Lead

[Snowbird]

It appears that we have some members with a lot of knowledge and maybe some chemistry training.  I need some advice from you please.

The hot tub has proven that my wife and I are floaters.  I bought a weight belt from the Doc and it calls for putting marbles or something else with weight in the pouches.

I had some lead bars that are about 40 years old that my Dad used to make his own sinkers.  They are about 14 inches long, 3/4 wide and 1/2 thick with "National Lead Company" and "150" molded into them.  I assume that means 150 ounces.  They are very soft and can easily be bent by hand.

I cut these to size and put a few in the belt and they work great.  My wife is designing and sewing a larger one for me that will use the rest of the bars (6).  But I wonder how safe this is.

How would the lead react with the heat and chemicals in the tub?

Could we absorb the gased-off lead through our skin pores?

Would a coat of primer and paint on the bars inhibit reaction or gas-off?

Should I just go get some pebbles or ball bearings and scrap the lead idea?

Thanks for your help.  

[Brookenstein]

My qualifications are that I'm a mom, but I say go to the dollar store buy a couple bags of marbles and stay clear of the lead.  

[J._McD]

you might consider going to a dive shop and getting a weight belt.  What kind of spa is it that you have, I assume it is the lounge seat that gives you the problem or is it all of the seats?

[Brewman]

 Lead won't gas off until well above it's melting point.

Not sure what affect warm spa water would have, if any.
Probably best not to chance it, unless you get a metalurgist to offer an opinion.  Lead poisioning is pretty nasty.

I've worked with lead for years, melting it to cast bullets.  I get my lead levels checked every couple years, just to be safe, but so far I'm well within acceptable range.  

Too bad you don't live close to me.  I'd make you an offer on that stuff.  

[Vinny]

Lead can be toxic. How it will react to hot water and the chemicals you put in - who knows!

I agree with Brookenstein.

[salesdvl]

No comment at all on the topic.  Just wanted to post so I could see my new motion gif to counter Snowbirds.
   

[BearBath]

Snowbird,
I'm not a metalurgist, but I do know a bit about te chemistry area. Lead is very inert. I don't think you stand a chance that it will dissolve in 103 degree water or that it would achieve a concentration to cause any damage. I also don't believe that any oxidation would be a factor, given the short periods of time that you and the belt are immersed.
Having said all that, if it gives you piece of mind, there should be no ill effect of dunking the lead in an oilbased paint and sealing it in. Or change to something else! Most lead poisoning comes from ingesting the lead in old paint particles or using torches to burn lead off buildings and inhaling the fumes.
Just what I think... I could be wrong!
BearBath

[Snowbird]

salesdvl - I think I like my avatar better - but yours is cool too.  Is it a self-portrait kind of thing?  

I have a Jacuzzi 385.  The lounge is not a problem at all.  I am 6'7" and when I slide down to get the water
to my neck, I start to float.  When I set fully into the seat I am vertical enough that floating is not an issue.

SWMBO is much shorter and has built in water wings.  (The avata is not her.   )  She bobs around like a cork
unless she sits vertically on the edge of the seats.

We have one of those water filled cushion thingys for her to sit on and we were leaving it in the tub since it is
pretty heavy out of the water.  I was concerned it would get sucked against an intake during a filter cycle
so we were putting the weight belt on it to keep it in place.  This exposed the lead to the water all day.   :-/

We will stay with the lead, but take the belts out of the water when not in use.  I agree that a person would
have to ingest the lead, breathe in the fumes, or maybe rub it into your skin for it to be a problem.  Enclosed
in a vinyl pouch should be fine.

Thanks for the comments -   I feel a little better about it now.  Maybe I will put some paint on the lead to be safer.

Brewman - the lead is all gone now.  We have scraps left that SWMBO will sew into the bottom of the
curtains she is making for the sliding glass door.

Here is where we are today with our project.  

[NE-Phil]

...Just wanted to post so I could see my new motion gif to counter Snowbirds.
     

Salesdvl & Snowbird:

Motion GIF Gag Factor
Salesdvl:     8.9
Snowbird    -3.7

Salesdvl - what are you thinking? I could have modeled for that gif. Ugh! :O

Snowbird - your room looks great! And a nice view, too.

Phil

[salesdvl]

Hey, it's my job to keep symmetry in the universe.  If someone posts a sexy female body moving in a suggestive way, I must display a corrective pic to snap all us drooling males out of it and bring harmony back.  

   

[drewstar]

I'm not a chemist but I would stay away from soaking in hot water with lead  strapped against my body.


You most certainly want to find something else to act as a wheight.


Lead can ingested, absorbed or inhaled.  Small children and pregnant women (actually the fetus) are the highest risks.  

I am sure you are aware of  lead pipes in drinking water? No,  no, no.  Hot water and lead are not the best mix. Hot water can absorb lead,  much more so than cold water. Granted, the threat from lead water pipes is primary drinking and cooking with it  but I'd would also be wary of soaking naked in lead infused water as well as inhaling steam water vapor that lead is mixed with.

Lead has been restricted from being used as a solder for food cans.  

Lead has been banned from cosmetics.  Recently in R.I several children had lead posining from using a body deoderant from the Domincan Republic  that contained lead.  The body can absorb lead through the skin.

And I am sure we all know that lead in gas has been removed, as well as paint.    

Don't use lead.

[drewstar]

Snowbird,
I'm not a metalurgist, but I do know a bit about te chemistry area. Lead is very inert. I don't think you stand a chance that it will dissolve in 103 degree water or that it would achieve a concentration to cause any damage.
BearBath

Bear Bath,  

Check out http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1370917.
The Romans used to make sapa by simmering wine in lead pots.  

[Snowbird]

Aw drewstar, just when I was starting to feel good about the weight belts you post your gloom and doom message.  Kinda like the Bus fumbling on the Denver 2 yard line!  But you might have a point.

I've got to believe that something is happening between the warm chemical laden water and the lead, but I am not sure what it is and to what degree.  I suspect that the limited time the bars are in the water isn't enough time to cause any harmful effects and that a coat of good quality paint would solve any problem it might present.  At no time does the lead contact skin.

Certainly whatever is happening is far lower in scale than simmering wine in lead-lined pots for hours before drinking it.  At no time do we ingest our tub water.  It makes the vodka taste funny.

salesdvl - Yours certainly does balance mine.   As soon as I find another non-sexy good one I will swap it out before SWMBO sees this one.

[drewstar]

I am sure LtDan and Terminator can attest to the deadly effects of sudden lead posioning when small quanities of lead are  delivered at high velocities.  


In all seriousness though, I'm not a doctor or a chemist, but lead contamination does seem to be a significant health concern.  

Perhaps talking with your doctor might be prudent?

At the very least, I would ensure the lead is fully encapsualted in a waterproof material.  

[salesdvl]

Snow,   NOOOOO   dont change it.  Are you crazy??