The thermometer in the house was broken, what should I do? What to do if a thermometer is broken in an apartment

- a unique substance. This is a silver-colored metal, but unlike most metals, it is characterized by a very low melting point - 38.8 degrees below zero, and at +18 degrees it begins to evaporate. In a living room, the air temperature is usually higher, therefore, if you break a thermometer, the mercury will immediately begin to evaporate.

Studies have shown that inhaling mercury vapor causes changes in the nervous system at the molecular level, reminiscent of Alzheimer's disease.

Substances containing mercury are toxic and belong to the highest hazard class. This also applies to its connection with oxygen. At room temperature this chemical reaction will not happen, but it will happen later, when mercury evaporates along with atmospheric air enter the respiratory system. From the lungs, mercury compounds will pass into the blood and spread throughout the body, “attacking” different organs. Mercury ions are especially dangerous for neurons - they destroy the membranes of nerve cells.

Signs acute poisoning mercury exposure occurs 8 or even 20 hours after this substance enters the body. The first symptoms are nausea and metallic taste in the mouth. Subsequently, the temperature rises to 39 degrees, and headache, cough, shortness of breath, bleeding gums, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and after a few days the patient dies. It is very difficult to save a person poisoned by mercury, because this substance is slowly eliminated from the body.

The amount of mercury in the thermometer is not so great as to cause acute poisoning, and yet when such a volume of the substance evaporates, its concentration in the air will exceed permissible norm 20 times. The main danger is that mercury breaks down into tiny droplets, which can get into some cracks or get stuck in the carpet pile, continuing to evaporate. Then the intake of mercury vapor into the body will become systematic, and there will be a danger of chronic poisoning.

Symptoms of chronic mercury poisoning are weakness, increased fatigue, poor attention, irritability, headaches, dizziness, trembling of the limbs with excitement.

In 2007, the EU countries introduced a ban on the use of mercury thermometers.

If crashed mercury thermometer, you must immediately remove children from the premises and begin collecting mercury. Do not use a vacuum cleaner for this, or throw the collected mercury into the garbage disposal or sewer. It is necessary to carefully examine every crevice, crack, and unevenness; it is advisable to use a flashlight, because mercury glitters when illuminated. If there is a suspicion that droplets have got under the floorboard, laminate or baseboard, they must be removed. Places where drops of mercury were found should be marked with chalk and not stepped on. Inspecting the premises will take a lot of time; you need to go out into the fresh air every 15 minutes.

The mercury must be collected in a glass jar with a tight lid, and then call specialists from the rescue service. To avoid poisoning, you should drink as much as possible.

A mercury thermometer is not dangerous if it is not broken, but no one is safe from such accidents. It is advisable to completely abandon mercury

I once broke a regular one mercury thermometer. It happened unexpectedly, but without special effects. I collected mercury balls on a piece of paper, threw them into a bottle of water, and was about to calm down, but an unknown force forced me to look on the Internet, asking search query: “I broke the thermometer, what should I do?”

Frankly, I wanted to get adequate advice, in case I forgot something or if there were some useful actions in the situation, besides those that I had already done. But there was no sign of adequacy in the Yandex TOP for this request. If I were a more impressionable person, then after reading the first pages, I would destroy the entire family wardrobe, open all the windows in 20-degree frost, move into a hotel or even immigrate from the country. The simplest thing that came to mind after reading the first links was to sell the apartment on the same day, call the Emergency Situations Ministry employees and surrender to the FSB as a person who caused irreparable damage to the neighborhood.

While waiting for the rescue and special services employees, run around the neighbors and warn that living in this house will be dangerous in the next 50 - 60 years. In general, an ordinary everyday situation turned into a completely non-drill alarm with myocardial infarction of all neighbors who had reached the age of 20 and life imprisonment for the hero of the occasion, namely me, for careless handling of such a dangerous device. By at least, the top Yandex user almost shouted about this to all users upon request about a broken thermometer.

But since I am not so impressionable, I smiled and decided to look into the issue in more detail.
So, what kind of scares do the “sellers of fear” resort to when talking about the danger of a broken thermometer?

A broken thermometer infects 6,000 cubic meters of air – wow, it’s good that all kinds of villains don’t have access to the Internet. And they, thinking about the destruction of the world, are not aware that nuclear bomb no longer needed. It is enough to buy thermometers and place them around the perimeter of the city. That's it, the residents can't escape. I can just see another masterpiece with Bruce Willis, how he saves a pharmacy with a large number of mercury thermometers from terrorists. I think Chuck Norris could be involved in such dangerous work. In a word - nonsense and more nonsense.

