People injured in London Aquatics Centre gas leak.

[rjfp1962]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-60849142

[speedy_thrills]

Chlorine? Poor buggers.

[m3jappa]

1. Let’s hope anyone effected is ok

2. Let’s hope it is something like chlorine or ozone gas and not from somewhere else…….for everyone’s sake.

[poo at Paul's]

Someone not read the chlorine dosing instructions correctly?
You'd think it was automatic, so maybe a malfunction.

Chlorine inhalation can be quite nasty, even very short bouts of it.

A guy i know of mine got perm lung damage using limescale remover in a very scaled up confined shower space with insufficient ventilation. Collapsed in there and was in a bad way

[Dr Interceptor]

bbc article said:

The fire service said the gas leak had been caused by a chemical reaction, causing a "high quantity of chlorine gas" to be released.

That'll either be a spillage causing liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite) and hydrochloric acid to mix, or someone has dosed the wrong chemical into the wrong storage/day tank.

Very nasty indeed

Edited by Dr Interceptor on Wednesday 23 March 12:37

[otolith]

I read the headline and was wondering what the hell an aquatics centre was doing with large quantities of chlorine, and hoping all the fish were OK.

It's a swimming pool, isn't it?

[Dr Interceptor]

otolith said:

I read the headline and was wondering what the hell an aquatics centre was doing with large quantities of chlorine, and hoping all the fish were OK.

It's a swimming pool, isn't it?

It's where they had all the swimming/diving events in the Olympics

[Camelot1971]

Some great facilities there - I used to work very close by and went there most mornings. A lot of professionals train there too. Hope everyone is ok.

[FourWheelDrift]

bbc said:

The pool is operated by Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL), which said the release of gas occurred when "the facilities management company that operates the plant room took delivery of pool chemicals".

Yes, that makes it quite clear then.

Or is it the official excuse for Russian sabotage.

[mfmman]

Dr Interceptor said:

bbc article said:

The fire service said the gas leak had been caused by a chemical reaction, causing a "high quantity of chlorine gas" to be released.

That'll either be a spillage causing liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite) and hydrochloric acid to mix, or someone has dosed the wrong chemical into the wrong storage/day tank.

Very nasty indeed

Edited by Dr Interceptor on Wednesday 23 March 12:37

Had the second of the above happen at a pool a good few years back, exactly as above. Properly scary but can be easily done. IIRC, the two chemicals are mixed but directly before entry to the pool water

[anonymous-user]

There's at least 12 ambulances in a photo on the BBC. Grim

And a number of ambulance cars...

Edited by F20CN16 on Wednesday 23 March 14:35

[Gareth79]

It's crazy that this sort of thing still happens regularly. While I'm sure that there are extensive safety procedures in place, are they often ignored? Are there systems in place to make it physically impossible to spill or mix the chemicals incorrectly? Are there alarms such that if chlorine is detected above a certain level the centre is evacuated, and they don't simply wait for customers to pass out?

poo at Paul's said:

A guy i know of mine got perm lung damage using limescale remover in a very scaled up confined shower space with insufficient ventilation. Collapsed in there and was in a bad way

Were they mixing bleach and limescale remover? The limescale remover itself shouldn't release any harmful gases, but if you used bleach too, then yes.... chlorine...

Edited by Gareth79 on Wednesday 23 March 15:14

[Dr Interceptor]

mfmman said:

the two chemicals are mixed but directly before entry to the pool water

They are dosed through separate injectors at different points, so they never directly mix undiluted

[otolith]

Gareth79 said:

Are there alarms such that if chlorine is detected above a certain level the centre is evacuated, and they don't simply wait for customers to pass out?

Chlorine isn't the kind of gas that people ignore at sublethal levels until they pass out - you can smell it well below dangerous levels (<0.3ppm), at about ten times that level (3ppm) it will start to irritate your eyes and lungs, at another ten times that (30ppm) it will cause immediate chest pain and respiratory distress. 400ppm will kill you in half an hour, 1000ppm in minutes.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC31369...

[Dr Interceptor]

otolith said:

Gareth79 said:

Are there alarms such that if chlorine is detected above a certain level the centre is evacuated, and they don't simply wait for customers to pass out?

Chlorine isn't the kind of gas that people ignore at sublethal levels until they pass out - you can smell it well below dangerous levels (<0.3ppm), at about ten times that level (3ppm) it will start to irritate your eyes and lungs, at another ten times that (30ppm) it will cause immediate chest pain and respiratory distress. 400ppm will kill you in half an hour, 1000ppm in minutes.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC31369...

The problem is as soon as the two mix, the release is instantaneous, and enormous. Yes, plant rooms have chlorine alarms, but by the time that goes off, it's already gone wrong.

[dmahon]

I go swimming a lot, but one time in ten the chlorine is overbearing, it burns your throat and I can’t stay in the jacuzzi area where there is less space for it to dissipate.

Always wondered how bad for your health that was?

[Dr Interceptor]

dmahon said:

I go swimming a lot, but one time in ten the chlorine is overbearing, it burns your throat and I can’t stay in the jacuzzi area where there is less space for it to dissipate.

Always wondered how bad for your health that was?

Not wanting to take the thread off topic... but to answer your question, what you are breathing in there are chloramines. They are the result of chlorine particles combined with other particles like ammonias, fats, oils etc. This will always be more prevalent in high temperature public pools, spas, and anything that kids go in (because they piss in them). The water will need to be oxidised to release them and reduce the odour. The effect on your health will be fairly negligible in normal cases.

[mfmman]

Dr Interceptor said:

dmahon said:

I go swimming a lot, but one time in ten the chlorine is overbearing, it burns your throat and I can’t stay in the jacuzzi area where there is less space for it to dissipate.

Always wondered how bad for your health that was?

Not wanting to take the thread off topic... but to answer your question, what you are breathing in there are chloramines. They are the result of chlorine particles combined with other particles like ammonias, fats, oils etc. This will always be more prevalent in high temperature public pools, spas, and anything that kids go in (because they piss in them). The water will need to be oxidised to release them and reduce the odour. The effect on your health will be fairly negligible in normal cases.

Apologies for my earlier error, the 'few years' was about 20!

Isn't it the case that being able to smell 'chlorine' is actually a good thing as its showing its doing it's job

[poo at Paul's]

Gareth79 said:

It's crazy that this sort of thing still happens regularly. While I'm sure that there are extensive safety procedures in place, are they often ignored? Are there systems in place to make it physically impossible to spill or mix the chemicals incorrectly? Are there alarms such that if chlorine is detected above a certain level the centre is evacuated, and they don't simply wait for customers to pass out?

poo at Paul's said:

A guy i know of mine got perm lung damage using limescale remover in a very scaled up confined shower space with insufficient ventilation. Collapsed in there and was in a bad way

Were they mixing bleach and limescale remover? The limescale remover itself shouldn't release any harmful gases, but if you used bleach too, then yes.... chlorine...

Edited by Gareth79 on Wednesday 23 March 15:14

I think it was a limescale remover and a mould remover, (a well scabby shower on a house flip he was doing). There was an investigation as ambulance was called and police etc, and it was determined to be chlorine damage. Nasty stuff

[speedy_thrills]

Chlorine gas was using in the trenches in WW1 I think.