i just showed my wife the video. then i showed her the post about the pool chemicals. she assured me everything was in the chicken coop stored in sealed containers. who knows how many lives and how much property was saved due to this thread. nice job ryan
Funny, I was looking at (but didn't buy..) a rag can yesterday. So- do you know what exploded on the video about 2:20?
Unbelievable! A story that needs to be told and your high quality production tells it very effectively. The video needs to go viral; everyone who reads this should share it somewhere. A great idea someone mentioned earlier-give it to whatever fire prevention organizations that you can find who would post it, include it in other videos and distribute it to other organizations. It's too good not to, of an important subject that apparently many people are unaware of.
I'd say quite possibly a spray can that was in the trash.. After seeing that video the Boss is damned lucky. That garage must be pretty well air tight too as the lack of oxygen may have slowed the burning down. Once it filled with smoke the fire may have actually suffocated as far as the wood rack goes. One of my biggest fears has always been a fire and I try to make sure that I don't leave rags or paper that was used with any sort of solvent or paint in the garage and so far so good. I lost my cousin three weeks ago when his house caught fire and he died of smoke inhalation. That fire started in the room he was sleeping in and I was alerted by the fire trucks racing past the house but it was too late by then. It's getting warmer and spontaneous combustion might happen quicker or more often with greasy rags or paper towels, solvent covered rags or other things like paper towels or news paper. Don't forget sparks from welding, grinding or cutting either, sometimes those can start a fire after we walk out of the shop for the night.
I've experienced / witnessed four fires, and learned from each. 1. My dad's garage. My mom left a burlap sack resting on an incandescent light bulb being used to provide heat to a -- gasp -- caged baby duck. The duck lived. So did the lightly damaged garage. 2. At an office I worked at. A lawyer stacked files to the ceiling of his closet, the mess touched a light bulb... hours later, poof. Major damage. (Lawyer jokes anybody?) 3. In a vacant lot next to our house. My brother had been playing with firecrackers there. Duh. The fire department kept our house from going up in flames. 4. And the one that was my fault; disposing of "cold" ash from my fireplace well over a day after burning! Cold to the touch, no smoke. Raging dumpster fire about an hour later. Those hidden little embers have quite a shelf life. Ryan, your story probably prevented #5, because I've disposed of rags like that. Never again. Had that happened to me I probably would have hid my shame and stayed quiet. Thank you for posting it. On a final note, when I was eight years old my father took my brothers and I out to a safe outside area, put a splash of gasoline in an old cookie pan, stood back, lit it, and had each of us in turn try to put it out with a fire extinguisher. Sounds easy, right? On my first try I pointed the nozzle at the top of the flames, and learned very quickly why that doesn't work. He made me try again and hit the base of the flame. Success. Another invaluable lesson.
Good video, I love Linseed oil and let my rags and paper towls air dry and evap outside before washing them down in a bucket
Amazing, I can't believe the whole thing didn't torch. You must be livin' right. I was aware of Linseed oil and it's propensity to start fires. Never had it around as far as I know, but who knows. It's good stuff, for what it's used for. If the shop had burned to the ground, would the fire dept. have discovered the cause, would you have put two and two together? I didn't think about rags soaked in motor oil, or auto solvents & greases. While the risk is low... The consequences are not. In the .mil we had yellow "paint" lockers (grounded) for solvents and chemicals and such, and red metal cans with foot operated lids for oily rags. Time for me to find right now(at least) metal can with a lid for oily rags! No more coffee cans open to the air.. The fire safety oily rag cans might be a good promotional item for insurers, anyone who is underwriting an auto or wood shop!
This one of those "things" that I normally move along thinking everyone knows this. Rule in my place, solvent rags hang to air dry or go outdoors for a few days, then to the trash. I've had one of those metal rag cans for over 30 years, almost never use it. I've been through a total gagarge burn down and a lightning strike that sent the family home ablaze within 5 min. That was in '70 and may as well be last week. The garage was the same gig, spontaneous combustion from linseed oil. I've set 2 cars ablaze even after full precautions were taken but they didn't get destroyed. I don't fear much of anything but fire is terrifying. In seconds it can be over for good. While many are along reading this, please remember about welding and brake clean. NEVER clean the welded parts in it before welding. It will produce "mustard gas", or the same shit used in WW1 and 2 to kill hundreds in one serving, and there you'd be sucking it up as you weld. BE CAREFUL, and thanks for the PSA Ryan, you're good folk sharing this stuff. Glad you are able to actually, it coulda been so much worse.
WOW , glad everything turned out ok. Charcoal in a wet sack will self ignite . Neighbor shed went up in flames because of that.
You are Blessed my friend! I helped built a experimental air frame for a airship, part of the certification by the FFA tubes that intersect required a .035" hole drilled prior to welding , after the frame was finished, linseed oil we poured and rotated the structure around to coat the inside of the frame made from chrome-molly that has a history of rusting from the inside out ,and they warned us about proper disposal of linseed soaked rags we did have a fire prof container and it started to smother because the container was over filled ,lucky someone was in the shop to catch it on time
I deal antiques and go to a lot of auctions. Every once in a while an old fireproof rag can shows up. I've bought and sold a few, but I do believe I'm going to hold on to the next one I come across. Lots of us are going to be more careful after watching that video.
on the pool chlorine , every once and a while run your hand on the container on the unused portion ( nearer to the bottom ) , or if you smell a higher than normal chlorine smell check it this way . as it will be warmer than normal to the touch or the container will be coming apart . is a sign its starting to go . so I wasn't seeing things at 2:20 if it was a spray can , some of the newer spray cans are now using CO2 vs propane for pressurization , if it was one of these that could have possibly what cooled the fire down a little .
we had a couple of semi trailers for the boy scouts do this . some kids got on top of the trailers and caused the roof to leak , now they store it in overseas boxes .
Damn you got lucky on that one! It was sickening to watch the video! Fire is my worst fear about my shop, 2nd is getting robbed.
You are certainly lucky with this incident. A neighbor 1 mile from my home had built a new $300,000 log home back in 2013. A week before moving in was doing the linseed oil thing to something in the house and threw the rags in the trash. By the time fire rescue could respond after midnight the whole house was a total loss and had to be torn down. I never dispose of any contaminated rags etc without letting them air dry first just because!
so scary! so lucky! as said before, there is so much crap in my shop, I would have lost it all. Your shop looks nice, organized, clean, damn, wish mine was.
Ryan, thank you so much for posting your story and video. After viewing the video I ordered a Justrite safety can which arrived today. Jim
Wow! Man you got lucky. Unbelievable that wood rack didn't burn. A couple years back, I remember 31 Vicki with a hemi posted a story about rags in a box burning at his shop. Makes me think of all the guns I used linseed on over the years, and then threw the rags in the trash.
WOW Ryan thanks for posting and Crazy shit. Glad you and the garage are good. I don't think I have ever read instructions, you do that when you can't figure it out.
Never ever store brake fluid (regular type) near your pool chemicals. Brake fluid and shock or chlorine goes up in a spectacular fire storm in microseconds. DO NOT try at home LOL.
Grainer . McMaster, Zoro.com .. they are expensive (up to $100 ) but cheaper than loosing the shop . look it up under oily waste container yes glycol-ether is really bad , but any petroleum product will set it off , including anti freeze , the incident I wrote about happened in 10 minutes of the spill of pop .
Ryan, Read your thread on the Garage Journal a couple of weeks ago. Glad you decided to share it here, too. Hopefully it will save a shop or two...
This may be one of the best swap meet items i puchased today. Twenty dollars is cheap insurance. To say i was freaked out by the video is a under statement.
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