[nuthreadz]

Random post but I'm desperate to find out what is going on. So....all of a sudden I spot a piece of paper that appears yellow in the shop. I start looking around and every paper that is on the top of a stack is yellow. Anything in the stack remained white. I then notice that some spackle on the wall where we repaired holes but didn't paint yet is now yellow.
Ok, so I'm freaking out at this point. Now I'm looking at all white garments and if they are on the top of a stack, they are now yellow.
What the heck am I breathing in???
The fire department came out and tested for gas leak......no leak, oxygen level was perfect. We are all non smokers. No new inks or chemicals have been brought into the shop.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? I have even found hats where the embroidery thread that was white is now yellow. I have seen a shirt up in the front of the shop that had white ink....yep, its now yellow.

If you have any idea, I would love to hear it. Everyone in our building has come down to try to figure it out and we all believe it has to be some kind of chemical in the air but we can't figure it out....and nothing is new here.
thanks

 

[NoXid]

Okay, I assume you have not been doing any printing with discharge ink or using chlorine bleach to make "bleach" shirts. Else I imagine you would have suspected that yourself (not saying that it can do this, just that it would be natural to suspect it).

So ... where is your exposure unit and how much does it leak? I would suspect UV light, rather than chemicals in the air. Note, UV also causes cataracts.

 

[nuthreadz]

We don't do discharge ink and we haven't used bleach in the shop. To be honest with you, the past month has been extremely low use of the exposure unit as we had screens for 95% of customers that repeated orders. I'm going to lay out some items today to see what they look like on Monday because we will be not operating this weekend.
One more tidbit..... yesterday I took two of the hats where the white thread turned yellow and I decided to spray them with water to see if it washes off. When I sprayed the water on them, the white thread immediately turned pink/red. (just with water, no soap or anything)
-frustrated in Ohio.....

 

[danversatrans]

We don't do discharge ink and we haven't used bleach in the shop. To be honest with you, the past month has been extremely low use of the exposure unit as we had screens for 95% of customers that repeated orders. I'm going to lay out some items today to see what they look like on Monday because we will be not operating this weekend.
One more tidbit..... yesterday I took two of the hats where the white thread turned yellow and I decided to spray them with water to see if it washes off. When I sprayed the water on them, the white thread immediately turned pink/red. (just with water, no soap or anything)
-frustrated in Ohio.....

I will admit to being curious as to what is causing that problem. No one else in the building is using bleach ? As we are using bleach as a cleaning agent and sanitizer these days in copious amounts that was my first thought. But I hope you find out what is causing the yellowing

 

[nuthreadz]

I'm in an industrial space where my neighbor on the left is just storage....neighbor to the right is a roofing company. We really aren't going crazy with bleach for cleaning. Clorox wipes on surfaces, microban on door knobs and small tools once a day....nothing really major. I will ask next door at the roofing company but I hop over there at least once a day and I don't smell any bleach, nor does it look super spotless to believe they are using it. The whole building has been doing google searches because everyone is curious to figure this out.

 

[NoXid]

.... yesterday I took two of the hats where the white thread turned yellow and I decided to spray them with water to see if it washes off. When I sprayed the water on them, the white thread immediately turned pink/red. ...

Okay, that is a bit frightening Clearly chemistry going on there in real time.

In addition to your indoor experiment, find a place outside to test some stuff. Perhaps it is drifting in from some other business in the general area.

Are any other tenants noticing yellowing of things?

The storage facility to your left ... any idea what is in there? If it is a typical U-Store sort of horror story, someone probably put their dismembered spouse in a barrel of lye 5 years ago, and it is just now breaching containment.

Interesting that no one is complaining of a smell or lung irritation (I'm a canary; my lungs tighten at the first hint of anything bad). That's part of the reason I suggested UV.

Hey! What kind of lights does your space have? Some warehouse spaces like that have those big halide bulbs. They come in two types. The type that must be enclosed in a fixture that filters out the UV (I use a bulb like this in my exposure unit = 24 second exposures). Or the type that has the UV filter built into the outer layer of the bulb. If one uses the first type without a fixture that filters UV, or the second type after the outer bulb has cracked, they will emit dangerous levels of UV.

Can test this "light" idea by placing a nice white sheet of paper somewhere that is shaded from the overhead lights, but still open to air movement. That should indicate whether it is something chemical settling out of the air, or photons.

 

[into the T]

reminds me of sulfuric acid crystals

take a sample of your yellowed thread to a private lab and tell them to run it through the mass spec

 

[nuthreadz]

Okay, that is a bit frightening Clearly chemistry going on there in real time.

In addition to your indoor experiment, find a place outside to test some stuff. Perhaps it is drifting in from some other business in the general area.

Are any other tenants noticing yellowing of things?

The storage facility to your left ... any idea what is in there? If it is a typical U-Store sort of horror story, someone probably put their dismembered spouse in a barrel of lye 5 years ago, and it is just now breaching containment.

