House being gassed for termites -- any impact to cameras, lenses, etc.?

[Valvebounce]

Hi TeT.
Yes I had a Google, more top ten worst places lists than you can shake a stick at, some dreadful looking fake things to hidden things in too.

Cheers, Graham.

 

[Al Chemist]

My user name is a play on words, but I have a doctorate in Organic Chemistry. Without going into the risks of any particular compound, if it kills something, there is a danger to you although you are much larger than the target and thus will tolerate a larger exposure.
That said, if you smell something in the air, there are molecules of that molecular compound floating around. They will settle out on every available surface, which of course means all your dishes (wash carefully), tv screens and of course camera equipment. Will they penetrate tape and plastic coverings...somewhat unlikely unless they are sprayed directly on the surface.

I find that most non-chemists and even some chemists are pretty careless in using pesticides, etc. I cringe when I see folks spraying these things all over without regard to what they are doing. In the long run, you can never be too careful.
I hope this helps.

 

[mnclayshooter]

My house needs to be fumigated for termites. I'm told the fumigation doesn't meddle with general consumer electronics, but in ignorance of the specifics, I obviously worry about the photography gear.

Can anyone speak to what the fumigation process might do to my gear? Will simple poly bagging solve the problem? Should I just rent a few Pelicans and seal everything up, or do I need to actually to migrate all my gear to our temporary housing for the duration?

Also, I have a storage cabinet that is far too large/heavy to temporarily relocate. If the gas is indeed a threat to my gear, I'd hate to have the various foam elements in that case (TrekPak + yoga mat) outgas some nastiness back into my gear after we return. Should I just bag the entire cabinet?

Thanks,
A

We had an older house sprayed/treated for ants. It left a small white dust on some surfaces that dissipated over time (a day or two). It wasn't the same as fogging systems that get used for other treatments, but the principle I'm trying to explain is that the condensate from any particulate fog/spray in the air will settle on surfaces by gravity and electrostatic attraction.

I would remove anything of significant optical value, just to be safe.

Then, I would tape off the joints in the cabinet with a good quality removable tape, for all of the reasons you described but also to prevent any accumulation of fine particulates. I wouldn't worry so much about the vapor transmission (you're getting vapor transmission all the time through your equipment) in the cabinet, but the residue/condensate(s) left behind. The metal cabinet is a pretty stout vapor barrier, the tape may allow vapor transmission over time but honestly, I'd bet that the length of time the fog will be applied vs the transmission rate of the tape/barrier will stop almost all, if not all of it from getting through. Poly would do the same, for that matter... if you're concerned, double wrap it.

This is one of those "better safe than sorry" types of situations, if it were my gear.

To equate it to a different type of discussion regarding gear... do you put a $10k lens in a $10 backpack? You protect the gear in the way appropriate for it's value. If it's valuable enough, why trust a bug spray "expert's" opinion on whether or not it will affect **your** precision optics?


The plus side of leaving it behind... no spiders, ants, mealy bugs, or termites will want to live in your mirror box or inside a lens.

 

[j-nord]

....that and the backup hard drive of all my photography, which is ingeniously tucked away. Zero chance of that being stolen.

- A

I hope it's off site like a safety deposit box... otherwise it's kind of a pointless back up.

 

[neuroanatomist]

....that and the backup hard drive of all my photography, which is ingeniously tucked away. Zero chance of that being stolen.

I hope it's off site like a safety deposit box... otherwise it's kind of a pointless back up.

+1

The main risk is fire/flood/etc., and having your backup hard drive 'ingeniously tucked away' in your house – the same place where the computer being backed up is often/always located – makes the backup pretty useless. Either go with a cloud solution, or store a backup offsite, or both.

Personally, I keep a set of backup HDDs at home and a second set at work, with a 'set' comprising an HDD for just RAW images and another HDD for clones of the SSDs in the family's computers (currently 3). With 5 copies of the RAWs and 6 copies of the JPGs, I'm pretty well covered for disaster or drive failure. As a side note, the standalone backup of the RAW images is to allow flexibility if I need to free up space on my laptop SDD. I came close to that a couple of years ago, but I obviated the need by swapping a 1 TB SSD for the 500 GB HDD in my 17" MacBook Pro.

 

[RGF]

....that and the backup hard drive of all my photography, which is ingeniously tucked away. Zero chance of that being stolen.

I hope it's off site like a safety deposit box... otherwise it's kind of a pointless back up.

+1

The main risk is fire/flood/etc., and having your backup hard drive 'ingeniously tucked away' in your house – the same place where the computer being backed up is often/always located – makes the backup pretty useless. Either go with a cloud solution, or store a backup offsite, or both.

