Removing Asbestos from Black Pipe

Dairon421

How do you safely remove asbestos from black pipe.

PerryHolzman

If you are a contractor: You don't.

If you are a homeowner, and are willing to do a bit of legwork and have access to the proper respirators and HEPA vacuums it is possible. I worked in power plants and often hired asbestos abatement contractors, and the plant staff had limited ability to do very small jobs.

My brother needed to remove an ancient coal fired furnace and asbestos insulated ducting. I was able to borrow the HEPA vacuums, respirators, and a water sprayer from a vendor I often used, and buy the disposable suits and gloves, asbestos disposal bags (you have to double bag asbestos waste). My brother had to pull the permit from the DNR.

It took a weekend and then my brother took it all to the dump on Monday.

Of course, I knew what to do and all the regulations - and was in a position to have access to the equipment and supplies I needed.

That's for a modest to large job; and unless you have my expertise and knowledge and access to equipment - its best left to an asbestos removal contractor (sorry).

If its a small isolated piece of asbestos: I would suggest a N95 disposable respirator, a set of disposable gloves, an old set of clothing you can throw away (or your birthday suit if you are so bold); saturate it to "soggy wet" with soapy water (409 works - or a spay bottle with water and dish soap). Everything used goes into a plastic trash bag (tied off) which is then put into another plastic bag (tied off) and dispose of in the trash. Take a shower afterwords.

Perry

pecmsg

PerryHolzman said:

If you are a contractor: You don't. If you are a homeowner, and are willing to do a bit of legwork and have access to the proper respirators and HEPA vacuums it is possible. I worked in power plants and often hired asbestos abatement contractors, and the plant staff had limited ability to do very small jobs. My brother needed to remove an ancient coal fired furnace and asbestos insulated ducting. I was able to borrow the HEPA vacuums, respirators, and a water sprayer from a vendor I often used, and buy the disposable suits and gloves, asbestos disposal bags (you have to double bag asbestos waste). My brother had to pull the permit from the DNR. It took a weekend and then my brother took it all to the dump on Monday. Of course, I knew what to do and all the regulations - and was in a position to have access to the equipment and supplies I needed. That's for a modest to large job; and unless you have my expertise and knowledge and access to equipment - its best left to an asbestos removal contractor (sorry). If its a small isolated piece of asbestos: I would suggest a N95 disposable respirator, a set of disposable gloves, an old set of clothing you can throw away (or your birthday suit if you are so bold); saturate it to "soggy wet" with soapy water (409 works - or a spay bottle with water and dish soap). Everything used goes into a plastic trash bag (tied off) which is then put into another plastic bag (tied off) and dispose of in the trash. Take a shower afterwords. Perry

I’ll respectfully disagree. 

Homeowners are not licensed or insured to do abaitment even in there own homes. 

Unfortunately have it done properly and safely. 

mattmia2

i have a friend who had a contractor remove some asbestos containing plaster without testing it, another contractor came in to do the new work, tested the plaster, discovered the first contract contaminated essentially the whole hose. It ended up being cheaper to walk away from the mortgage and demolish the house than to clean it up.

Jamie Hall

As has been noted -- removing asbestos without knowing how to do it is best left to the folks who do it for a living.

That said, the very first question is -- do you have to? It can be safely encapsulated, if you do it right.

Dairon421

I work on boilers and just need to remove small pieces from pipe. Nothing really major.

pecmsg

Dairon421 said:

I work on boilers and just need to remove small pieces from pipe. Nothing really major.

Nothing is a problem until mistakes are made.
Even with a Glove Bag there are steps that MUST be taken.

Are you a certified abatement contractor / supervisor?

Jamie Hall

The problem -- like so many things in 2020 -- isn't the hazard of removing the asbestos. Any reasonably intelligent, careul workman, recognizing the hazard of the stuff, can remove it safely, particularly in small amounts.

But no, I'm not going to tell you how.

Why? Because, as I said, the hazard isn't in the job. The hazard is in the regulations and the regulators and the lawyers and the fines, and I have no interest in going there.

SlamDunk

The hazard is in sending a bag to an ordinary land fill where it will be run over by a bull dozer and fibers tracked all over the place and kicked into the air, possibly being inhaled by an innocent municipal worker, killing him forty years from now. As many have said here, it can be done safely and easily but disposal is what you should care about.