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I have been reading a lot and looking online trying to educate myself. Sadly there are few if any who know much at all about scrapping around here that I can talk to (where I live) I feel that perhaps I have dodged a few bullets without even knowing it but I wanted to just ask a few questions about safety. I am surprised we dont have a scrapping FAQ or something about safety on this site. After going to the scrap yard for my first time ever I really learned a lot but mostly learned that most people seem a little bit cold and some even ruthless. It certainly feels like a lot of those who scrap do it out of necessity rather than part time here and there for fun and a little extra $$ at least around here!

Anyway I had a few questions on safety and was hoping someone would be able to give me a solid answer.

At the town dump I have access to tons of stuff for free that I can just take home. There are often times TVs, Monitors, Radios, DVD-VCRs, and electronic odds and ends as well as a decent amount of computer stuff fairly often.

1) Can I open VCRs and Monitors without the risk of electrical shock? I know a computer power supply can be dangerous but I am not sure about these other devices. I know to obviously unplug everything before I open it!

2) Whats the deal with lasers and radiation? VCRs and DVD drives have these warnings on them. Does this mean I am exposing myself to radiation when I open them up?

3) What am I supposed to do if I want to get rid of the glass and tube for computer monitors and TVS RESPONSIBLY? I am sure some people just put them in a plastic bag and throw them in with household trash but that is really just awful!

4) Will scrap yards buy VCRs and pay light iron for them? If so I may just start picking them up and throwing them in with light iron and not even bother taking those apart (they are free after all)

Tantalar wrote:1) Can I open VCRs and Monitors without the risk of electrical shock? I know a computer power supply can be dangerous but I am not sure about these other devices. I know to obviously unplug everything before I open it!

VCR power supply is as dangerous as any other power supply for electronics, the capacitor inside can hold charge for a while.
The old monitors CRT/glass tube T.V. can be quite deadly as the voltage necessary to run those can go up to 10'000 to 25'000 volts plus they all contain lead and phosphorus which make them very hard to recycle properly.

You have to leave them unplugged for a period of time (few days) and short the capacitor when you open them but there is always risk. You should be able to discharge them completely by leaving them unplugged for a prolonged period of time, but i don't know the exact amount of days.

I should just take them whole as is to a scrapyard then and see if I can get light iron. I REALLY don't want to expose myself to all that horrible stuff or get electrocuted!

1) Capicitors inside most electronic devices can hold charges for long after they are powered off and unplugged. TVs and monitors can hold particularly dangerous charges, sometimes for over a month after they're unplugged. There are safe ways of discharging dangerous components - but that's a lengthy topic.

2) The radiation warnings on those particular items has to do with the laser light emitted when they're operational and uncovered (usually not possible during normal operation), which can damage someone's eyes. Light is a form of radiation. The components of these devices are not actually "radioactive". However, there are some household items that do contain radioactive parts and dangerous to dismantle - such as smoke detectors.

3) CRTs from TVs and monitors are the bane of the electronic recycling industry for exactly that reason - the glass is very energy-inefficient to process, so every company that's dealing with them responsibly has to charge to recycle the tubes.

4) Some yards will buy intact VCRs as light iron, other will not. Ask the yards in your area.

Regarding the CRTs, I just look at it as me being the middle man. I'll take TVs and pull out what I can, then set em back out on the curb. They would get to the dump anyway if I left em where I found em, but I'm reducing the total amount of material getting dumped. Now if I ever find a recycle place that takes the tubes for free, then I'll drop them there. Until I do though, they'll get put back on the curb.

The scrap yard near me takes vcr's/dvd's/receivers anything like that as light iron. I agree with what prohobo said about being the middle man when it comes to tv's. They are going to the dump anyway.

Oh yeah I could totally get lots of TVs, VCRs and Monitors. I am just worried about being electrocuted in the process of opening them up I definitely don't plan to explore the super dangerous side of harvesting out mercury and so on. I would definitely disassemble and reassemble monitors and such if I knew I could do it safely without getting electrocuted. Is it safe to take them apart enough to rip out the easy copper and aluminum? That's all I want

I don't know about anyone else, but I've haven't even had and "Oh Sh*t" moment with TVs/Monitors. You know those moments, where you realize something you just did could have really hurt if the conditions were right.

