How to flush mercury in the toilet?

The question of how to flush mercury in the toilet is quite popular on the Internet. And the matter is really serious, it requires a detailed consideration. Mercury thermometers are slowly but surely being forced out of use by electronic ones, but progress has not yet reached all the inhabitants of our country. Sometimes it’s a pity to throw away the old thermometer, because it is still working, and people of the older generation do not trust new-fashioned devices or simply do not want to pay more for a modern device. While this relic of the past is still found in our apartments, the theme of broken mercury thermometers will be relevant.

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What to do if mercury enters the toilet?

Typically, this problem is associated with a smashed mercury thermometer. To break such a thermometer can not only playful children. Quite often, adults break them, accidentally dropping them to the floor or shaking off a column of mercury to a minimum. Usually mercury is on the floor of the room, but sometimes in the toilet.

It is difficult to imagine a situation that a person somehow managed to measure the temperature in such a way that the thermometer fell into the toilet. How does metal get there? Most often, children, and sometimes adults, breaking the appliance, in a panic, without thinking, for ignorance and other reasons, try to flush "evidence from the crime scene" into the toilet. What should I do if, for some reason, mercury still enters the toilet?

The effect of mercury on the human body

If you have already managed to try to wash off the mercury, then you must have made sure that it remains lying on the bottom. Mercury balls are not so light as to leave with a stream of water.

First of all, victims are interested in how dangerous this amount of mercury is for them:

  • Mercury itself, as you know, is not dangerous, but its vapor can cause unpleasant consequences in the form of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, a feeling of heaviness.
  • Also, contact with these toxic fumes can cause a feeling of anxiety, depression.
  • With prolonged exposure, more sad consequences are possible in the form of a malfunction of the nervous system or Alzheimer's disease.

Important! Frankly, the amount of mercury that leaked from one thermometer is not particularly dangerous for a healthy adult, but for children, the elderly, or people with poor health, it is. So, be that as it may, the remnants of mercury must be disposed of.

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How to remove mercury from the toilet at home?

The most sensible advice, of course, is to contact the Ministry of Emergencies or the environmental mercury disposal service, if any, in your locality. There, experts know exactly how and what to do in your situation, although you, of course, will not be praised for throwing mercury in the toilet. Specialists have all the means and skills for mechanical or chemical demercurization.

If for some reason you do not want to use the services of special services, then you should do the following:

  • First of all, you need to get the visible balls of mercury. First, put on rubber gloves and a respirator; even though underwater, mercury can be inhaled.

Important! Do not try to do this with your hands or a brush. This will only lead to the fact that the balls will break up into smaller fragments, which will still not be stubbornly washed away, and it will be much more difficult to assemble them.

  • You can try to collect mercury with a large rubber bulb, which you can easily buy in a pharmacy, or with a syringe without a needle.Just try to suck in the ball, and then place it in a jar of water that seals tightly.
  • After all visible particles are collected, you can pour a strong potassium permanganate solution or soap-soda solution into the toilet. The latter is easy to prepare: you need to thoroughly dissolve 40 g of laundry soap and 50 g soda ash in 1 liter of water.
  • How to flush mercury from the toilet? In order for the remnants of mercury to go into the sewer, you need to throw toilet paper or sawdust for the cat's toilet into the toilet. Try to repeat the procedure several times.

Important! Over time, the dangerous substance will go into the sewer, but, frankly, there is nothing good about it. Mercury is heavier than water (sinks well) and may settle in the nearest knee, which will cause you or your neighbors to continue to be exposed to mercury vapor, only in small quantities. Yes, and you will harm the environment. Needless to say, throwing mercury into the toilet is not a good idea.

  • After all the procedures you need to properly ventilate the room, ideally - for 24 hours. It is advisable to remove animals, children, people with poor health from the apartment at least for a day.

Important! To prevent poisoning, doctors recommend taking 3-4 tablets of activated carbon.

  • Collected mercury must be removed from home. It would be more correct to call the sanitary epidemiological station or the Ministry of Emergencies and ask where exactly to dispose of it.

Important! In any case, do not throw mercury into the mine trash in your home. Better find a trash can on the street. You can take out and bury the collected metal in some wasteland away from houses.

  • It is also recommended that after all the procedures call home specialists who will measure the level of mercury vapor with a special device.
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What can not be done?

Further, we will talk about some tips that are quite common on forums when discussing the topic of how to flush mercury in the toilet:

  • If we take the recommendation to concrete the toilet bowl and leave the city as a joke, some may perceive pouring 2 weeks into the Coca-Cola toilet bowl as a really working tool. Such actions will not bring any result in the fight against settled metal.
  • There are people who advise using ferric chloride. In fact, it is toxic, and, fortunately, is not sold at every corner. The same applies to 100% nitric acid.
  • You should not believe that mercury balls will stick together in rows in a magnet or copper wire as soon as you lower it into the toilet.

Important! If you have plumbing skills, then you can use the recommendation to disconnect the toilet and remove mercury from it, but this, as they say, is not suitable for everyone.

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Actions in the event of a broken mercury thermometer

If you have broken a mercury thermometer in a room, do not flush the gray matter into the toilet. You can get rid of harmful metal faster if you do not panic and listen to the following recommendations:

  • Do not use a vacuum cleaner to collect mercury balls. He will absorb the balls, and on the reverse side we will get a stream of air “enriched” with poisonous mercury vapors. Evaporation will increase as the mercury heats up inside the vacuum cleaner.
  • You cannot use a broom, broom, mop, rag to collect mercury balls, since, thanks to your manipulations, they will disintegrate into small fragments, scatter throughout the room, and it will be even more difficult to see and collect them.
  • Be sure to protect your hands and respiratory system. Isolate the room itself.
  • Remove animals, children and people with poor health from the infected premises.
  • Mercury must be collected carefully: gently replace the particles with a soft brush or a scraper with a rubber tip on a piece of paper. Collect small balls using tape or a wet newspaper.
  • If mercury gets on the carpet, then a piece of the carpet is best cut and discarded.

Important! During the collection of mercury in the room, the windows should be closed, fans, air conditioners, and heaters turned off.

  • Inspect the surface and all the cracks around with a flashlight. Mercury will glow. From inaccessible places, the balls can be collected with a pear or a syringe without a needle.

Important! All clothes that mercury could get on, a respirator, gloves should be thrown away; clothes should not be washed in a washing machine.

  • After all the manipulations, it is necessary to ventilate the room during the day.

Important! Liquid metal is a substance of the first hazard class. The maximum permissible concentration is 300 ng / cubic meter.

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In order to avoid a recurrence of a similar situation, replace mercury thermometers with electronic ones, especially if you have children and you don’t want to puzzle over how to flush mercury in the toilet. In any case, you should not panic, because in this state you will make more mistakes than the right actions. Think soberly and clearly, concentrate on the task and figure out how to properly and quickly dispose of harmful metal. The tips from this article will help you navigate this serious matter.

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