Many solders contain lead, and rosin is not very healthy, so the question is either how to carry out an exhaust (a working fan is unlikely to be enough) or what to use for harmless soldering without it?
Have you ever gone for a walk in a pine forest? You are walking through rosin, which is pine pitch. Vinyl covering on your car seats and your seats in you home also contain lead. So does PVC insulation on wires. Ever set on naugahide? Contains lead. Ever visit the central or the SE part of the United States? Soil contains lead, some places, lots of it.
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It’s good to be cautious but in reality the amount of soldering you do at home on a desk will be insignificant.
A Fan dispersing any fumes or smoke should be more than adequate for home hobby work or if necessary you can go to eBay, or the hobby stores and buy an soldering exhaust fan with a filter for probably $50 so there’s a way out.
cheers
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Yes it is sufficient, you can get extractor fans with built in filters like these ones:-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soldering-Fume-Extractor/s?k=Soldering+Fume+Extractor
Alternatively hold your breath while soldering, although the warm currents of air from your head tends to channel the fumes to your head.
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In our country lead is forbidden in solder...
Alternatives exist. Unfortunately the alternatives are not better...
Yes but your country allows the sale of meat that contains lead shot, which is infinitely more "ledie" than the tiny amout found in solder.
In my country we are left with the legacy of the stupid bureaucracy that the EU imposed, even though we left the EU.
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Does that apply to DIY at home soldering too ?
Lead is not banned in our country, even in one of the most popular standards it is more than 30%, Ni-Mh batteries are also does not prohibited, however Li-on is displacing it from the market fast but, for example, there is an opportunity to watch YouTube videos dubbed in my native language for free and about soldering too as well as medicine and police, so I do not really mind that lead is selling
Use lead-free solder.
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Sales of lead containing solder is forbidden...
Fir DIY you can finish your supplies...
In aeronautics lead solder is still allowed and often demanded.
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That poses greater problems! Higher temperatures to melt the solder means rosin flux is not usable. Much higher reactive flux is needed to both clean the metal and to protect from oxidation. (breakfast interruption) We set up a row of work stations just for lead-free work and built a fume extraction system with ports for each station. Finally an activated carbon filter to limit the fumes in the room.
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Not sure if your country is in Europe but if you're thinking about the RoHS guidelines, they only apply to finished equipment, not components. At least according to quora, leaded solder is still easily obtained in Europe and it is not illegal to use as long as you're not selling products on the market.
I just hold my breath.
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It is getting increasingly hard to buy it from the major distributors, because of an added safety requirement placed on the suppliers. I don't know the stupid regulation numbers of this but it is nothing to do with RoHS.
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And the law is by percentage of weight, as I recall.
And we can track a very nice correlation between the amount of lead in the soil where you grew up playing as a child and your future performance in school and likelihood of learning disabilities.
Lead is an insidious poison. It takes quite a bit to kill you, but even a little bit has an effect on your brain.
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There are millions of tons of buckshot from hunting in our fields and lead from the wars all over the world.
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Probably billions from mother nature . . .
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And, let’s not forget many many countries still use leaded pipes for drinking water.
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I get very upset when politicians get involved in industry.
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Unfortunately, lead is heavy (or dense, if you want to be pedantic about it), so it probably doesn't take very much to exceed the legal limit.