Bangkok: Dangerous, toxic gas found at Siam Square One

[Jonde]

I didn't notice any particular smell today! For the record, I often wonder around SIAM area and that mall, whatever it is called. Maybe I inhaled already enough so I don't notice sh*t anymore. Maybe that explains the casual headaches when I get home... lol.

[hiller]

Oh, by the way, if you are farting and its smelly its probably this gas stinking

Finally, BKK has a Free Farting Zone..

[johnlandy]

Another reason, to avoid Bangkok!

Only Bangkok? The same mentality is ever present regardless of where ever you are 'in the country'

Money is God.

Edited October 21, 2014 by johnlandy

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Would be nice to know in what quantities they have found the gas, and also of cause what is causing the gas to be present in the first place. Sewer? Bacteria? The gas is also heavy so if the gas comes from below there might be much higher quantities somewhere.

Anyway if 50% of people can smell the gas in some spot and the other 50% does not, then there is 0.00047 ppm (0.000000047%) of the gas. and the threshold to be present around the gas is 10PPM, so even if the gas is present and smelly it does not mean that is it dangerous to be there.

If it is 10-50ppm it can cause eye irritation. Where over 50 ppm might lead to eye damage.

To be able to be flammable or cause an explosion there has to be 43 000 PPM. (4.3%)

Did you read the full article posted in Coconuts...not just the excerpt posted here???

The tenants said the toxic smell comes from the basement parking lot where the waste water system is located. They claimed the Department of Health inspected the building on Sept. 29 and found out the level of hydrogen sulfide in the basement reached an alarming level of 83 ppm. According to information about the gas, a level of 15 ppm is considered “high alarm.”

Typical concentration in clean air is about 0.0001-0.0002 ppm.

"It's health-threatening," one officer from the government who inspected the building said in a video distributed to the media. "The level should not exceed 10 ppm or even exist in the building at all."

Edited October 21, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Jonmarleesco]

'The mall has since acknowledged the problem but will remain open ...' Then the authorities should order it closed, but I shan't be holding my breath - certainly not in order to traipse around Siam Square One.

[Benmart]

we produce this gas at the nickel mine I work at, been there for over 20 years, no health problems, if you can smell it then it's ok, if you can't it will kill you, still not too good for a shopping centre............cheers.

Google it please. There is no assurance of harmlessness in your post.

"Hydrogen Sulfide or sour gas (H2S) is a flammable, colorless gas that is toxic at extremely low concentrations".

[taony]

The flat at ideo I just moved out of had this horrible smell always. Couldn't take it any more and had to move out before the lease was up.

[Tywais]

I don't believe a sewer can build up the gas to dangerous levels

On March 26, 2014 4 workers died and 8 injured from H2S while cleaning a sewer drain. There have been a couple of more similar incidents as this over the last year or two. So plenty of gas in the sewers to be a concern.

[charmonman]

This is the mall built at the location where the red shirt arsonists burned down the old Siam movie theatre in 2010, right?

[jacko45k]

You can imagine how quickly the place would get closed in many other countries.

Shameful that they did not react, shameful they still do not react and rather a poor example of how public safety is regarded.

[Estrada]

One Company that does not have any Corporate Social Responsibilty: I used to design and manufacture Waste Water Treatment plants. In my experience hotels, shopping mall owners do not want to pay to put in a treatment plant to meet international stanadards. So they got the law changed to allow a higher level of pollution at discharge. 99.9% of the plants are based on anearobic digestion so their is a lot of noxious gases that arise. Also restaurants in the facilities should have a grease trap to stop cooking oils and fats entering the the system. The fats coat any biomedia and render the process useless. As hydrogen Sulphide is heavier than air it sounds like the ventilation system is sucking up the rotten odour and distributing it around the shopping mall. The shopping mall must install a completely separate ventilation system to exhaust the noxious gases to atmosphere. The only sewage system that should be installed is an aerobic system which does not produce rotten egg smells. The article is wrong as regards the 15ppm limit on H2S, the maximum limit is 10ppm. Even so it does not mean >10ppm can be tolerated constantly. In my experts opinion Siam Square One MUST BE CLOSED DOWN immediately as the level of Hydrogen Sulphide is a Health Hazard.

They say that they have engaged a company to fix the problem and it should take another 1-2months to stop the H2S smell. It sounds like they have engaged another local so called "expert". They are proposing to dump all the untreated sewage directly into the the sewers which is totally unacceptable. Secondly, the problem needs solving immediately and can be solved easily with aerators and ventilation of the plant room to atmosphere within days not months.

[HerbalEd]

"The mall has since acknowledged the problem but will remain open despite the confirmed, ongoing presence of highly toxic and dangerous fumes."

This says it all. Not only is the mall owners/managers willing to risk many people's lives, but the police/authorities won't do anything about it.

[ksamuiguy]

Sounds like some one needs to do some long overdue Preventative Maintenance on the treatment system.

grease traps need to be required on all drains where food is prepared.

One of the biggest problems for treatment systems is food waste and grease.

H2s gas is removable with vigorous air injection in the final treatment tank.

But it should not get that far if the system is operating properly.

[rafish]

Obviously its H2s from blocked sewers in the area...

[AlQaholic]

They really need to find the source of this. H2S is very toxic at very low concentrations. As it approaches harmful levels one of the first biological effects is the loss of smell so toxic concentrations could build up and people would not notice until it is too late. It will also weaken steel structures through a process called hydrogen embrittlement.

Every year a number of people in the Pulp and Paper making Industry worldwide dies from H2S poisoning. Very strange to find this gas in a Bkk shopping mall?? The gas normally comes from waste water treatment systems in Pulp and Paper Industry where Sulphuric Acid is used and other sulphur compounds that form H2S eventually.

Sorry, I meant in my experience H2S would not normally form in domestic or municipal waste water treatment plants to such extents that they would become so toxic as the report suggest (rotten egg smell). But I may be wrong as I mostly focus on Industrial plants.

Edited October 22, 2014 by AlQaholic

[Sviss Geez]

Noxious fumes are nothing here. Walk by almost any sewer or drain.

Yes, sewers and drains elsewhere don't produce fumes, do they? Only Thailand has that problem?

[Strangebrew]

Damn Burmeses workers farting in mall.

[outsider]

What sort of 'authority' is this? Taking a reading to confirm there exists harmful gases, but does nothing to solve the situation i.e. shut the place down and get the problem fixed? And people blame the lot here for being cynical and bash LOS at every opportunity.