Embalmed in Your RV: Formaldehyde Poisons Vacationers

[Donna D.]

Interesting article!
From ABC News

[Darwin Maring]

The news media like to use the embalming thing to get a bigger bang out of their story.
I'm no fan of this stuff and can smell it when around it. Here is some info on it.

Formaldehyde is in all kinds of stuff around your home. I guess because a camper is made out of the same stuff as your home and it is a smaller confined space - it would give a larger concentration than your house. Check this site and it shows where it is in the glue that bonds paneling. Eggs with little to no paneling may be somewhat free of the stuff. Lets Hope So. http://www.epa.gov/iaq/formalde.html

My mom was extremely allergic to it and bought a new carpet and it had to be ripped out because it contained formaldehyde they said in the die.

Here is a site that tells of Bakelite that is used all over the place and made out of the stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite

[pjanits]

It's even in lipstick and toothpaste

[Mike Watters]

Although Bakalite is made using formaldehyde, it doesn't CONTAIN any formaldehyde in the final product. Sorta like saying that water contains oxygen - true from a certain perspective, but you wouldn't wanna try breathing it. Even if it did - Bakalite is used in relatively small quantities (especially nowadays) so any unpleasant chemicals that might be in it - are going to be in fairly small concentrations.

The issue is that the trailers are using fairly large quantities of material that's going to off-gas junk AND it's taking place in a very confined space which probably isn't very well ventilated. That's going to drive the concentration of the nasties much higher than they're going to be in your typical home.

Course, at home we try to avoid using the sorts of materials that are the worst for dumping junk into the air. It can be moderatly unpleasant - plus most of the worst offenders are pretty junky material anyway. Glorified sawdust with pictures of wood glued to the front. Darn stuff melts if you get it wet.

[Greg A]

If one were to buy that lil Gullwing Teardrop that is in the for sale section, after you are nicely embalmed they could just seal the doors and plant ya.

[Frederick L. Simson]

(The Sierra Club) says the RV industry, long known for its lax construction practices, is once again using cheaper, formaldehyde-based materials — [b]a practice that was outlawed in the United States more than 20 years ago.

"It's a dirty, little secret in the RV organizations," said Becky Gillette, a volunteer with the Mississippi Sierra Club. "They have known for years it was a problem, yet chose to ignore it.

I was involved in the [b]Golden [b]State [b]Mobilehome [b]Owner's [b]League back in the '70s and '80s. I lived in, and repaired Mobilehomes during that time. Formaldehyde was a HUGE issue back then, and GSMOL's lobbying efforts in the legislature helped enact the outlawing of it's use.

I'm flabbergasted that semantics can cause history to repeat itself.

[peterh]

It's even in lipstick and toothpaste

Even lipstick and toothpaste not made in China????

[Loren G. Hedahl]

Don't panic.

The stuff is what makes melamine plastic disher 'hygenic'. Good type for camper use since dishwashing skills are often is short supply on the road.

Wouldn't hurt to use silver plated silverware for the same reason.

Loren

[Gina D.]

I use it cause I don't like paper plates and plastic forks

My 17 actually sat sealed up for quite some time after it's intitial use "Off the lot". The first thing I noticed when I opened the door for the first time was "New Trailer" smell..

It's amazng how long that stuff will linger. I noted it in my jeep the other day too, after it had sat in the heat for two days without driving it. (It has 22k on it.. newer, but certainly not "New")

leaving the windows on the trailer open and running the fan got rid of the outgassing smells pretty quickly, they were weak to start with..

but then, came the dogs.. and the gassing started all over again....

[Byron Kinnaman]

but then, came the dogs.. and the gassing started all over again....

Careful, methane is explosive.

[McClure]

I have a baseball shaped bottle of Hair Trainer made by Avon from the 50's or early 60's and it has formaldehyde as part of the ingredients.............lol

Blair

[Ian-Vicki]

I have a baseball shaped bottle of Hair Trainer made by Avon from the 50's or early 60's and it has formaldehyde as part of the ingredients.............lol

Blair

I think I used that stuff . . . . hair is no longer a problem. lol
Ian

[peterh]

Careful, methane is explosive.

Gina needs a sign on her door: Powerd by Solar & Natural Gas.

[Frederick L. Simson]

I think I used that stuff . . . . [b]hair is no longer a problem. lol
Ian

I like THAT! No Hair? No Problem!!!

