Connecting to Collections Care

We have two sets of fire extinguishing "grenades" dating from the early 20^th century in our collection. One set of four appear to be part of a salesman's kit and the other six are in a For Fire Shur-Stop Kit. All are full of carbon tetrachloride, which we know to be a highly dangerous substance. I have read that some institutions have successfully drained these bulbs, and I have also read that some replace with reproductions. We've been debating what to do and would appreciate any input from museums that have dealt with these items.

Thank you.

Martha E. Wiley

Collection Manager

Upcountry History Museum – Greenville County

864-467-3100 x107

UPCOUNTRYHISTORY.ORG

Lana Newhart-Kellen

Collections & Facilities Manager/Purdue Galleries

Patti & Rusty Rueff School of Design, Art & Performance

Harrison Hall/HARR C-14B

107 MacArthur Drive

West Lafayette IN 47906

765-496-2816

ljnewhar@purdue.edu

We have two sets of fire extinguishing "grenades" dating from the early 20^th century in our collection. One set of four appear to be part of a salesman's kit and the other six are in a For Fire Shur-Stop Kit. All are full of carbon tetrachloride, which we know to be a highly dangerous substance. I have read that some institutions have successfully drained these bulbs, and I have also read that some replace with reproductions. We've been debating what to do and would appreciate any input from museums that have dealt with these items.

Thank you.

Martha E. Wiley

Collection Manager

Upcountry History Museum – Greenville County

864-467-3100 x107

UPCOUNTRYHISTORY.ORG

Hi Martha,

Tara Kennedy and I actually wrote an articles about these grenades for the AIC Newsletter. You can find it on page 20 here:  https://www.culturalheritage.org/docs/default-source/publications/periodicals/newsletter/aic-news-vol-46-no-6-(november-2021).pdf?sfvrsn=21541520_7

This article should help inform you as you are trying to make a decision about next steps. The main takeaways are that if they are leaking or there is a fire, you have a very dangerous situation on your hands. Personally, I'm not a fan of having potentially lethal chemicals in collections, but you may have good reasons for keeping them. I would start by contacting the local fire department, as they are usually helpful with hazmat. That being said, they might want to take them away and dispose of them rather than work with you to empty them and replace the carbon tet with water. If you do replace it with water, make sure this is known and obvious in several places. I have worked with an institution in the past were they thought they had done this, but no one wrote it down so they couldn't be sure.

Please feel free to reach out if you want to talk more about this topic. Good luck!

Kate

Lana Newhart-Kellen

Collections & Facilities Manager/Purdue Galleries

Patti & Rusty Rueff School of Design, Art & Performance

Harrison Hall/HARR C-14B

107 MacArthur Drive

West Lafayette IN 47906

765-496-2816

ljnewhar@purdue.edu

We have two sets of fire extinguishing "grenades" dating from the early 20^th century in our collection. One set of four appear to be part of a salesman's kit and the other six are in a For Fire Shur-Stop Kit. All are full of carbon tetrachloride, which we know to be a highly dangerous substance. I have read that some institutions have successfully drained these bulbs, and I have also read that some replace with reproductions. We've been debating what to do and would appreciate any input from museums that have dealt with these items.

Thank you.

Martha E. Wiley

Collection Manager

Upcountry History Museum – Greenville County

864-467-3100 x107

UPCOUNTRYHISTORY.ORG

We have two sets of fire extinguishing "grenades" dating from the early 20^th century in our collection. One set of four appear to be part of a salesman's kit and the other six are in a For Fire Shur-Stop Kit. All are full of carbon tetrachloride, which we know to be a highly dangerous substance. I have read that some institutions have successfully drained these bulbs, and I have also read that some replace with reproductions. We've been debating what to do and would appreciate any input from museums that have dealt with these items.

Thank you.

Martha E. Wiley

Collection Manager

Upcountry History Museum – Greenville County

864-467-3100 x107

UPCOUNTRYHISTORY.ORG

We have two sets of fire extinguishing "grenades" dating from the early 20^th century in our collection. One set of four appear to be part of a salesman's kit and the other six are in a For Fire Shur-Stop Kit. All are full of carbon tetrachloride, which we know to be a highly dangerous substance. I have read that some institutions have successfully drained these bulbs, and I have also read that some replace with reproductions. We've been debating what to do and would appreciate any input from museums that have dealt with these items.

Thank you.

Martha E. Wiley

Collection Manager

Upcountry History Museum – Greenville County

864-467-3100 x107

UPCOUNTRYHISTORY.ORG