Asbestos in vintage hair dryers?

[Okto1984]

I've heard some vintage hair dryers contain asbestos, but haven't been able to find out much more. Aside from general interest, I'm also wondering if my Morphy Richards HDA3 might contain any? I'm quite suspicious of the fabric cable, although not too worried about it as it's in ok condition. I'm wondering more about the heater unit, the unknown white material it's wrapped around, and the cables inside the hair dryer.

The hair dryer is used fairly often in winter, but since hearing some older ones may contain asbestos I've stopped using it until I know more.

Any thoughts much appreciated.

[Glowing Bits!]

After looking up the make/model, it would appear that the hairdryer is likely to contain asbestos, it was used a lot in the 50's/60's in heating appliances. Please be careful when using the hairdryer in the future, it may be best to stop using it and have it as a static exhibit only, at least it won't blow any more fibres into the room.

[hansomcommon]

I wouldn`t worry personally, there is more chance of asbestos contamination walking in an old bicycle shed. The element in your hairdryer is almost certainly supported by asbestos string but this will only shed miniscule amounts if any and is of very low risk.

[paulsherwin]

I'm pretty sceptical about all the health and safety nannying, but I have to say I wouldn't carry on using an old hairdryer which I suspected contained asbestos. There are plenty of vintage hairdryers that don't contain asbestos, and the nature of the technology means that any loose fibres will be dry and ready to be blown out by the motor.

I continue to use a dryer from the early 80s, which is on its second mains lead but otherwise continues to work well. I do have decreasing amounts of hair to dry with it though

[Aaamusements]

Presumably they contain white/chrysotile form of asbestos? There are some schools of thought suggesting that this type is relatively harmless.
I still, on balance, would prefer not to have it blown into my face though!

[Radio_Dave]

I brought one of those Ormond, Bakelite hairdryers a few years ago.

Upon disassembly I found it had a large asbestos former, for the element, that was in very poor condition and falling apart. If I had turned it on I would have got a face full of the nasty stuff!

David

[Okto1984]

Thank you each for the replies.

I decided to carefully disassemble the hair dryer, and I'm reasonably reassured by what I found. Almost all the materials I discovered were clearly metal or plastic. One exception is a hard white former that the heater wires are wrapped around. I'd describe it as some kind of ceramic of unknown composition, but it is very hard and not at all obviously crumbly or with any visible fibres. I carefully attempted to scratch it and found it too hard to scratch. It may still contain asbestos, but I'm not too concerned by it at this point. The mains fabric cable is still suspect. There were also a couple of plastic tubes around a couple of the screws holding the case together, which contained some unknown fibres. The suspect materials I found were minimal size and relatively non-worrying compared to examples I saw on the internet of crumbling asbestos boards right in front of the fan. Glad I haven't been using one of these all this time!

Of course, I'm not an expert and even if my discovery is correct, hair dryers of the same model may not have all been made the same way. So far though, I doubt this particular one is too much of a hazard. However, I think it's time for a new hair dryer anyway. The mains cable looks a bit brittle and replacing it seems more trouble than it's worth.

[Boater Sam]

The element carrier is ceramic, no risk at all.
If you have any suspect washers etc. then a quick dip in diluted PVA will bond any loose fibres for longer than we are concerned!
Most fibrous washers are red rubber based usually on a cotton fibre, again no risk.
I would very much doubt that you have a mains lead with asbestos in it, the only commonly used asbestos cable is dropper cable in US radios or obvious heavy industrial oven cables.

[Okto1984]

Hi Boater Sam,

Thank you for your comments. I may well have been misinformed about the mains cable. I was led to believe that the older fabric covered heat resistant cables sometimes contain asbestos, but at this point I don't know where I originally got the idea from! It does have some fibres inside it, but again, they're unknown. If it's something harmless, I'll go ahead and just replace the mains cable with a new one as the hair dryer is otherwise in great condition.

However, it's not particularly special in any way, it's just something that's been around the house a long time and we still use. I don't mind replacing it if needed, but want to know more before deciding.

