Galvanize

[getatorch]

That's the only time a west Tx. 50 mph dust storm is good. Yep, to blow that green splattering flame & white smoke sh#* away fast! I have welded for many years many times having to weld galv. and it will mess you up. Have walked away from it feeling sick before. Clean steel is a pleasure. Use it. 50% loss of lung power is alot out of 2.

[MetalWolf]

Treatment[edit]

Treatment of mild metal fume fever consists of bedrest, keeping the patient well hydrated, and symptomatic therapy (e.g. aspirin for headaches) as indicated. In the case of non-allergic acute lung injury, standard or recommended approaches to treatment have not been defined.[10]

The consumption of large quantities of cow's milk, either before or immediately after exposure is a traditional remedy.[1] However, the United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive challenges this advice, warning, "Don’t believe the stories about drinking milk before welding. It does not prevent you getting metal fume fever."[13]

I'm not adding this to start a flame war here either... on the subject of MILK.
This came from a my doctor and P.C. is where i got it, I'd Have to retrace to find it again

Now Only a year ago I got metal fever sickness welding out side for five days on galvanized pipe and cattle panels building a dog kennel as my doctor called it zinc poisoning all was done out side in the open air but could not escape the toxic fumes totally as it was still and calm for most of the build

the first day after welding i felt a little off brushed it off as typical allergies as i suffer from chronic year around allergies the second day started feeling a bit more off by the fifth day i was well on my way body hurt throwing up bad head ach noticeable chills at night was bad enough to go see my doctor

and when we figured out what i had done mind you i did know better but was under stress as usual and shit needed to get done and used what material was on hand galvanized well pipe. any way to make this story short
doc an i figured out the events leading up to getting so sick welding galvanized pipe

so he called and did some research yada yada blah blah and came back and said there is no real way to rid the body no medical treatment but he was told you need to have the patient drink lots of milk and i mean lots of milk it will help rid the body of the heavy metal not sure where he got that from.

so i took what he said and drank lots of milk 5 gallons of milk over a 2 day span now i don't know if it actually helped i know i just started feeling better about the 3rd day so i started looking in to the milk think as for zinc poisoning or metal fever. and found their is no proof it has any affect as maybe i just started feeling better day by day due to just ridding out the symptoms

And can not say there has been a full recovery as I now have more than normal lung issues short of breath is more common tier out easily than before all this seems to have become more prevalent since the metal fume fever.

Galvanized metals are no ones friend! In my book is nothing more than scrap metal to put an extra buck in a scrapers pocket

It is just not worth your Health or your Life!

[Samcord]

I'm sorry for your problems. This is a good reminder of something to keep top of mind, along with avoiding chlorinated brake cleaner. Keep it simple and only get the non-chlorinated stuff.

[CaddmannQ]

I learned about welding on galvanized steel the first time I tried it. That shit is noxious. I remember as a trucker once taking weldments to a hot dip plant. Watching the guys guys work over open vats of acid and hot trichlorethelyene and molten zinc was quite an eye-opener.

About 30 years ago I was working for a company that welded curtain wall panels for high-rise buildings out of galvanized steel studs and sheets.

It was all done indoors with MIG welders and those guys had some big fans to suck the fumes off.

But of course you don’t want to suck the argon gas off!

What I noticed is that the guys who did that welding successfully were burley cigar smoking meat eaters. Guys that look like they should’ve been doing high-rise structural iron were doing tin can work because they could better deal with the fumes.