What do you know about Asbestos? (furnace, stove, pipes, basement)

[Jesse44]

I rehearse in a band at a buddy's house sometimes. Today we were moving stuff in to his basement and someone commented on how old a furnace looked in the room. He then mentioned that he thinks "it's full of asbestos or something". I sort of panicked and asked him why he has a furnace/stove filled with asbestos in his home. He said that it may or may not be asbestos, but that its white and looks like asbestos. I'm not sure what this means, and I'm not putting my head in there just in case. The furnace/stove is big and seems like its not actually in use. It has some open holes in it that I assume must be where pipes go or something.

Should I be concerned for myself or him? He said that its not going to do anything unless ou jump in it or eat it, or something else that's ridiculous. I hope so! I'm freaked out right now. What do you guys think/know?

[MrRational]

Don't disturb it and you'll be fine.
If you can see it then get some "duct mastic" to coat & encapsulate it...
and close up gaps in the metal to increase the efficiency.

You'll be fine until it's time to buy new equipment.

[akck]

I wouldn't worry about it. Asbestos is only dangerous if it become airborne, so as long as it wasn't disturbed, you'll be fine. For that matter, even if it was, you might risk getting cancer 20, 30, 40 or more years down the road and it's only a small risk. Those who are high risk are the ones who worked with it daily for years.

[harry chickpea]

Do yourself a flavor and do a search here with my user name and asbestos. As others have said, this is a non-issue that was hyped by attorneys seeking big payouts. There IS an issue if you were a miner or pipefitter or in other professions that dealt with it on an ongoing basis. I do not deny that in any way. What that has been turned into is "My second cousin on my mother's side once had a toaster oven with asbestos in it. I never visited, but am I going to die of asbestos poisoning???"

[Coldjensens]

You are going to die!





(WWell so are the rest of us, but none of it has anything to do with asbestos. Go ahead and stick your head in the furnace if you think that will be fun. Just make sure the furnace is off if you stick your head in it. Otherwise that may kill you right now.

As for the asbestos, you have done more harm to your body worrying about it than the asbestos in that house (if there is any) will ever do to you.

[Coldjensens]

BTW: I am pretty sure you can eat it if you want to without and adverse effect. It is inert. You can probably jump in it too.

There is something you cannot do safely with that asbestos. Do not grind it itno dust, scrape it into lines and snort a tablespoon or mor eof it into your lungs every day for five or more years. If you are also a heavy smoker, that will probably lead to a horrid death from asbestosis (in a few cases where people breahed in dense clouds of asbestos dust for 20 or more years some people go it even if the were no smokers. However that is very very rare, in part becuase not too many factory workers from the asbestos days were not smokers).