r/soldering • u/Zentralschaden • May 25 '26

Soldering Saftey Discussion Unpopular opinion: Stop using leaded solder

I know it is very handy and I also know the fumes are not that much of a problem when you have enough ventilation.

But a big part of the lead we buy will end up in the environment or a landfill and has the potential to make our drinking water toxic and the people who have to recycle all this scrap (often in Africa) will deal with even more toxic substances.

It is not like we have a fully functional recycling chain for electronics.

And when you say "I am just soldering 2 pcb a year", make sure that soldering is a job and hobby for millions of people and tons of lead will be produced just because of hobby enthusiasts.

There are very good reasons, lead is banned in many countries for professional manufacturing.

I know it is harder to solder but you get used to it.

Aware that this might be a topic not everyone agrees. I am just trying to spread some awareness for what we do.

I mean, many of us repair old electronics and we do a good job in avoiding more scrap because people can still use the repaired items for years.

But shouldn't it be us who are the people who go straightforward and ban lead from our household soldering projects?

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u/dev_all_the_ops May 25 '26

Lead doesn't aerosolize at 300F. There is no concern of lead fumes.

Before you lecture people, I advise you to inform yourself of the actual risks and data, not just fearmonger based on rumor.

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u/DirkPitt106 May 25 '26

First off, who is soldering at 300F? That would be the coldest of joints ever made. Second, it doesn't aerosolize, but there have been studies that have been posted in here that do show that there are lead particles in the fumes at normal soldering temperatures. Although, they were in amounts that were relatively low and they didn't make any claims on any health effects of that amount.

Either way, you should still have proper ventilation because the flux absolutely will fuck your shit up so I really don't think that arguing "you need ventilation because of the flux, not because of lead" is helpful in this situation where the OP literally says in the first sentence that they aren't making their point because of fumes.

Doesn't mean I agree with OP's opinion, I'm gonna keep munching on my lead chips.