Basically all you gotta do is make your moves deliberate and don't get careless. If you see a capacitor, don't grab it with your hands, don't break open the tubes to get the copper off, they can apparently implode. Stuff like that...

I did get shocked by a monitor once, but since then I've made sure to use tools with insulated handles.

flbandit wrote:I did get shocked by a monitor once, but since then I've made sure to use tools with insulated handles.

It isn't too difficult to short CRTs, and only if its been plugged in recently (within the past week) is it really even an issue. The heavily insulated red wire that is "suction cupped" onto the glass is the hot wire connected to the capacitor. Pop it off with an insulated screw driver, then short it across ground. It really is not that big of a deal for scrappers... Yes, the capacitors hold thousands of volts, but that isn't a signifier of deadliness. What kills is something having high Amps. I have not even bothered doing it for my monitors, because I leave them sitting around for a good couple weeks before even thinking about pulling them apart.

The capacitor in a CRT can easily be compared to the capacitor in a microwave, and I don't think many people have taken pause before just hacking into those things.

I forget where, but I read about people in third world countries searching for land mines to tear apart for scrap, and the story revolved around a poor chap that blew himself up in his backyard. Now THAT is something too dangerous for me!

I think you might have that a little backwards irrationalist. The tube itself is what holds the dangerous charge in CRT monitors and TVs. The proper way to discharge them is to clip a ground wire onto your insulated screwdriver and poke it up underneath the suction cup to touch the metal clip goes into the tube. Chassis ground is usually a bare wire around the tube that you can clip onto. The outside of the tube is coated with a conductive paint and that forms one plate of the capacitor. That bare ground wire will be touching that paint. The inside of the tube is the other plate and the glass between them is the dielectric that makes it all a capacitor.

The thing on the other end of the red wire is the flyback transformer and not a capacitor. It is harmless with the power disconnected. Touching the suction cup end of the red wire wont discharge the tube and cutting that wire while it is still plugged into the tube would be dangerous. I've once took the discharge from a fully charged (just turned off) 27" TV across my chest because I didn't have my screwdriver grounded when I was prying off the suction cup. It knocked me on my ass and made me scream like a girl. I'm probably lucky to be writing this. A charged tube has enough energy to kill you or at best make you slice your hand open on something sharp in reaction to the shock.

There will be other capacitors on the board that may have a charge but they usually get bled down by the surrounding circuit. I short them anyway just to be safe by touching an insulated screwdriver across the two leads. If you get a big spark that means it had a charge on it so hit it again to make sure you get all of it.

Honestly, it doesn't matter much to a scrapper, just like the capacitors in a microwave. If the thing wasn't recently plugged in (within a week) then it doesn't have a charge. If you get shocked, it really isn't any more dangerous then getting hit with a T.A.Z.E.R. for a tenth of a second (SOURCE) (Painful? Yes. Lethal? No.)

If you want to discharge the CRTs, just use a screwdriver that is connected to ground and pry off the anode. I'm not very good at explaining this,but there are many youtube videos that can demonstrate how its done with with clear visuals.

As for the capacitors on the circuit, I have never even considered them.

Very informative thread! I sure learned a lot from this one. for example, I didn't know many scrap yards would take old VCRs as light iron. I'll think twice about taking stuff apart if I don't know what I'm looking at, especially if there's a chance it was plugged in recently. Thanks to all who contributed their expertise to this one!

Derek.Sheriff wrote:Very informative thread! I sure learned a lot from this one. for example, I didn't know many scrap yards would take old VCRs as light iron. I'll think twice about taking stuff apart if I don't know what I'm looking at, especially if there's a chance it was plugged in recently. Thanks to all who contributed their expertise to this one!

+1. If only there was a class offered to learn the scrapping trade.