How to clean up mercury cells?

quiver · Jun 27, 2022

So, I bought an Olympus PEN D3 from that horrible bank account draining website known as ebay. To be fair the listing did say that the light meter did not work. So I received the camera today and set about familiarizing myself with it and consulting a downloaded manual when needed, which led me to opening the practically hdden battery compartment and discorvering a very dead and very corroded mercury cell. I then immeadiatly resealed the battery compartment and washed my hands.

Doing a search online doesn't reveal a lot if any information on cleaning up after one of these batteries. So I ask if anyone here has experiance and any information in the way of tips and precautions to take when cleaning up after one of these things?

MattKing · Jun 27, 2022

First, I would re-assure you.
While a corroded mercury-oxide based battery isn't the healthiest thing around, most of the danger from them was visited on the people who manufacture or dispose of them in quantity. The most dangerous form of mercury is mercury vapour.
Don't eat them!
But otherwise, the batteries themselves can be recycled with other types of batteries.
The US EPA says this: https://www.epa.gov/mercury/mercury...o federal,that gets incinerated or landfilled.

jay moussy · Jun 27, 2022

^^ isn't the above EPA document allowing the disposal of button batteries that may contain some mercury, but also says the high mercury content types, special uses need specail consideration?
A little confusing -or my reading it is way off?

My (Massachusetts) transfer station aka local dump asks to collect button batteries in a specail section, not the dump-to-be-incinerated common trash.

AgX · Jun 27, 2022

I think the OP does not inquire on the disposal of the dead mercury cell (I seal them in PE foil and add them to the other kind of cells I dispose of, but this depends on regional recycling structures), but on cleaning up the mess.

I start with a cotton bud, dry or wet respectively. Then I use 25% acetic acid. Lumps of incrustations I would add to the dead cell.

MattKing · Jun 27, 2022

AgX said:
I think the OP does not inquire on the disposal of the dead mercury cell (I seal them in PE foil and add them to the other kind of cells I dispose of, but this depends on regional recycling structures), but on cleaning up the mess.

While this is true, the relatively benign recommendations for disposal do provide some reassurance about the relative danger inherent in doing the cleanup.

BAC1967 · Jun 27, 2022

Since it's mercuric oxide, not elemental mercury, clean it like you would any other corrosion in a battery compartment. Make sure to wear gloves and don't breath in the dust, it can absorb into skin and it is toxic. It doesn't release vapors at room temperature like elemental mercury. To reduce dust use a wet method like a damp paper towel or cotton swab so you don't stir up dust. Bag the waste so you don't spread it around. It's a very small quantity of mercuric oxide so there's no need to call a hazmat crew.

quiver · Jun 27, 2022

Thanks, I didn't think I needed a full panic level response, but the lack of information one way or another on the web was bothering me. So, it comes to respecting it like I would my darkroom chemicals, and to dispose of properly afterwords.

BobUK · Jun 27, 2022

If you should ever be misfortunate enough to break a mercury thermometer, NEVER use a vacuum cleaner to hoover the mercury up.
The mercury fumes will be exhausted to the air you are breathing.
There is a powdered chemical that should be dumped onto the mercury and physically brushed up, then disposed of safely.
I forget the name of the chemical at the moment but it is easily available.

grain elevator · Jun 27, 2022

quiver said:
Thanks, I didn't think I needed a full panic level response, but the lack of information one way or another on the web was bothering me. So, it comes to respecting it like I would my darkroom chemicals, and to dispose of properly afterwords.

What BAC1967 writes above sounds reasonable to me, but is a different level of respect from what I have for most common darkroom chemicals. I'd also be careful to work on old newspaper or something of that sort and very carefully throwing it away so little particles don't go elsewhere.

cmacd123 · Jun 27, 2022

one thing to keep in mind is that leaking mercury batteries will often corode the wires that connect the battery holder to the rest of the camera. the wire may look OK, but no longer carry current. a hidden trap that is solved by replacing the wire.

BAC1967 · Jun 27, 2022

BobUK said:
If you should ever be misfortunate enough to break a mercury thermometer, NEVER use a vacuum cleaner to hoover the mercury up.
The mercury fumes will be exhausted to the air you are breathing.
There is a powdered chemical that should be dumped onto the mercury and physically brushed up, then disposed of safely.
I forget the name of the chemical at the moment but it is easily available.

