Toilet Cleaner - Formaldehyde
 

Todays Telegraph has an article concerning an incident aboard a BAe 146 & its crew becoming affected by fumes from the toilets. It would appear that formaldehyde was used to clean the toilets while the a/c was on maintenance. So is this a substance commonly used for a deep clean while on maintenance or is this chemical contained in the normal blue fluid we see every day?

If an engineer would be so kind to provide us with a detailed explanation. Thanks in advance.

Blue fluid doesn't smell (much, if at all).

Still no news on the use of formaldehyde.

But the following link describes the use of a deep clean product
http://www.mcgean-rohco.com/pdfs/dat...ee/DS25160.pdf

The article was probably triggered by the AAIB report into G-JEBC

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources...BC%2006-08.pdf

The report details the way in which a low volume of formaldehyde probably went into the aircraft.

What is blue water exactly? Chemical formula's?

1 of 2 products will have been used to deep clean the toilet on G-JEBC. Honeybee76 is used during overhaul in workshops , and Aqua Kem Blue is used as a pre-charge prior to the aircrafts departure from c-check. Aqua kem blues manufacturer website describes it as so:

"AquaKem blue fluid is a formaldehyde based product whch is proven to be the most effective liquid chemical for re-circulating and fresh water toilets."

the aaib report (which i just read after writing all that) describes it all in clear detail

In the future use a couple of Cokes to unblock a toilet. Pour it in, wait 30min. This normaly fixes day to day a/c toilet problems.