Mercury from a broken thermometer will contaminate your apartment for many years - Is it true? That is, 1 - 2 grams of mercury, of which it will be possible to collect the largest balls, and this at least 80% will be able to ruin the entire atmosphere in the average apartment? Mercury itself is inert and not so dangerous; the danger comes from its compounds with various chemicals. But you're not going to sprinkle the leftovers collected mercury any harmful chemicals? Therefore, calm and only calm.

The clothes and shoes in which you collected mercury must be destroyed. , since small particles will be on it and spread throughout the apartment - everyone who has broken a thermometer and seen balls of mercury knows very well that it is extremely difficult to catch them and even just drive them onto a piece of paper. How can they stay on clothes and especially on shoes? Another nonsense from the “sellers of fear.”

Call the Ministry of Emergency Situations immediately - this, by the way, is very reasonable advice for those who are especially impressionable.

The guys will arrive and explain that the one who called them is a fabulous idiot, but they must come when called. I think after talking with them, many people will go away from thinking about urgently selling their apartment and escaping the country.
Mercury can roll under the baseboard or between the floorboards and the apartment will “foul” for many years - another horror story. In fact, a number of environmental organizations conducted research on this topic and in apartments in which one or even two standard thermometers were broken during the year, no anomalies in the air were detected. The amount in the thermometer is too small to have any effect on the air in the apartment, and the evaporation period is quite short.

The mercury will evaporate, its vapors will fill the entire apartment and will enter the human body with the air. – mercury is a metal, have you ever seen flying metal, except for airplanes? Once again we carefully read: mercury itself, as a substance, is relatively inert and harmless to humans. The danger is her chemical compounds with substances that either shouldn’t be in your apartment at all or you obviously wouldn’t scatter them all over the floor in your right mind.
Urgently notify your neighbors about the danger - for sure, let them finally find out who in their house claims to be the main idiot.

This is the main thing, there is more than one page of advice from “experienced” people there about the little things.

Well, now what should you do if the thermometer suddenly breaks?

Don’t panic, calm down and roughly understand the area where the balls and glass rolled.
Remove children so that they don’t roll mercury balls and prevent you from collecting them, as well as animals for the same reason, since they have tails and fur.

Take a flashlight, a piece of paper, a plastic or glass bottle half filled with water. Make a kind of scoop out of a piece of paper, place a flashlight so that it shines along the floor, in this position it will be easier for you to see small mercury balls and start collecting them together with the glass and putting them in a bottle. Try to collect the maximum amount, it will be cleaner and calmer if someone still reads a lot on the Internet.

After collecting the balls, wash the floor and go about your business.

For peace of mind and if the weather permits, ventilate the room.

For those who are still impressed and cannot accept the fact that broken thermometer is not dangerous and even if you do not collect mercury from it at all, there will be no health hazard, I suggest you think about the following topics. Imagine how many thermometers are broken in any average hospital or maternity hospital, for example? If all the horror stories are true, then they urgently need to be demolished. And secondly, if everything is so dangerous, then why do pharmacies still sell classic mercury thermometers?

In conclusion, if you do not turn this into weekly entertainment, then a broken thermometer is absolutely safe and will not harm your health and the health of your family and friends. Believe me, in any apartment there are many other things and dangers that are worth thinking about. Well, a broken thermometer is just an annoying misunderstanding and a little effort in collecting glass and mercury balls. But in any case, take care of yourself and your loved ones.

Why is mercury dangerous?

At room temperature, mercury releases toxic fumes that enter the body through the respiratory tract.

If no measures are taken after the thermometer breaks, the liquid metal will poison the air and gradually accumulate in the body. The problem is aggravated by the fact that mercury crumbles into small drops that are easy to miss in floor crevices, carpet pile, and behind baseboards.

Symptoms of mercury poisoning may not be noticeable for a long time.

Health problems may appear within a couple of months after direct contact with mercury. Main symptoms: weakness, general malaise, loss of appetite, metallic taste in the mouth, headaches and sore throat, increased salivation, nausea and vomiting. As you can see, they can easily be attributed to stress, fatigue from work, or simple poisoning.

But if mercury continues to accumulate, more serious problems: trembling of fingers, eyelids, then arms and legs, predisposition to mental illness, tuberculosis, atherosclerotic phenomena, damage to the liver and gallbladder, hypertension.

How to collect mercury

If a thermometer breaks, first of all, take children and animals out of the room and close the door so that mercury vapor does not escape into the room. adjoining rooms. To prevent anyone from transferring droplets of mercury on their shoes, lay a rag soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate before entering.

Potassium permanganate solution Add 2 grams of potassium permanganate to 1 liter of water and mix.

If it's cold outside, open the window. This will help slow down evaporation. One thing: under no circumstances should you allow a draft, which could cause mercury to fly throughout the room.

