HELP my thermometer broke
- Thread starter ckwatson
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Those little balls would be mercury. Poisionous stuff. Probably not much you CAN do at this point, but I'd try to get out as much as you could, if possible with latex gloves. I don't have any suggestions for disposal, although that small of an amount won't make much of an impact to a landfill. You could also use a magnet to get it and throw away the magnet; just use gloves...
Good News!
Actually, I have a little practical experience at this, funny story.... (well not funny, more stupid and careless, read on....
Back in my youth (maybe 1983), I was a Fast Food Manager, once an employee was stirring a fryer with one of those huge thermometers. It broke and he didn't tell anyone. Later on that afternoon, after having used the fryer all day, another employee noticed pieces of the thermometer laying in the bottom of said fryer. I had to make frantic phone calls to the manufacturer, and my supervisors thinking we'd Mercury posioned half of Lawrenceville (to say nothing of the glass that was in the fryer). According to the distributors of the cooking Thermomters, "mercury isn't used anymore for anything other than medical grade equipment, as its so expensive, its cost prohibitive". Turns out no one got sick or sued, and that employee was fired.
I'm sure our tank thermometers are probably made with the cheapest metal possible, since you can buy them for a few bucks anywhere.
Cudos to Mojo for thinking up the magnet idea!
Actually, I have a little practical experience at this, funny story.... (well not funny, more stupid and careless, read on....
Back in my youth (maybe 1983), I was a Fast Food Manager, once an employee was stirring a fryer with one of those huge thermometers. It broke and he didn't tell anyone. Later on that afternoon, after having used the fryer all day, another employee noticed pieces of the thermometer laying in the bottom of said fryer. I had to make frantic phone calls to the manufacturer, and my supervisors thinking we'd Mercury posioned half of Lawrenceville (to say nothing of the glass that was in the fryer). According to the distributors of the cooking Thermomters, "mercury isn't used anymore for anything other than medical grade equipment, as its so expensive, its cost prohibitive". Turns out no one got sick or sued, and that employee was fired.
I'm sure our tank thermometers are probably made with the cheapest metal possible, since you can buy them for a few bucks anywhere.
Cudos to Mojo for thinking up the magnet idea!
yeah i was not worried about mercury, more the weights that keep it up and down. I was thinking they would be lead because it is cheap and i did not know if lead leaching into the tank would be bad if some of the little pellets did fall out. the whole thing did not brake just the bottom so some water got in it and it was floating side ways on the top of the water instead of up and down like it should have been.
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I had one break many years ago and the little weights fell to the sand. Didn't clean it up and nothing bad happened.
