Vermiculite Hazard

Bruce M.

Some information about vermiculite and a potential hazard.
"Over 70% of vermiculite ore mined worldwide came from the Libby, Montana mine. The ore from this mine also included a natural deposit of amphibole/tremolite asbestos. Much of the vermiculite from Libby was contaminated with asbestos. Asbestos fibers are invisible to the eye and can only be professionally detected." New vermiculite is non-hazardous but the mine in Montana was closed in 1990 so anything installed prior to 1990 should be considered a high potential risk.

jim sokolovic

Do we consider it a hazard...

if the material is sitting inside the boiler chamber (undisturbed), or when we do cleanings or removals where it is disturbed? Could there still be unused bags in some supply houses? We used to backfill around combustion chamber tubs in old boilers with that stuff alot

Bruce M.

Personally I would consider it a hazard

Here is a link to the US EPA site and it is a good source of information. The key thing is "undisturbed". It is rather hard to know for certain if some 50 year oil vermiculite inside a boiler is undisturbed. What we do know for sure is that when an old boiler is replaced and there is vermiculite all over the place that we and the home owner have a problem. Most vacuum cleaners spray particles all over the place and into the lungs. In my humble opinion (IMHO)the only safe option is to consider old vermiculite to be contaminated with asbestos.

Bruce M.

Link to EPA web site

http://www.epa.gov/asbestos/verm.html