Sulfur Powder, you can get it from a garden supply store, it's used on plants. If you can't get the powder you can grind up the granular into powder. The mercury will amalgam to the sulfur making it easier to clean up. I do mercury cleanups, it is one of the most difficult chemicals to clean up. It's often children getting some elemental mercury and spilling it all over the house. It will go everywhere and can't be cleaned from many items like carpet and furniture.

ic-racer · Jun 27, 2022

I have never had a mercury battery leak. I have some mercury batteries in my ‘collection of old stuff’ they are all dead and none have leaked.

xkaes · Jun 27, 2022

ic-racer said:
I have never had a mercury battery leak. I have some mercury batteries in my ‘collection of old stuff’ they are all dead and none have leaked.

Lucky you. I've had a lot of them leak.

There are lots of websites that deal with cleaning up camera battery leakage -- no need to repeat it here. But, as mentioned above, cleaning it up might not solve the problem, because the wires connecting the battery chamber might be corroded. Just clean as best you can, and give it a try. Trying to replace corroded wires should only be attempted if you have the skills and equipment to do it -- a service manual will help a lot.

AgX · Jun 27, 2022

I had some leak, but more not. Seen their age I got the impression that they leak less than alkaline cells. Yes, anecdotal.

Which reminds me that I still have to get one out of a lightmeter that had leaked to the extent that the screwed-in cover is locked and some droplets show at the sensor window!. Likely the whole meter rather has turned into hazardous waste instead...

Helios 1984 · Jun 28, 2022

Regarding the meter not working, it could very well be that the aperture blades are stuck together due to oil. It happened to me once with my EE2 and twice with my Trip 35.

4season · Jun 28, 2022

quiver said:
So, I bought an Olympus PEN D3 from that horrible bank account draining website known as ebay. To be fair the listing did say that the light meter did not work. So I received the camera today and set about familiarizing myself with it and consulting a downloaded manual when needed, which led me to opening the practically hdden battery compartment and discorvering a very dead and very corroded mercury cell. I then immeadiatly resealed the battery compartment and washed my hands.

Doing a search online doesn't reveal a lot if any information on cleaning up after one of these batteries. So I ask if anyone here has experiance and any information in the way of tips and precautions to take when cleaning up after one of these things?

A quick online search suggests that the electrolyte in mercury cells was typically sodium- or potassium hydroxide, which are alkaline. If you’ve got it on hand, a solution of hydrochloric (aka muriatic) acid ought to be just the thing to neutralize it, but pretty much any household acid (stop bath, vinegar, etc) ought to suffice.

AgX · Jun 28, 2022

Another thing that long time is on my mind is the concentration of mercury in the leaked fluid/residue.

From the look of the forms of mercury involved and added materials I tend to expect none or little in there.

BobUK · Jun 28, 2022

BAC1967 said:
Sulfur Powder, you can get it from a garden supply store, it's used on plants. If you can't get the powder you can grind up the granular into powder. The mercury will amalgam to the sulfur making it easier to clean up. I do mercury cleanups, it is one of the most difficult chemicals to clean up. It's often children getting some elemental mercury and spilling it all over the house. It will go everywhere and can't be cleaned from many items like carpet and furniture.

BAC1967
Thank you for the sulphur information.
I remember that the article I read did say carpet tiles are useful in a likely spill situation as they can be lifted and disposed of appropriately.

xkaes · Jun 28, 2022

4season said:
A quick online search suggests that the electrolyte in mercury cells was typically sodium- or potassium hydroxide, which are alkaline. If you’ve got it on hand, a solution of hydrochloric (aka muriatic) acid ought to be just the thing to neutralize it, but pretty much any household acid (stop bath, vinegar, etc) ought to suffice.

Never put hydrochloric acid or muriatic acid (a 33% solution of hydrochloric acid) on your hands -- or skin. If you are worried about an acid or base getting on your skin wash it off thoroughly with water. Don't replace one problem with another.

Sirius Glass · Jun 28, 2022

xkaes said:
Never put hydrochloric acid or muriatic acid (a 33% solution of hydrochloric acid) on your hands. If you are worried about an acid or base getting on you skin wash it off thoroughly with water. Don't replace one problem with another.