Put shoe covers or plastic bags on your feet and rubber gloves on your hands. The respiratory tract also needs protection. For example, a disposable mask with gauze soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate.

Take a glass jar with a lid (or any other sealed container), pour water or a solution of potassium permanganate into it and fold the fragments of the thermometer.

Take two sheets of paper and cotton wool soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate. Start collecting drops of mercury from the corners of the room towards the center. Using a cotton swab, push the drops onto the paper and whisk them into the jar. Instead of cotton wool, you can use regular tape: stick it on the floor where there is mercury and tear it off.

To collect all the mercury without any residue and get to the smallest drops in the cracks, use a syringe, a medical bulb with a fine tip, or a paint brush.

Close the jar of mercury tightly with a lid and place it in a cool place, preferably on the balcony. Do not throw it down the garbage disposal or pour its contents into the toilet.

How to treat a room and protect yourself

To ensure that not a trace of mercury remains in the room, treat the area where it was spilled. First - a solution of potassium permanganate: 20 grams of potassium permanganate per 10 liters of water. Apply it with a rag or using a spray bottle. After an hour, wipe the same place soap and soda solution.

You will have to treat with potassium permanganate and soap-soda solution 2-3 times a day for several days.

Soap and soda solution Grate a bar of soap and pour hot water and stir until the soap shavings are completely dissolved. Instead of regular soap You can use liquid. Pour the mixture with 10 liters of water. Add 100 grams baking soda. Stir.

Since you yourself have been in an unsafe room for a long time, you need to do the following:

1. Wash gloves and shoes with potassium permanganate and soap-soda solution.
2. Rinse your mouth very weak solution potassium permanganate.
3. Brush your teeth thoroughly.
4. Take 2-3 tablets of activated carbon.
5. Drink more fluids (tea, juice, coffee).

What not to do

1. Do not sweep mercury with a broom. Hard rods will only grind drops of mercury into fine dust and spread throughout the room.
2. Do not vacuum up mercury. During blowing, warm air causes mercury to evaporate even more intensely. In addition, its particles will remain on the engine parts and will spread throughout the apartment during cleaning.
3. Do not throw the thermometer down the garbage disposal. Mercury will pollute the air throughout the house.
4. Do not flush mercury down the toilet. It will settle in the sewer pipes, and it will be very difficult to remove it from there.
5. Clothing that has been exposed to mercury should be thrown away. When washing, small metal particles will settle in washing machine.
6. There is no need to rinse rags and other available materials in the sink. We have already talked about sewer pipes. Just collect everything in a thick plastic bag and tie it tightly. You can't take it to the trash.

Where to return a broken thermometer

Neither the broken thermometer itself, nor the items with which you collected mercury, can be simply thrown into the trash. They need to be sent to a facility that can recycle mercury.

Call 112 to the Ministry of Emergency Situations and report that your thermometer has broken. They will write down your address, tell you what needs to be done, or come to your home if you are not sure that you were able to completely clean the premises. It's free.

True, EMERCOM employees are often busy with other matters and are not always able to promptly help with a broken thermometer. In this case, you can call a paid demercurization service in your city.

If you managed to remove mercury without outside help, call the nearest sanitary and epidemiological station. Experts will tell you the address where you can donate mercury.

In the Middle Ages, people believed that mercury could grant immortality. Until the middle of the last century, this substance was part of many medications: laxatives, antiseptics, dental fillings. But scientists have found that mercury is an extremely toxic metal, and its vapors cause serious harm to humans.

What is the danger of a broken thermometer?

Mercury is an excellent conductor of heat, which is why this metal is used when measuring body temperature. An ordinary domestically produced thermometer contains 1 mg of this liquid metal, in imported analogues- up to 2 mg. When the thermometer breaks, the mercury leaks out. Metal balls scatter, it is very difficult to collect them, they get stuck in cracks on the floor, under baseboards, and remain in the pile of upholstery and carpet.

It is extremely important to take all safety measures, since mercury is one of the most toxic chemical elements, is more dangerous even than potassium cyanide.

It is not the metal itself that is dangerous, but its couples. Mercury begins to evaporate at air temperatures above +18°C.

Lethal dose can be obtained by inhaling vapors of 2.5 mg of mercury. A little less is contained in a regular thermometer.

The SanPiN requirements indicate the maximum permissible concentration (MAC) of mercury vapor in the room: 0.0003 mg/m3. When a thermometer breaks, the maximum permissible concentration in the room is immediately exceeded 200 times!