Interesting that no one is complaining of a smell or lung irritation (I'm a canary; my lungs tighten at the first hint of anything bad). That's part of the reason I suggested UV.

Hey! What kind of lights does your space have? Some warehouse spaces like that have those big halide bulbs. They come in two types. The type that must be enclosed in a fixture that filters out the UV (I use a bulb like this in my exposure unit = 24 second exposures). Or the type that has the UV filter built into the outer layer of the bulb. If one uses the first type without a fixture that filters UV, or the second type after the outer bulb has cracked, they will emit dangerous levels of UV.

Can test this "light" idea by placing a nice white sheet of paper somewhere that is shaded from the overhead lights, but still open to air movement. That should indicate whether it is something chemical settling out of the air, or photons.

ok first of all I'm laughing at the spouse in a barrel. That is so funny! There isn't anything like that over there and I did walk through it this past week. I had asked him about the yellowing and we went through to make sure nothing in his place was yellowing. I assume I would have smelled his spouse in Lye. It appeared to be a tow motor and some machines that do machinery stuff. Its kind of empty as he is just in the process of moving equipment into that unit.
The roofing company checked for yellowing also and had nothing.
Our lights are flourescent bulbs.

Thanks for putting thought into this. Appreciate any insight you all are giving.

 

[TeedUp]

reminds me of sulfuric acid crystals

take a sample of your yellowed thread to a private lab and tell them to run it through the mass spec

You can google "environmental testing lab".

Or maybe if you have a local college or university you could get the chemistry dept to take an interest for cheap?

 

[nuthreadz]

You can google "environmental testing lab".

Or maybe if you have a local college or university you could get the chemistry dept to take an interest for cheap?

oh thats an interesting idea! We do have a few colleges near by. Maybe I will ask them if they want to test. Thanks!

 

[NoXid]

oh thats an interesting idea! We do have a few colleges near by. Maybe I will ask them if they want to test. Thanks!

Undergrads are cheap and replaceable!

 

[Sharon_b]

check you HVAC system? was it recently serviced & cleaned?

 

[nuthreadz]

check you HVAC system? was it recently serviced & cleaned?

We only have hanging industrial heaters (Reznor).....no air conditioning (we live in the snow belt in northern ohio) I will ask the landlord about the heater but we did have the fireman out to check if it was leaking gas and it was not.

 

[into the T]

something is precipitating out of the air, or it is coming in
put a piece of tape vertically against any grate where air comes in and look at it after 24 hours

don't forget that if it is accumulating on surfaces, it may be accumulating in your lungs
see if you can get that sample tested or get someone with a decent gas/air sniffer to come in and sniff around

 

[webtrekker]

Could it be tree pollen? Is anyone nearby having the same issues?

 

[nuthreadz]

Could it be tree pollen? Is anyone nearby having the same issues?

We aren't to that stage yet but soon. This doesn't appear to be pollen but I will keep that in mind.

 

[nuthreadz]

something is precipitating out of the air, or it is coming in
put a piece of tape vertically against any grate where air comes in and look at it after 24 hours

don't forget that if it is accumulating on surfaces, it may be accumulating in your lungs
see if you can get that sample tested or get someone with a decent gas/air sniffer to come in and sniff around

Thank you! I am going to put something right where the air blows out of the heater (since only one runs it should be easy). Other than that one heater we would only have edges of garage doors where air can leak in. Someone here suggested that it was our screen printing dryer however there is that white cotton lining up near the vent and that is still white. If it were the dryer I would believe that white lining would turn yellow before items much further away.

 

[danversatrans]

Thank you! I am going to put something right where the air blows out of the heater (since only one runs it should be easy). Other than that one heater we would only have edges of garage doors where air can leak in. Someone here suggested that it was our screen printing dryer however there is that white cotton lining up near the vent and that is still white. If it were the dryer I would believe that white lining would turn yellow before items much further away.

Anything new about the yellowing ?

 

[nuthreadz]

Anything new about the yellowing ?

No real update. We do feel like its not damaging things as quickly this past week. We had laid a few things out on purpose and they didn't turn as quickly as we thought they were prior. We are keeping a watchful eye on where things are sitting and whether they are yellowing more than other spots in the shop.
ps....side note...We love your product btw! Your transfers were the thing that tuned us into this whole mess. Top sheet was completely yellow but every sheet under was not. Then we started looking and noticing everything that was turning (including bobbin thread, white thread, white plastisol ink on completed shirts)

 

[danversatrans]

No real update. We do feel like its not damaging things as quickly this past week. We had laid a few things out on purpose and they didn't turn as quickly as we thought they were prior. We are keeping a watchful eye on where things are sitting and whether they are yellowing more than other spots in the shop.
ps....side note...We love your product btw! Your transfers were the thing that tuned us into this whole mess. Top sheet was completely yellow but every sheet under was not. Then we started looking and noticing everything that was turning (including bobbin thread, white thread, white plastisol ink on completed shirts)

Is it possible that some of the shirts are putting off some kind of gas or vapor once pressed ? Or while being pressed ? And you thank for being a customer