[robin coleman]

You may have been thinking of the contents in line cords
Regards
Robin

[David G4EBT]

As to the risks of asbestos to health, there’s an interesting paper by the American Society for Clinical Pathology entitled ‘Criteria for Attributing Lung Cancer to Asbestos Exposure’ , which helps to put things into perspective, in that the general public (us) – not exposed occupationally to asbestos or in proximity to asbestos mining activities - nevertheless, have millions of asbestos fibres in our lungs, so the minimal risks posed by further exposure need to be kept into perspective. But of course, it’s become such an emotive issue that it engenders a mind-set of ‘better safe than sorry’ and ‘can’t be too careful’.

FWIW, here’s a clip from the paper, which covers non-occupational and occupational persons:

Quote:

8-<

Studies indicate that everyone is exposed to background levels of asbestos in the ambient air. Studies have shown that members of the general (non-occupationally exposed) population have tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of asbestos fibres in each gram of dry lung tissue, which translates into millions of fibres and tens of thousands of asbestos bodies in every persons lungs. However, the general population does not have an increased risk of asbestos-related lung cancers despite these background levels.

Most workers with asbestos exposures will not develop lung cancers, indicating that there are differences between workers and/or their asbestos exposures in regard to lung cancer risk. Second, as already noted, tobacco smoke is the primary cause of lung cancers and is sufficient by itself to cause the great majority of lung cancers. As a result, tobacco smoke exposure is a powerful confounding factor in most cases of lung cancers in workers with asbestos exposures.

8-<

Unquote.

Source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/422880

[ms660]

There's asbestos then there is asbestos, the worst types are those used in AIB and certain types of pipe lagging.

AIB (Asbestos Insulation Board) is common in many many homes and places of work in the form of wall panels, cabinets, ceiling tiles, soffits etc etc, if you suspect you have any of this in your house consult the experts.

A couple of years ago I sold a property that was clad in asbestos panels, prior to selling it I was thinking about doing the place up, I inquired about disposal of the asbestos, doing the removal and loading myself, the special skip and all the documentation for legal transportation and dumping into land fill would have been £600 (1 load)

My own view on this thread is to wear a filter mask of the proper type if there is a risk of disturbing the fibres.

The HSE is a good place to start for info:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/asbestos.htm

Lawrence.

I take a pragmatic view, if I see it I wet it and put it in a bag and don't worry about it. Take the bag to the local tip (sorry, recycling centre) they are obliged to take it from a non commercial source.

[ms660]

At our tip it has to be double bagged or they won't take it.

Lawrence.

[lesmw0sec]

Around the lat 50's I used to service Morphy-Richards irons. They had quite a large sheet of asbestos by the element and when replacing the element, it was usually necessary to scrape off all the old asbestos which had stuck on and deformed.
Never thought about any hazard then! Oh - and the foul dust inevitably inhaled when blowing/brushing out the interiors of television sets.......

[Boater Sam]

I remember the ironing boards found in most homes in the 60's with a pad of white asbestos to rest the hot iron.
They wore away quite quickly, shedding fibres eveywhere.
And the pads with a metal edge for use on a stove to moderate the heat.
Surprising that so many of us have survived.
As an apprentice, I used tape and rope made with asbestos, CRT ovens lined with the stuff which showered down hot on your head whilst pinching off the tube stems

Blissful unawareness.

[AC/HL]

But no longer, you can't unlearn risks. Just be thankful you survived, many didn't.

[kalee20]

I think Merlinmaxwell has got it about right.

[jim_jobe]

As an apprentice in a Power Station in the late 1950s I remember that each summer when the boiler cleaners turned up we lads would shin up and down the rope (actually metal cable) ladders inside the boilers hurling handfulls of asbestos "snowballs" at each other. It must be 55 years since my last exposure like that so I think I might be safe now. Fingers crossed.
My GP had to retire recently with mesothelioma so I wonder where he picked it up from.
Jim

[ms660]

Mesothelioma can be contracted from folks clothes who worked in the industry, that's why I maintain it's nasty stuff, there is a risk and there is what are the chances, when all's said and done you decide.

I worked in the hard rock mining industry for a number of years drilling and blasting deep underground getting the stuff out that enables forum members to solder, there were several nasties down there too, uranium, radon etc, one man's meat can be another mans poison, that's all I can say.

Lawrence.