Or use the thicker rubber gloves and masks that we bought during the COVID pandemic.

reddesert · Jun 28, 2022

Mercury is bad and should be avoided but much of the risk is in long term exposure; touching a corroded battery isn't going to poison you (but of course take precautions and wash up afterwards). As others have alluded, I suspect the stuff that leaks out of corroded batteries is mostly salts from the electrolyte. I don't think it's strong enough alkaline to hurt your skin. Just wash it off. I use some vinegar to clean it off corroded battery contacts.

My workplace collects batteries of many types for disposal, so if I wind up with dead mercury button batteries I drop them off with all our other dead batteries of various chemistries.

Paul Verizzo · Jul 21, 2022

BobUK said:
If you should ever be misfortunate enough to break a mercury thermometer, NEVER use a vacuum cleaner to hoover the mercury up.
The mercury fumes will be exhausted to the air you are breathing.
There is a powdered chemical that should be dumped onto the mercury and physically brushed up, then disposed of safely.
I forget the name of the chemical at the moment but it is easily available.

When I was a kid in the 1950's, if we were lucky enough to come across some from the school science lab, we played with mercury. You know, how it would break apart and then recombine. In our hands.

I'm 76, still doing great except for that involuntary twitch......kidding.

Maybe ten years ago I broke a mercury filled lab thermometer. Much cursing! I was able to get the mercury to aggregate, put it into a 35mm film canister, and took it to the county recycling center.

But really, compared the the mercury blown into the atmosphere from coal, our concerns here are a joke.

Sirius Glass · Jul 21, 2022

Paul Verizzo said:
When I was a kid in the 1950's, if we were lucky enough to come across some from the school science lab, we played with mercury. You know, how it would break apart and then recombine. In our hands.

I'm 76, still doing great except for that involuntary twitch......kidding.

Maybe ten years ago I broke a mercury filled lab thermometer. Much cursing! I was able to get the mercury to aggregate, put it into a 35mm film canister, and took it to the county recycling center.

But really, compared the the mercury blown into the atmosphere from coal, our concerns here are a joke.

Gee I am 76 too. What are the odds that we were born the same year?

gone · Jul 21, 2022

cmacd123 said:
one thing to keep in mind is that leaking mercury batteries will often corode the wires that connect the battery holder to the rest of the camera.

This is what happened on my Leicaflex. The original mercury battery had leaked and corroded inside the battery compartment, locking the retainer to the body. I finally had to chisel a slot into the battery retainer and use a big screwdriver on it.

Once inside, the compartment was in surprisingly good shape. Even the bakelite (or plastic) parts looked good after a clean up. But the second I touched the battery prong, it broke off and dropped into the body somewhere. The battery juice had eaten it in half at the bend.

It's probably still in there. I'm handy w/ tools, but know better than to open up a Leicaflex, a camera so complicated that it almost led Leica into bankruptcy. I ended up selling it as a meterless camera, and it worked just as well that way. It also still weighed as much, so it's not missed.

Kodachromeguy · Jul 21, 2022

AgX said:
I had some leak, but more not. Seen their age I got the impression that they leak less than alkaline cells. Yes, anecdotal.

Which reminds me that I still have to get one out of a lightmeter that had leaked to the extent that the screwed-in cover is locked and some droplets show at the sensor window!. Likely the whole meter rather has turned into hazardous waste instead...

This has been the fate of many of the elegant little Leica MR4 clip-on light meters. Previous owners left the mercury battery in the compartment, and the leakage made a mess inside. When you look at the ones for sale on the 'Bay, often sellers claim the meter looks fine but you can already see the white salt/debris at the junction of the plastic bottom and the metal sides. And almost none of them open the battery compartment. Duuuh.....

How to clean up mercury cells?

quiver

MattKing

Moderator

jay moussy

AgX

MattKing

Moderator

BAC1967

quiver

BobUK

grain elevator

cmacd123

BAC1967

ic-racer

xkaes

AgX

Helios 1984

4season

AgX

BobUK

xkaes

Sirius Glass

reddesert

Paul Verizzo

Sirius Glass

gone

Kodachromeguy

How to clean up mercury cells?

Moderator

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency