Asbestos pipe wrap?

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Lloyd Parlee

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Any help with identifying this pipe wrap if it has asbestos in it. I know it’s best to just test it.

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Tuttles Revenge

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It doesn't look familiar to me. But If you suspect it to be asbestos and its in an area you are going to be breathing in, I would have it tested and abated if its positive.

I once had an asbestos cloth for soldering that an Old Timer gave to me. My journeyman at the time threw it away.. I was mad at the time, but he did the right thing. The less exposure the better. It was 30 yrs ago or longer, so I just don't really recall if it looked like that.
 

Lloyd Parlee

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It doesn't look familiar to me. But If you suspect it to be asbestos and its in an area you are going to be breathing in, I would have it tested and abated if its positive.

I once had an asbestos cloth for soldering that an Old Timer gave to me. My journeyman at the time threw it away.. I was mad at the time, but he did the right thing. The less exposure the better. It was 30 yrs ago or longer, so I just don't really recall if it looked like that.
Thanks, it didn’t look like the typical corrugated wrap I’m used to seeing but wondered if someone with more experience recognized it. I masked up just to be safe. Always makes me wonder how many times over the years I didn’t notice it or was to inexperienced to know better.
 

Tuttles Revenge

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Thanks, it didn’t look like the typical corrugated wrap I’m used to seeing but wondered if someone with more experience recognized it. I masked up just to be safe. Always makes me wonder how many times over the years I didn’t notice it or was to inexperienced to know better.
Tons of times. My dad tells a story about when they were growing up on the farm in the late 30s early 40s and they had powdered asbestos for whatever.. him and his brothers would take the powder and breath it deep into their lungs because it had a cold icy feeling to it! We're going over this weekend for my parents birthdays.. he's 85.
 

Lloyd Parlee

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Tons of times. My dad tells a story about when they were growing up on the farm in the late 30s early 40s and they had powdered asbestos for whatever.. him and his brothers would take the powder and breath it deep into their lungs because it had a cold icy feeling to it! We're going over this weekend for my parents birthdays.. he's 85.
Oh my goodness. That’s not funny but made me laugh. I needed that. Thanks. Was feeling kinda low about the risks of this job.
 

Tuttles Revenge

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I still take the risk seriously. One guy can eat handfuls of it and never suffer.. in some cases a guy working with exposure brings it home on his clothes and it kills his wife doing the laundry. I'd rather not be that One. I don't flip out when I see it, but I don't put myself in risky situations around it either. If its Friable/Dusty.. it has to be removed... And not by me.
 

Terry

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Eleven years ago when I was in the hospital, they did all the testing looking for issues that might need fixing. They checked the lungs and said,

"Oh, a smoker huh?"

No, never. But then I remembered that being a plumber my whole life, and all of the soldering of pipes I've done, and I realized, that my occupation has factors for my health that I hadn't thought about. I used to be able to run up mountains, and commuted to work on my bicycle before plumbing averaging 20 MPH. I should have been wearing some sort of mask to filter out the smoke from soldering that I was inhaling.
 

Tuttles Revenge

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Soldering smoke is nasty.. I can't imagine how much of it I inhaled over the years.. and all the dust too. I did wear a mask a lot in the 90s when I was doing a lot of commercial work soldering a lot. But who knows.

I know that when me and some friends went on a Long kayaking trip last summer in the nasty forest fire smoke, my GF and I were wearing our covid masks and our friends weren't wearing anything.. their throats were burning at the end of the day. Ours were fine.
 

Weekend Handyman

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A friend of my works as an insulator. One day he was telling me that they had an extended pension holiday (5 years maybe). He explained that this was because so many from the previous generation had passed away before their time due to asbestos exposure. Don't mess with asbestos.
 

Dana

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It definitely looks like asbestos, and there are very few if any similar pipe insulation products that it might otherwise be.

In most cases it can be safely encapsulated with a heavy paint if you're not interested in removing it. With a paint binder very little of the fibers can become aerosolized and inhaled. The real risk is during removal when copious quantities of fiber shards are hanging in the air, and the weeks/months following if the area wasn't properly cleaned up afterward. While not recommended as a DIY, typical homeowners would not be subjected to the same occupational exposure levels of those in the asbestos removal business doing it daily, and from a lifecycle risk point of view may not need to be quite as meticulous as the pros.

The pros wear respirators, drape heavy poly sheeting around the area to contain the mess, and keep the material wet while removing & bagging it up. After the bulk is removed and sealed in taped-up bags they do a wet cleaning of both the pipes and everything inside the work zone, then vacuum the entire room (floors, walls, ceiling ) with an appropriately filtered vacuum cleaner. The following day multiple surfaces are sampled for residual fibers before declaring it "done".

Don't panic, but do anything idiotic, eg: 35+ years ago my brother was in a rental apartment with an ancient circa 1890 steam boiler that had been retrofitted at some point in the early 1900s with plastered-on asbestos coating that was cracking & failing, with a dusting of white/gray power around the base of the boiler. I recommended that he not let his kids play in the boiler room and notify the landlords of the hazard. To save money rather than hiring bonded licensed asbestos abatement contractor the landlord payed an undocumented handyman from the Caribbean under the table to strip the boiler. The handyman bagged it all up in regular garbage bags to be set out on the street on garbage day, sweeping up the remaining debris with a broom & dustpan. Leaving everything in the basement covered with dust. Don't be that guy. (At that point I recommended that they just move out.)

In my current home there is a piece of 98 year old heating duct exposed in a bedroom closet that has ~1/8' thick tight-woven sheet asbestos on it. It is all in good shape- no shaggy frayed edges or scuffs with loose fiber. Rather than make a mess or incur unnecessary expense I opted to paint over it with a couple coats of exterior latex paint and left it in place, eliminating most of what was already a fairly low risk. Given the loose weave and frayed appearance of the pipe insulation in the pictures I would NOT recommend doing that treatment with those pipes, but the pros may have a better or more appropriate encapsulant that might be cheaper than removal.
 
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Sylvan

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I still take the risk seriously. One guy can eat handfuls of it and never suffer.. in some cases a guy working with exposure brings it home on his clothes and it kills his wife doing the laundry. I'd rather not be that One. I don't flip out when I see it, but I don't put myself in risky situations around it either. If its Friable/Dusty.. it has to be removed... And not by me.

My father was a welder during W W 2 building ships.

My my mother also did welding and was exposed to asbestos.

She passed from the exposure

As a young child (6 years old) My father had me mixing asbestos and used chicken wire to cover the breeching of boilers and covering old boilers and in the navy while working on boilers I was also exposed too a lot of asbestos

It is the luck of the draw if you succumb to it
 

Jeff H Young

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most people take chances rip it out throw in trash . highly cancer causing and crazy expensive to do right so the crap just goes in trash cans etc. I seen horror stories with this stuff people grinding on it dust going all over house, similar with lead paint . a lot of non compliance and damaged lives
Id say you pretty much know its Hot and the only thing most of us know is we arent supposed to touch or remove it. ball in your court how to proceed. I know Ca has certifications and training .
 
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