[Anne H]

WOW!!! Just got my first real exposure to this.

It's been really, really hot here and my trailer was all closed up - I went in yesterday to get something and couldn't stay in the trailer because my eyes were watering so badly. I quick turned on the fan full power and left the door open for a few minutes to air it out.

I now have the fan vent slightly open. I'll check again to see how bad it is.

New trailer + excessive heat + no ventilation =

[Ed Felker]

I've posted before about this topic on other forums --

My wife is ashmatic and has a HUGE problem with formaldehyde outgassing. Formaldehyde is used in carpeting, plywoods, and other wood composite materials mostly to prevent or retard rot. So I'm sure an RV's glues, plywood floors, cabinets, Scamp's rat fur, insulation, etc. is loaded with formaldehyde.

I guess the problem isn't the formaldehyde per se, it's what happens to it when it's exposed to heat. It outgasses into formalin gas (I think). My wife has had severe ashmatic reactions to it in RVs. We went into a new Sunline on a dealers lot (hot sunny day) and she had to exit and use her inhaler. We've been in RVs at RV shows and after going into 4 or 5, she'd start wheezing and has difficulty breathing. I guess its a combination of the amount of formaldehyde, temperature, and the tight enclosed space within the RV that raises the formalin gas concentration levels to such that it creates problems for her.

I've asked questions about it because I don't see how I'd be able to buy a new Casita at the TX factory with pickup during the summer, and be able to camp with her as we towed it back to VA. I know that as time passes the outgassing decreases. I also know that the best thing to do is close it up in the heat with a ventilator cracked and just let theformaldehyde "cook off" to accelerate the outgassing. I also read that for every 10 degree increase in temperature the outgassing doubles.

Given these factors, although we'd like to buy new, we'll probably look for something used simply because most of the formaldehyde will have outgassed.

For some, the outgassing doesn't pose a problem -- for others like my wife it could be deadly.

She'd also note that the folmaldehyde to hair link for me is well past since I already comb my hair with a damp washcloth... but then ther's the methane problem already alluded to...

[Frederick L. Simson]

For some, the outgassing doesn't pose a problem -- [b]for others like my wife it could be deadly.

It is amazing to me all the insidious little places that this issue can crop up.

Back in late 2002/ early 2003 when we were shopping for a new tow vehicle, we visited the new car show at the convention center. We sat in every SUV and minivan there. After 2 minutes in a Dodge Caravan, Robert had to escape, due to the "plastic" out gassing. We discovered the same thing in the Plymouth Voyager and the Chrysler Town-and-Country. Toyota and Honda vehicles did not affect him. Non of them affected me.

[Roger H]

Gina, the outgassing in your Burro is either the left over solvent in the fiberglass, or a little outgassing from the the cushions and cabinet doors. There really isn't much else in your trailer that formaldehyde would have been used in the manufacture of.

One of the WORST outgassing products are visco-foam mattress toppers! And I have a new one coming! UGH!

You can judge the quality of the materials used in a trailer or motorhome by your ability to remain inside a new one on a dealer's lot on a hot day. Cheap ones that use a great deal of fiberboard and pressed wood are unbearable. Cheap carpets and cheap upholstery also out-gas. I first noticed this when going into a motorhome at one of our local dealers on a hot day a couple of years ago. Once coach in particular I lasted less than 10 seconds in. It was very inexpensive. The expensive coaches, OTOH, that use high grade materials, and real wood will still have some outgassing on a hot day, but nothing like the cheap coaches. I've even noticed some outgassing in our Bigfoot 25' on a particularly hot day when it's been closed up, probably from the wood products used in the cabinetry but it wasn't awful, and just a couple of minute's ventilation cleared it out.

Like carbon monoxide or any other gas, keeping the trailer adequately ventilated will cure a lot of ills.

Roger

[Darwin Maring]

It was on TV of all the health problems the Katrina victims in Louisiana are having by living in the FEMA trailers – all related to formaldehyde.

[Linda R002]

When we picked our new trailer up in Rice, there was a trailer in the show room that was owned by a person like your wife and they were just leaving it open to air out before the owner picked it up. It was also being used as a display but was open and airing out. Maybe this solution might work for you. If you ask your sales person if they can open it up for several months in the protection of the show room, you could pick it up and camp on your way home.