Home Mercury Spill Kits


MERCON® kit 3

KIT III

Affordable, easy to use spill kit for home and small mercury spill clean-up.  Our MerconVAP solution stops mercury vapor release on contact, and keeps on working to prevent further mercury vaporization.  This kit has everything you and/or your professional Hazmat Remediation Specialist may need to easily, safely, and inexpensively clean up small spills.

  • Part # 20-MKIT-3 
  • Home Mercury Spill Clean-up Kit Includes:
    • MERCON Mercury Aspirator (for easily picking up mercury)
    • MERCONvap (250ml)
    • MERCONtainer (475ml)
    • 1 pr Safety goggles
    • 2 pr Nitrile Gloves
    • Disposal Bags (2)
    • Mercury Spill information pamphlet
    • Mercury Waste Labels
    • Case is  cardboard w/ plastic carrying handle

ABOUT MERCURY (Hg)

Mercury in all of its forms is a serious bio-hazard, and it can cause serious health issues

Mercury (Hg) is a highly toxic metal which acts like a fluid, and is highly volatile, emitting Hg vapor at room.  Hg can disintegrate into myriads of hard-to-see globules of mercury, if disturbed, releasing mercury vapor into the ambient air for years.  Any amount of mercury will release mercury vapor at room temperature, and can combine easily with other elements including organic compounds.  In its organic form, mercury is 50 times as toxic as elemental mercury.

Any amount of free mercury in the home puts all occupants at risk to ongoing exposure and must be dealt with.  It may be possible to stabilize and clean up minor amounts of mercury (less than 2 grams) by yourself, but ideally, a mercury remediation professional should be called in to deal with the situation; and any exposure to mercury should be immediately reported and treated by a qualified medical professional.  There is no such thing, as a minor and/or harmless amount of spilled mercury.  Even mercury amounts barely visible to the naked eye can release mercury vapor for years.

Potential Mercury Hazards in the Home

  • Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).  Many jurisdictions are banning the sale of incandescent bulbs. The new CFLs contain mercury.
  • Mercury thermometers.
  • Thermostats for their furnace and air conditioning units which contain small vials of elemental mercury as a part of their switching mechanisms.
  • Elemental mercury or mercury-rich material ‘collected’ from various sources, including school labs, dental offices, gold-panning and refining.
  • Playing or experimenting with mercury without protective gear and bio-hazard (Hazmat) procedures.
  • Collecting mercury, and/or mercury rich material in open, or poorly sealed and/or easily breakable containers.

How Not to Clean Up Mercury:

  • Do not use a rag, broom, vacuum cleaner or paper towel.  This only breaks up the mercury into finer droplets, pushing into carpet, cracks in the flooring and making it even harder to find and clean up.
  • Do not rely on the use of ‘flower of sulfur’, sodium sulfide solution, fine powder sulfur or zinc to ‘bind’ or clean-up the mercury.  None of these stop the mercury compound that may be formed from continuing to release mercury vapor, while you are cleaning up and after.

 Doing it Right:

  • Always check with your local Health, Environmental authorities, or your nearest Fire Department/Hazmat management professional before attempting to clean up any mercury spill, to ensure that you are legally permitted to clean up minor spills.  If there is any doubt – DON’T DO IT, call the proper authorities in your area having jurisdiction over the handling, clean-up and disposal of hazardous materials.
  • In event of a spill, evacuate and secure the spill area.
  • Turn off heat sources.
  • Close doors to the area, but open outside windows to get fresh air in.
  • If the spill is larger than 1 teaspoon or has gone down a ventilating duct, or cannot be found, or if in doubt about the extent of the spill – Call your local Environmental Health Authorities and report the incident.
  • If the spill is small, get ready too clean up the spill, by: (1) removing all jewelry from hands and wrists, (2) be careful not come into contact with any spilled mercury area with your footwear or clothing. (3) Read the instructions of your Mercury Home Spill Kit, and put on the gloves and goggles.
  • Spray the elemental mercury with Mercury Vapor Suppressant (such as MERCON Spray) to stop the release of HG vapor.
  • Use an Aspirator (small syringe-like evacuation pump) (such as MERCON Aspirator) to pick up all visible mercury.
  • Release the Hg in the Aspirator into a sealable plastic container (such as MERCON Tainer), carefully closing the container. Proper sealable mercury containers usually come with mercury vapor suppressant already in them, to safeguard against any vapor leakage from the container.
  • Put the Aspirator, Container with mercury, and the used gloves and goggles into a double plastic bag. If any of the shoes or clothing you were wearing came into contact with any of the mercury, dispose of these as well, by double bagging them in plastic. Label all disposal bags as “MERCURY CONTAMINATED HAZARDOUS WASTE’.
  • Do not store, incinerate, or otherwise dispose of any mercury or clean-up residue or products with household garbage.
  • Contact your local health department to obtain a list of legal and safe disposal sites. Dispose of all of mercury clean-up items from your spill incident.
  • If mercury has been spilled on carpeting – have that section of carpet removed and disposed of as a mercury contaminated item.
  • If you have any doubt as to how well you did in cleaning up any mercury spill, call your local Hazmat authority, or a professional Hazmat management and remediation company.
  • No 2 spills are alike, and clean-up results may vary to due the nature of the surfaces and materials affected, spill spread, field and environmental conditions.  To ensure that there is no more residual mercury, even after a what may seem  to be a ‘thorough’ clean-up, it is recommended that homeowners contact a Hazmat Remediation Specialist who is able to check the ambient mercury vapor level in your home with a mercury meter reader.

After Cleaning Up

  • Talk to your Doctor, Nurse Practitioner or any other available health care provider about your mercury incident and follow his/her advice, which, under some circumstances may mean testing for Hg in your blood and urine, professional treatment and longer term follow-up.

CAUTION: Results may vary and depend on site conditions and other factors particular to each clean-up situation. Always consult with a qualified environmental clean-up professional prior to, during and after clean-up to ensure that all work safety and environmental standards are being met by your project. Ross Healthcare Inc. is not the final user, applicator or contractor using any Mercon™ products and is not responsible for the application, field performance or any results from the use, application of any of its products or information; and does not offer any warranties regarding the use of its products by others. Users, applicators and contractors must rely on their own tests, procedures and on-site assessments to ensure that their use of Mercon™ products is safe, legal and meets governing environmental and health regulations as well as their performance requirements.