut a hole, just big enough to fit the nozzle of my HEPA vacuum. NOTE: I used a HEPA vacuum, not my house vacuum nor my shop/wet/dry vacuum.
3) I turned on my HEPA vacuum, and commenced to cutting the converters open (in the box). Trust me, it was a pain holding onto the converter while sawzalling in a cardboard box.
4) When I was done, I collected a sample and brought it to the lab for analysis.
5) Waste disposal was easy, I just called up this abatement company and asked if i could throw it in their dumpster that they use for small quantities of waste generated from miscellaneous projects.
At any rate, I thought this may help make some folks aware and to be a bit cautious when opening converters. Some folks may think that they don't put asbestos in things anymore or haven't for years. Simply not true, since in the US, there was really only the "spray ban," but later I think the EPA's rule was overturned. In reality, industries in the US don't want asbestos in the products they manufacture due to the liability associated with it. Imports from another country, completely different story.