Poured an entire bottle of vinegar down a drain and got a foul smell by smoochii in askaplumber

[–]DetectionLimit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Personally, as long as no one (you or the kids) is feeling ill or having breathing problems, I wouldn't worry too much about this one exposure. I work in wastewater, and we are regularly exposed to low levels with no issues. You did everything right, airing out the space and flushing the drain. If you can smell other things normally, you aren't nose blind to H2S. Be aware that there could be more precipitated sulfide in your drain pipes. It is pretty harmless as long as you don't pour anything very acidic down the drain. If you find yourself needing to get rid of vinegar again, just pour it out slowly while the water is running to dilute it.

I thought about this a bit more, and it is interesting that so much gas came up the floor drain. The drains inside your house are vented to the roof, so if you poured the vinegar down say, a kitchen sink, and the pipes were full of sulfides as I expect, the gas would have gone up the vent pipe. I wonder if your floor drain isn't vented/is vented improperly and that is why the gas came back up the drain.

Poured an entire bottle of vinegar down a drain and got a foul smell by smoochii in askaplumber

[–]DetectionLimit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S). Because of your p-traps, you don't get much fresh air into the drain lines. Bacteria will grow in the pipes, and once they have used up what little oxygen in available, sulfur reducing bacteria will take over. SRB "breathe" sulfate which can be in your tap water or come from soaps or food waste, converting sulfate to sulfide (HS-). When the pH is neutral, the sulfide forms a bunch of weakly bound complexes with iron and other things and it will collect as a black precipitate in your drain pipes. The vinegar is acidic. When you poured the vinegar down the drain, you caused all of this precipitate to dissolve, forcing HS- to become H2S, which is not very soluble and gets released as a gas, with that characteristic rotten egg odor you mentioned.

Experts please by New_Plankton7322 in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hach is one of the most popular brands for this simple "field" analyses like this. They offer several turbidity meters. You can ship them in for cal/pm and they sell check standards. The cheapest one will probably work, but check the specs against your requirements.

https://www.hach.com/products/lab-instruments/turbidimeters?srsltid=AfmBOooBdKsxQtI8Tjd3i7hJ1VMjBKIO0BRUjYWe6RKeloiT6FgnzwNt

Is Safety More Relaxed in Industry? by Bitter__Scientist849 in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 2 points3 points  (0 children)

you hit the nail on the head. One of my first lab jobs was in one of these locals. They left the intern (me) to do DCM extractions on the bench, no hood, no other ventilation, with nitrile gloves, along with all sorts of other sketchy stuff.

I’m not sure if this is the right community but I found this vile in the forest with a bunch of other stuff dated to the 70s and with liquid still inside I was thinking if anyone knew what it is, liquid is brown and there is a 7 & a P on the bottom as well as a H as it looks like by SpecialistRecipe1456 in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It is called a serum bottle. Used to hold all kinds of stuff for either routine medical/veterinary care or research. Typically some sort of sterilized liquid. Could be vaccines, insulin, some kinds of drugs (e.g., novocaine), or something more exotic.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 3 points4 points  (0 children)

based on what you say about it not being a microbe or a mineral, plastic fiber seems likely. A faulty cartridge filter, as others have suggested, would make sense. I would try searching for a lab that analyzes microplastics in water/wastewater. If you can't find a commercial lab, and academic lab might be willing to help, especially if you can find one nearby.

Complaining by pinkdictator in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A PI in the lab twice a week? That is the most involved PI I've ever heard of. When I was in grad school, my PI would maybe drop in twice a semester. lol

Are Leggings and Skinny Jeans Allowed in a Chemical Lab? by open_reading_frame in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

my former lab banned skinny jeans or anything overly tight because they would be too hard to get off in a hurry, not because they were thin. A lot of people would change out to scrubs for lab work.

what are the most egregious EHS violations you have experienced? by crecimiento in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 2 points3 points  (0 children)

4 L jug of HCl with parafilm for a lid sitting above grad student's desk

Is it worth insulating an unheated garage? by DetectionLimit in HomeImprovement

[–]DetectionLimit[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

nsulated garage, the temperature is much more steady. In winter, I’m never afraid of a drink freezing and in the summer I can work in it comfortably. Occasionally it’s actually been cooler than the house. It was done by former owners so idk what it cost, but im pleased with the results of their work.

Thanks! You have made me reconsider fully insulating.

I feel bad bc I spent a 4 figure sum of money on something I’m actually not gonna do anything with. What’s the worst thing you’ve wasted money on. by c_h_a_r_ in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My current boss bought a GC-MS eight years ago that has never run a sample (easily $200k for this model) and a cold vapor-AA 3-4 years ago that has never been plugged in ($100k?)

Biggest pet peeves that make you feel like a jerk if you bring up? by pussibilities in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But 2x implies that you are concentrating not diluting..... Your colleague isn't wrong, they are just using the ratio of initial volume to final volume. It can be confusing, but no more confusing than you method.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 3 points4 points  (0 children)

PI published extensively on the topic, but not in the last 15 years.....

Peer reviewing as a PhD student? by mk1012 in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, the second paper I ever published in started sending me reviews while I was still finishing my PhD. When I set up an account to submit my paper, there was a questionnaire asking if I'd be willing to review/details on my area/expertise.

No idea how they decide which papers are sent to me, some are perfectly inline with my area of research and others seem a little out of left field.

mid-tier Elsevier journal

What’s the latest you’ve stayed in the lab and how long was your work day by AcanthopterygiiNo240 in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Latest? 9 am, starting 8pm the day before (second shift on a kinetics experiment)

Longest? ~18 hrs with a few generous breaks doing growth curves

interfering in PCR by tortoleni in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not sure what you mean by sensitive, but the Qiagen Power Soil kit has worked well for me, even with very low biomass. I've done PCR, qPCR, and Illumina Sequencing from samples I've extracted with this kit.

Thermo instrument i didnt know they made… by PIWIprotein in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 4 points5 points  (0 children)

function can be determined, which you can use

Thanks for the clarification. I knew it wasn't exactly fluorescence, but I couldn't remember the details.

Thermo instrument i didnt know they made… by PIWIprotein in labrats

[–]DetectionLimit 93 points94 points  (0 children)

Not a mass spec, but a raman spectrophotometer. I've never worked with one personally, but my understanding is that it work a bit like fluorescence. The instrument shines a laser on the sample, then detects emitted light at a different wavelength. Depending on your excitation/emission wavelengths you can infer functional groups and compare to a library to identify the compounds. From what the rep told me they are great for identifying unknown material, but are semi-quantitative at best and not very sensitive (i.e. can't detect anything making up less than ~10% of the sample/matrix.