Symptoms of mercury poisoning

Signs of intoxication appear after a few hours. Symptoms of acute mercury poisoning include:

• headache;
• metallic taste in the mouth;
• drowsiness;
• a sore throat;
• profuse drooling;
• bleeding gums.

Sometimes poisoning is accompanied by severe cutting pains in the stomach, coughing, vomiting, diarrhea begins, the temperature rises sharply, the person feels chills. The pulse slows down and fainting is possible.

If a person inhales mercury vapor for more than a month, intoxication takes chronic forms . In medicine, there is a special term for such poisoning - mercurialism. In this case, toxic mercury compounds accumulate in the body, mainly in the kidneys, heart, brain and lungs. A person experiences apathy, general weakness, he becomes irritable, gets tired quickly, and constantly wants to sleep. In pregnant women, the risk of miscarriage increases sharply. Both chronic and acute mercury intoxication often causes insanity and fatal outcome.

The process of getting rid of mercury and its compounds is called demercurization. You can carry out this procedure yourself at home. By the way, some companies produce special kits designed for household demercurization. But if you don’t have the kit, then use with the following instructions:

• Open the windows in the room to provide fresh air.

It is important that the temperature in the room drops, since the higher it is, the more intense the evaporation of the metal occurs. If open windows not enough (for example, in summer), you can turn on the split system by directing the air flow upward. But! Do not turn on the fan to prevent metal balls from flying around the room.

• Urgently remove all household members and pets from the contaminated room.
• Limit the risk of metal spreading throughout the apartment. To do this, place a rug soaked in a manganese solution near the threshold of the room.
• Wear rubber gloves and shoe covers. Wear a respirator or gauze bandage, which needs to be moistened with a solution of soda or at least plain water.
• Carefully collect the thermometer fragments in a plastic bag and tie it tightly.
• Carefully inspect all items and surfaces. When examining, you can illuminate it with a bright flashlight or lamp, then even the most inconspicuous balls of mercury will be visible. Place contaminated items in plastic bags and take them out of the room. They must be thrown away afterwards.
• Prepare a regular glass (you can also use a plastic) jar and a tight lid. Fill the jar cold water, which will help prevent metal evaporation.

• Collecting all the mercury balls is not easy. To do this you can use:

1. medical pear;
2. pipette;
3. adhesive tape;
4. thin wire (it will help pull mercury balls out of the cracks);
5. syringe;
6. wet sheets of paper;
7. a shaving brush soaked in water;
8. plasticine.

• If you suspect mercury may have gotten under your floorboards or baseboards, be sure to remove them.
• While cleaning, rest every 10-15 minutes. To do this, it is better to go outside.
• Seal the jar of mercury and store it in a cool place until specialists arrive. The bank must be handed over to the Ministry of Emergency Situations or to an enterprise that deals with demercurization. Information about such points can also be found in DEZ.
• The area where mercury was spilled in the room needs to be cleaned. To begin, prepare a solution with a chlorine-containing preparation in a plastic (but not metal!) bucket. You can use “Whiteness” (250 ml per 2 liters of water). Apply the solution to the surface and leave for 15 minutes. After that, rinse everything clean water and wet the area where the mercury was spilled, aqueous solution manganese permanganate (“potassium permanganate”). Instead of potassium permanganate you can use alcohol solution Yoda.
• In the future, it is better to wash the floors in the infected room for another 2-3 months with bleach and constantly ventilate them.

What to do to prevent poisoning?

To do this, you need to rinse your mouth and throat with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or soda, wash your hands with soap, and brush your teeth thoroughly. Recommended to take Activated carbon. If you think mercury has entered your esophagus, try drinking more water or a diuretic liquid. If the first symptoms of poisoning appear, call a doctor immediately.

What can't you do?

Negligent attitude towards cleaning the room where the thermometer has broken is fraught with negative consequences. Remember a few rules:

1. Do not allow a draft to appear in the room where the mercury has been spilled.
2. Do not vacuum metal balls. The vacuum cleaner heats up during operation, which increases evaporation. In addition, after such cleaning you will have to get rid of the vacuum cleaner.
3. You can't sweep with a broom. Its rods break the metal balls into smaller ones, making them even more difficult to remove later.
4. Do not wash clothes with traces of mercury in a washing machine. The smallest particles of metal will still remain in the drum, and the machine will quickly become unusable, since mercury destroys other metals and causes corrosion.
5. Do not throw away items that you used during cleaning. They must be handed over to the Ministry of Emergency Situations along with the can.
6. You cannot leave upholstered furniture, carpets, and especially toys in an infected room. If it’s a shame to throw it away, then take these things to special points where they do demercurization. Or call specialists to your home.

Now you know what to do if a thermometer breaks in the house. And following our advice exactly will help you avoid serious consequences.