Personally, I keep a set of backup HDDs at home and a second set at work, with a 'set' comprising an HDD for just RAW images and another HDD for clones of the SSDs in the family's computers (currently 3). With 5 copies of the RAWs and 6 copies of the JPGs, I'm pretty well covered for disaster or drive failure. As a side note, the standalone backup of the RAW images is to allow flexibility if I need to free up space on my laptop SDD. I came close to that a couple of years ago, but I obviated the need by swapping a 1 TB SSD for the 500 GB HDD in my 17" MacBook Pro.

Hi NA

You have even more backups than I do. I have original copy and 2 copies in the house and 1 in bank (I no longer work) and a cloud copy from back blaze (10+TB there).

 

[ahsanford]

+1

The main risk is fire/flood/etc., and having your backup hard drive 'ingeniously tucked away' in your house – the same place where the computer being backed up is often/always located – makes the backup pretty useless. Either go with a cloud solution, or store a backup offsite, or both.

Personally, I keep a set of backup HDDs at home and a second set at work, with a 'set' comprising an HDD for just RAW images and another HDD for clones of the SSDs in the family's computers (currently 3). With 5 copies of the RAWs and 6 copies of the JPGs, I'm pretty well covered for disaster or drive failure. As a side note, the standalone backup of the RAW images is to allow flexibility if I need to free up space on my laptop SDD. I came close to that a couple of years ago, but I obviated the need by swapping a 1 TB SSD for the 500 GB HDD in my 17" MacBook Pro.

I'm talking about the in-house backup. Quarterly or so I retrieve an external HDD I have at a bank safety deposit box and back up again. It's a major pain in the butt, but it addresses the 'calamitous house event' problem.

- A

 

[AJ]

....that and the backup hard drive of all my photography, which is ingeniously tucked away. Zero chance of that being stolen.

I hope it's off site like a safety deposit box... otherwise it's kind of a pointless back up.

+1

The main risk is fire/flood/etc., and having your backup hard drive 'ingeniously tucked away' in your house – the same place where the computer being backed up is often/always located – makes the backup pretty useless. Either go with a cloud solution, or store a backup offsite, or both.

Personally, I keep a set of backup HDDs at home and a second set at work, with a 'set' comprising an HDD for just RAW images and another HDD for clones of the SSDs in the family's computers (currently 3). With 5 copies of the RAWs and 6 copies of the JPGs, I'm pretty well covered for disaster or drive failure. As a side note, the standalone backup of the RAW images is to allow flexibility if I need to free up space on my laptop SDD. I came close to that a couple of years ago, but I obviated the need by swapping a 1 TB SSD for the 500 GB HDD in my 17" MacBook Pro.

All those backup drives will be zapped in one go in case of an electromagnetic pulse attack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electromagnetic_pulse
To be safe, keep one backup drive in a Faraday cage, e.g. a an old (disabled) microwave oven, plugged in so it's grounded.

 

[dhachey77]

My house needs to be fumigated for termites. I'm told the fumigation doesn't meddle with general consumer electronics, but in ignorance of the specifics, I obviously worry about the photography gear.

Can anyone speak to what the fumigation process might do to my gear? Will simple poly bagging solve the problem? Should I just rent a few Pelicans and seal everything up, or do I need to actually to migrate all my gear to our temporary housing for the duration?

Also, I have a storage cabinet that is far too large/heavy to temporarily relocate. If the gas is indeed a threat to my gear, I'd hate to have the various foam elements in that case (TrekPak + yoga mat) outgas some nastiness back into my gear after we return. Should I just bag the entire cabinet?

Thanks,
A

OK, be careful. The most common fumigant is sulfuryl fluoride, which is toxic, as you might expect, and people have died by moving back in too quickly to an improperly ventilated house. SO2F2 is relatively stable chemically, but it will slowly hydrolyze to liberate sulfuric acid and hydrogen fluoride. HF will attack optical surfaces, so remove any camera gear from the house just to be safe. My recommendation, find a trusted friend or family member to store the gear for a couple of weeks.

 

[niels123]

Being a Chemist, I would bet that the gas doesn't do any harm. However, the uncertainty is just too big. Take all your gear out of the house and spend your time using it

 

[GmwDarkroom]

All those backup drives will be zapped in one go in case of an electromagnetic pulse attack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electromagnetic_pulse
To be safe, keep one backup drive in a Faraday cage, e.g. a an old (disabled) microwave oven, plugged in so it's grounded.

