trichlorofluoroethane ?

davewesen

I was reading an old book on counterfeit detection and in the early days ANACS rinsed coins with trichlorofluoroethane. Does anyone have experience with it, what does it do, is it still available and is their a better alternative?

lermish

C₂H₂Cl₃F for @jmlanzaf

2windy2fish

I don’t know if it’s available anywhere but it is a carcinogen and has been banned by the EPA because of its inherent health risks
I would believe Acetone could accomplish the same task

Maywood

Trichloroflouroethane isn’t a proven carcinogen but has been banned for reasons relating to the ozone layer.
Other similarly spelled/sounding substances such as trichloroethylene are carcinogenic.

CaptHenway

It was sold by the company that made Kointains under the brand name "Dissolve." According to the guy who owned the company, the government put a huge tax on it to drive it out of the market. It may have been actually banned later; I don't know.

ANACS only ever used it on coins with severe PVC contamination, and then only with written permission from the submittor.

TD

2windy2fish

@Maywood Thank you, my post was in error…spelling is important!
Trichloroflouroethane is not a proven carcinogen but you really should not be exposing yourself to high doses…Curious if anyone from early ANACS days can tell us what they actually used, kinda doubt it was Freon but 🤷‍♂️

CaptHenway

@2windy2fish said:
@Maywood Thank you, my post was in error…spelling is important!
Trichloroflouroethane is not a proven carcinogen but you really should not be exposing yourself to high doses…Curious if anyone from early ANACS days can tell us what they actually used, kinda doubt it was Freon but 🤷‍♂️

See above.

oih82w8

We used to use Trich 1.1.1. in the Air Force late 80's early 90's for a parts cleaner (degreaser). It was soon banned due to cfc identification.

2windy2fish

@CaptHenway Thank you, i believe we were typing at the same time!

Klif50

In the early 1970s we (US Air Force folks) used that chemical to clean the heads on reel to reel tape recorders. In 1976 the government had a major push to get it out of our operations buildings and everyone that had routinely used it had to go for blood testing. I used it, cleaned a lot of tape heads during work, and got tested and came up negative for what they were testing for. If fell out of the supply chain and was replaced with a milder cleaning agent after that. I haven't heard to title in over 40 years.

jfriedm56

The company I worked for in the 1980’s used Trichlor as we called it back then, as a parts degreaser. I remember one poor soul whose job was exclusively degreasing parts for years and years. He ended up getting cancer and was gone quickly. Very dangerous to work with and I remember it being banned from our company use.

PapiNE

I used it in the Air Force to clean up circuit boards; particularly after soldering components. An aerosol that evaporated quickly much like alcohol and disappeared just as quickly from our inventories in the mid to late 80's.

Maywood

I also used it as a degreaser in the 1970's-1980's at my first job. We would get it in 55 gallon drums and had a large tank that heated it slightly for degreasing.

jmlanzaf

@2windy2fish said:
I don’t know if it’s available anywhere but it is a carcinogen and has been banned by the EPA because of its inherent health risks
I would believe Acetone could accomplish the same task

It's a chlorofluorocarbon, it was restricted for ozone risks more than health risks.

davewesen

thanks everyone

krueger

Bad stuff, without gloves gets into you blood stream, also oder into your lungs.
used it way back caused me health problems .
Stay away from it

Walkerguy21D

Is this the same as, or similar to, the formerly available Blue Ribbon? And prior to that, Care? It was very popular with the copper guys.

johnny9434

@Walkerguy21D said:
Is this the same as, or similar to, the formerly available Blue Ribbon? And prior to that, Care? It was very popular with the copper guys.

Love the price and company

Mr_Spud

I believe these are the modern replacements for the solvent that was in Blue Ribbon
https://relspec.com/advanced-solvent-overview

AeroTron™ vapor degreasing solvents are modernized, non-flammable high performance vapor degreasing solvents with improved chemistry over n propyl bromide (nPB) and Trichloroethylene (TCE) for cold wipe and vapor degreasing applications

And here’s too much information about TCE and how these new safer solvents are used to replace it https://relspec.com/replace-tce

Sapyx

1,1,1-trichloroethane and trichlorofluoroethane are similar, but different, substances. They were primarily favoured because besides being very cheap, they were non-flammable, so could be used safely around smokers, hot engines, and other heat sources. They also worked great in firefighting equipment, where some exemptions to their discontinuation were applied in the military and aerospace industry. I'm old enough to remember little bottles of 1,1,1-trichloroethane sitting around the house as "Liquid Paper thinner". However, these chemicals do damage the ozone layer and so were phased out beginning with the Montreal Protocol in 1987.

The "AeroTron" range of CFC-substitute degreasers linked to by Mr_Spud are primarily made of non-toxic non-flammable hydrofluoroolefins, like hexafluorobutenes, which have similar properties to the CFCs they replace; their main drawback is that they're more expensive, and can degrade more readily (including into trifluoroacetic acid, which is both toxic and acidic so not something you want to be sloshing around metal things) so need more frequent refreshing and replacement. Indeed, that degradation is the whole reason why hydrofluoroolefins are better for the ozone layer; they don't last long enough in sunlight to reach that altitude. In terms of coin cleaning, I suppose these compounds would work (though with that caveat about using them before the expiry date or they'll become acidic).

Acetone is the stand-by replacement solvent in terms of cleaning "goo" off of coins, doing a very similar job - with the notable difference being that acetone is highly flammable, and so not as "safe" to use.

BAJJERFAN

@jfriedm56 said:
The company I worked for in the 1980’s used Trichlor as we called it back then, as a parts degreaser. I remember one poor soul whose job was exclusively degreasing parts for years and years. He ended up getting cancer and was gone quickly. Very dangerous to work with and I remember it being banned from our company use.

My dad worked in a place that made lawn mowers and had a degreasing pit. He mentioned one person who dropped some parts into the pit and actually jumped into the pit to retrieve them. Apparently he was left white as a ghost. Never heard what became of him. Normally the parts would be kept in a basket strainer like a french fryer.

CaptHenway

I checked with Bern Nagengast, long-time owner of the E & T Kointain Company.

"Dissolve" was trichlorotriflouroethane

TD