Sickness & ultasonic cleaner

hi everyone,

this is going to sound strange, but is there a link between using an
ultrasonic cleaner and feeling sick? i know it sounds strange, but i
noticed from the first time i put my new machine on, it made my head
hurt/feel fuzzy, like it was a headache. also too, i noticed that i
am starting to get strange pain in my neck and upper back.

does this happen to anyone else? i am beginning to wonder if i
should chuck my cleaner out the window.

gian.

The pain you are experiencing could be swiftly and easily remedied…
Keep your head out of the ultrasonic cleaner!! If done properly, your
neck and back pain will dissipate also!! LOL No Charge for the
medical advise! LOL

Steve
Arista Designs

I noticed from the first time i put my new machine on, it made my
head hurt/feel fuzzy, like it was a headache. 

Tinfoil hat will help. Seriously, none of my employees over the years
nor I have ever had any adverse symptoms. I work with one about 4 feet
when it is on. If you experience these symptoms, can you put the unit
at a distance that eliminates the problem?

Richard Hart G.G.
Denver, Co.

Gian,

Don’t throw out your ultrasonic. If you have a heated model and a
small work space you just need to vent the room more. The soap added
to the bath contains hydrocarbons and organic compounds that when
heated give off small amounts of VOC. The amounts are usually not
dangerous, but do require ventilation. You can try other soaps as
well. Remember that you want to use only a small amount of soap.
More than a couple of table spoons per quart is too much, and slows
down the bath.

Dan Culver

this is going to sound strange, but is there a link between using
an ultrasonic cleaner and feeling sick? i know it sounds strange,
but i noticed from the first time i put my new machine on, it made
my head hurt/feel fuzzy, like it was a headache. also too, i
noticed that i am starting to get strange pain in my neck and upper
back. does this happen to anyone else? i am beginning to wonder if
i should chuck my cleaner out the window. 

Nah, there are stranger things.

Doesn’t happen to me with the buzzing ultrasonic cleaner, but I’m a
guy and am not as sensitive to high pitched noises like the fairer
sex is. It would really upset my daughter though, and would send her
into a rage.

My friend has a singing bowl and prior to my head injury, the sound
from the ring of this bowl didn’t bother me. Post injury, he rang the
bowl and I had to ask him to stop, as I was about to pass out.

Similarly Mozart composed music for the glass Armonica (often called
a glass Harmonica in error) invented by Ben Franklin. Women were
known to swoon when they were privy to public recitals.

Sound can effect people, to what degree depends on the person and it
also depends on the sex of the person. Headaches and back pain are
common complaints.

Simple solution, get some ear protection.

Regards Charles A.

No. Coincidence. But you may be using an ammonia based cleaning
solution and not have enough ventilation.

Try changing your solution to

1 pt hot water
1 tsp simple green or Dawn washing up liquid
1 tsp of washing soda (Sodium hydroxide)Na(OH)2

Be aware that this is stronger than the usual ammonia based liquid
and will affect soft stones far more.

It could be that you are extra sensitive to the vibrations of the
ultrasonic cleaner. One of my friends who is subject to migraine
headaches noticed that the vibrations and low level hums (even very
low ones) from various electrical appliances would trigger her
headaches. Sometimes these vibrations and sounds were almost
inaudible to the rest of us in the room, but she could detect them
and they would bring on excruciating pains.

Can you set up the ultrasonic cleaner in another room from where you
are working and see if this helps?

Alma

1 tsp of washing soda (Sodium hydroxide)Na(OH)2 

Tony You are a bit mixed up here. Washing Soda is Sodium Carbonate
(Na2CO3) not Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) which is also know as lye
Sodium carbonate is a good cleaning solution addition, sodium
hydroxide on the other hand is very dangerous, caustic and certainly
should not be used in an ultrasonic for routine cleaning.

James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts

Sound can effect people, to what degree depends on the person and
it also depends on the sex of the person. Headaches and back pain
are common complaints. 

I missed the beginning of this thread, but I have a question for the
author. When you listen to music, especially classical - does the
sound of violin annoys you? Are you particularly sensitive to
sibilance when someone sings? If you have a graphic equalizer in your
audio setup, put on a music which annoys you, and reduce frequencies
in 2 - 10 khz range, more likely around 6 khz. If it sounds better,
your problems is with 5th harmonics.

5th harmonics can be long and arduous topic, anyone can look it up
on the web. I will only address practical side of it. They are
usually resulting from standing waves, ( another things to look up)
which are function of the room, where your ultrasonic unit is. The
solution is to orient unit at 45 degrees towards the closest wall.
It will be also a good idea to put some acoustic dampener between the
unit and closest wall. A thick piece of styrofoam will work.

How thick should styrofoam be, depends on wave length of offending
sound. The lowest and the longest of potential offenders is 2khz
wave. The wave length is 17cm or almost 7 inches. 3.5 inch sheet
should attenuate it significantly, and 7 inches will absorb most of
the energy of the wave.

Leonid Surpin

John Cage used to do some interesting things with music and sound.
He had certain instruments that couldn’t be played in the same room
with others, they would destroy them. He had this big beam thing that
he played in concert, it was inaudible, but when played, would make
people nervous, very uncomfortable. Interesting stuff…

Michael

For much of what we laughingly refer to as my career, I was an
Occupational Safety and Health person. At one of my employer’s
workplace we had several ultra-sonic welders used to “weld” plastic.
If I recall correctly, the equipment operated at 25000-30000 Hz,
beyond the hearing range of “normal” people. But hearing is
distributed an a normal curve and some people have a much higher
range of hearing than normal ( normal high frequency hearing is
18000-20000 Hz) just as some on the other end of the spectrum are
deaf. As luck would have it, we had a person with extremely good
high frequency hearing working near the ultra sonic welders. The
sound energy that no one else could hear made her physically ill,
with nausea and severe headaches and such. So yes, extra high
frequency noise can affect some people. Try some E-A-R brand
earplugs, they are both effective and comfortable, and see if they
help.

Good luck Jim

Hey Gian,

Chuck that Ultrasonic cleaner my way! I’ll take the chance!

Seriously, I doubt that there is a connection betwee the cleaner and
the way you feel, but just on the tiny chance that there might be,
locate the machine further away from your work station. The strength
of the ultrasonic field decreases the further away it is.

John
Indiana

Try changing your solution to
1 pt hot water
1 tsp simple green or Dawn washing up liquid
1 tsp of washing soda (Sodium hydroxide)Na(OH)2

I have no backround in chemistry, but from what I looked at on the
web, washing soda is sodium carbonate, not sodium hydroxide. Sodium
hydroxide is lye is and very caustic, it is what you see in the
movies when they spread a powder on a dead body to theoretically
leave no evidence. Dissolves organic matter. I use lye to remove
burnt carbon from behind a diamond when cleaning before soldering
did not remove all the carbon and the diamond appears black.

Richard Hart G.G.
Denver, Co.

I think several responses to the question of possible headaches,
etc., from the ultrasonic cleaner were snarky, to say the least. No
one who sends in a question to the Orchid Forum should expect to be
ridiculed. That is no way to promote education and interchange.

N.Katsu

does this happen to anyone else? i am beginning to wonder if i
should chuck my cleaner out the window. 

Hmmm. Oddly enough, I wear hearing aids and I can’t be near an
ultrasonic when it’s running with the lid off or my hearing aids
literally rattle in my ears.

Jo Haemer
www.timothywgreen.com