Monitor Health Issue, urgent advice needed.

[telomere]

This is a post I didn't want to write, but I really need some help with this. This is not a technical question really and as such I haven't provided a model number, however I can do so if need be. I have an arcade cabinet (converted mame, old actua soccer/decathlete cab) which I keep in my room which has been my pride and joy for years now. I haven't had it powered up for a while, but recently something bad has started..

I began experiencing respiratory irritation, very very slight at first, almost imperceptible, but the longer I was in the room the more apparent and gradually worse it got. I couldn't find a trace of anything so I tried to see if it would pass, but after a couple of days it got really bad. I was getting bad irritation, cough, sore chest, having trouble sleeping and was waking up with a sort of chemically taste in my mouth and smell on my clothes etc that just didnt seem to go away. Thing was, anyone else who wasn't in the room for the same amount of time, wasn't Immediately able to detect it, which makes me think it was something building up on me for a while because im always there.

At first I suspected fibreglass from recently going into our loft, but it didnt have the same smell to it and there was no sign of fibreglass anywhere after washing all clothes etc.

I've had to refrain from sleeping in my room and have systematically gone through removing everything in there I've had suspicions about in a process of elimination, seeing if it made a difference, to the point where I've got pretty much just my computer and my arcade cab.

I've been searching online for what i'm experiencing and the closest match I found was this...

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=1587803

I really don't want it to be my cab, but I suspect it may be the monitor, as it sounds somewhat similar to the situation described by the post in the link above.

The monitor is a 30" (I think, possibly smaller) pentranic. I haven't had my cab switched on for a while so i fired it up and all seems well, I've had a quick look about the forums here and you guys seem very knowledgeable, so I'm wondering If any of you have heard of, or experienced anything like this before. Can old monitors leak? I've read that they're just a vacuum inside but have a coating of phosphorous on the inside at the front, which can be irritant, but surely for this to get out the tube would have to be broken, which it isn't, or doesnt seem to be, and I don't remember ever damaging it. It also works since I tried it out and played a few games. However, If its possible there is a problem I'd like to have it dealt with sooner rather than later as I don't want to risk my health any further.

I truly appreciate any help or advice offered, this is driving me crazy. I can provide any more needed information or photos etc if necessary.

P.s. I wish my first post was under better circumstances.

Thanks

[Dr Zero]

You dont happen to have a laser printer or a ozone generator / air purifier in the room do you?

I cannot get around ozone machines without getting a reaction, I mean it can be hidden and within 2-5 minutes I start feeling it and will have to leave eventually.

http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html

http://www.tgdaily.com/trendwatch-features/40417-studies-find-laser-printers-emit-lung-damaging-particles-on-the-order-of-c#

[telomere]

Thanks for the reply, yeah I read all about ozone when I was searching online trying to find out what this was. I don't have a laser printer, I do have an air purifier, but I only tried using it to see if it'd help after all this had already started. I've been leaving the window open all day with a ceiling fan on to try to circulate the air in the room an pull some fresh air in, doesn't seem to be shifting it tho. I've bought a dustsheet too to cover my cab over with to see if it makes a difference.

[lilshawn]

It could be the glue used in the manufacture of the plywood/particle board. I have heard of people having an alergic type reaction to the dust generated by cutting it, but if especially sensitive, the out gassing of the wood may be enough.

[qrz]

ah yes , the sweet smell of ozone .

hot tubes , burning insulation , ozone ... still have some "boat anchors" 

pop off the back , fire it up ( in the dark best ) look for a purple haze /arc
sizzling sound
 once source is located , seal with a generous application of silicone rubber . (pwr OFF )
let dry 24 hrs

note: for this reason, large crt's ( 32" +) usually have a sealed anode cup

[telomere]

ah yes , the sweet smell of ozone .

hot tubes , burning insulation , ozone ... still have some "boat anchors"  

pop off the back , fire it up ( in the dark best ) look for a purple haze /arc
sizzling sound
 once source is located , seal with a generous application of silicone rubber . (pwr OFF )
let dry 24 hrs

note: for this reason, large crt's ( 32" +) usually have a sealed anode cup

Thank you! I had no idea that monitors could generate ozone! I don't see this documented very much. Could you (or anyone else who knows) please explain how and why this happens? Also, for the most part the monitor has been off with power disconnected, i know that they still hold a charge in capacitors, but would this be enough to still cause this?

[lilshawn]

No, no you have the wrong idea here.

Ozone is generated when a high voltage arc is produced, or sometime just spontaneously from extreme high voltages exposed wiring bits.

Often air purifiers have a high voltage ozone generator (supposed to make the air smell cleaner) in reality it is simply a high voltage power source with the lead left open so the voltage is slowly discharged into the air.

In the event of a small fracture or failure point in the high voltage flyback section of the monitor, the resulting arc generated will produce large amounts of ozone.

Under normal operating conditions, monitors won't produce any detectable amount of ozone. (Being no different than a regular computer monitor or television set.)

Laser printers and photocopy machines are a higher source of ozone, due to the high voltage static used to transfer the images to the paper. Again, if operating properly, most machines will not emit large quantities of ozone.
   

[Rickn]

It is highly unlikely the issue is from your monitor, unless I misread your thread you had it off for sometime. In the process of building a monitor as well as the people that make the tubes, they are required by DHHS to perform some pretty rigid testing for X-radiation. The high voltage of these boards cannot reach a level high enough to emit radiation.

I do not know enough about ozone, but yes if there is arcing of the picture tube it can create it. So what you might want to do, agian power off on the monitor!

If there is black dust etc around the anode (suction cup) of the picture tube, wipe it off with a dry rag.

[telomere]

Many thanks for all the suggestions guys, just to bring the thread to a close, I was forced to get rid of the monitor, it was just getting silly. Couldn't sleep in the room and burning lungs, it just wasn't worth it. As soon as I took the monitor out, the problem vanished. After a day with the window open the room was back to normal. Sigh. Anyway I now have an arcade cabinet with no monitor which I'm considering selling. I've been out the loop for some time with regards to buying/selling cabinets, but this seems like the right place to do so, if anyone's interested (Scotland) lemme know, but i'll put details of it in the correct area of the site in due course.