Grounding isn't necessary for an effective Faraday cage and is sometimes undesirable. Any fully enclosed metal box will do the trick (better than a microwave in most cases).

 

[neuroanatomist]

All those backup drives will be zapped in one go in case of an electromagnetic pulse attack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electromagnetic_pulse
To be safe, keep one backup drive in a Faraday cage, e.g. a an old (disabled) microwave oven, plugged in so it's grounded.

Naah, the data on the HDD platters would still be there even if the HDD's ability to access it was 'zapped'. Besides, scenarios in which an EMP wrecks external storage devices in two separate locations in the Boston metropolitan area generally also include outcomes that would preclude me from knowing or caring about the fate of my digital images...permanently.

 

[kaihp]

HF will attack optical surfaces, so remove any camera gear from the house just to be safe.

HF and plasma are about the only things that will etch glass (SiO2). HF will etch just about anything, though.
Fortunately it's not as bad as the epicly named chemical FOOF (google it).

 

[ahsanford]

HF will attack optical surfaces, so remove any camera gear from the house just to be safe.

HF and plasma are about the only things that will etch glass (SiO2). HF will etch just about anything, though.
Fortunately it's not as bad as the epicly named chemical FOOF (google it).

Oh right, my seven million pound plasma screen. Forgot about that.

#headache

- A

 

[takesome1]

So what reaction would sulfuryl fluoride have with:
Aluminum oxide
Magnesium fluoride
or
Silicon monoxide

Just let the lenses get fumigated, but first do flare tests on your lenses so you can test afterwards to see if there is any change.

 

[Mikehit]

Fortunately it's not as bad as the epicly named chemical FOOF (google it).

I did - and I presume you are not talking about the first one that came up on my screen....curse that Urban Dictionary.

 

[kaihp]

Fortunately it's not as bad as the epicly named chemical FOOF (google it).

I did - and I presume you are not talking about the first one that came up on my screen....curse that Urban Dictionary.

Uh, nope not that kind of foof.

This kind of FOOF: Flourine-Oxygen-Oxygen-Flourine.

Chlorine triflouride, of course, ranks right up there (hint: it is a stronger oxidizing agent than oxygen itself).

 

[RGF]

All those backup drives will be zapped in one go in case of an electromagnetic pulse attack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electromagnetic_pulse
To be safe, keep one backup drive in a Faraday cage, e.g. a an old (disabled) microwave oven, plugged in so it's grounded.

Naah, the data on the HDD platters would still be there even if the HDD's ability to access it was 'zapped'. Besides, scenarios in which an EMP wrecks external storage devices in two separate locations in the Boston metropolitan area generally also include outcomes that would preclude me from knowing or caring about the fate of my digital images...permanently.

Major lightning storms can do real damage, but I keep my backups off the power grid. Yes if there was a major EMPS event, my images would the least of my concerns. That is, if I were still alive

 

[takesome1]

All those backup drives will be zapped in one go in case of an electromagnetic pulse attack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electromagnetic_pulse
To be safe, keep one backup drive in a Faraday cage, e.g. a an old (disabled) microwave oven, plugged in so it's grounded.

Naah, the data on the HDD platters would still be there even if the HDD's ability to access it was 'zapped'. Besides, scenarios in which an EMP wrecks external storage devices in two separate locations in the Boston metropolitan area generally also include outcomes that would preclude me from knowing or caring about the fate of my digital images...permanently.

Major lightning storms can do real damage, but I keep my backups off the power grid. Yes if there was a major EMPS event, my images would the least of my concerns. That is, if I were still alive

If you were really prepared and wanted to protect your photography you would keep all of your pictures on archival quality prints, stored in your prep bunker somewhere in northern Nevada close to the Oregon and California borders. Since there will likely be no "grid", and generators will run out of fuel, digital will do you no good.

Another option, even for digital if you want to take the chance there will be electricity, is the Underground Vaults in Hutchinson Kansas. It would be a great backup option for both digital and film.

Since everyone seems to be comparing who has the most comprehensive backup, I will tell a lie and say I store all my data at Hutchinson.

You can get your estimate here: http://www.undergroundvaults.com/offerings/secure-storage/media-vaults/

 

[georgemeier]

Hi, I agree that chemical reacts differently to different materials. According to me most of the fumigation professionals aware you about the things which are getting affected by chemicals. Recently my friend has moved to his new house with the help of professional movers Brooklyn ny who provided him moving and moving and fumigation service. According to him, they provided good service and their way of working was quality driven and none of his belonging gets affected by fumigation process.