I had a wood burning furnace in the house I had in Virginia. I emptied the ashes every morning. I purchased a small galvanized trash can after a neighbor's house burned to the ground after their housekeeper put fireplace ashes in a paper bag on the porch. My can had tight lid and was emptied often. After reading about Ryan's fire I need a similar can for the small amount of solvent rags I use now.
Oiled rags belong in a safety can! Also be careful of body grinder shower of sparks, they can set dry rags on fire, it's has happened to me. Body filler dust is highly combustible. Had a car covered with a car cover and had a lot of body shop dust on it and I unintentionally set it on fire fron grinder sparks. A clean shop is your best bet. Ryan your shop is one of the cleanest around and you had a problem. When I am thru grinding or welding I try to stop a hour before I leave the area. Thanks for maning up and shareing, if it helps one person you did good. Frank
I always try and put my old rags in a proper container so I do not have this happen in my shop. I was grinding with my L head and the sparks from it hit my cloth wheel on one of my buffers and the next thing I know the buffer wheel is on fire. So it is not only rags. pay attention to any thing that will burn when grinding or welding in your shops. The buffer wheel was put out right away so no damage was caused from it. But a lesson was learned by me.....
I'm surprised no one has said it.... all those rag cans say "empty daily" on them. What's the next step(s)? Gary
Hello, Wow, video proof…how lucky the neighboring wood pieces next to the burning can did not go up quickly. Having been in a similar small fire in our little backyard garage, the story hits home. When we were welding, actually cutting a steel plate, I was responsible for making straight cuts and rounded corners. We were going to use them for additional weights in the trunk and to shore up the floor of the 40 Willys. The steel plates were cut and placed over the rear axle to get as much weight for more traction. We needed to get some additional weight to drop into the C/Gas class and what ever weight had to be bolted or welded into the car according to the rules. I was doing a great job of cutting, rounding, and placing the finished plates in the trunk. Or, so I thought… But, I did not notice that some sparks were flying all over the place from the gas cutter. Mini explosions were abundant and little “steelies” were found in various places all over the concrete pad and yard. These hot little balls were hot enough to land in a waste basket nearby and started smoking. I did not notice anything since I had on goggles and was a little involved in doing the actual cutting and installing. I also found out later that when they fly out, they are molten metal and burn whatever they come in contact with at the time. (The wooden siding of the garage, the wooden planter box, grass, clothes…) Yes, I had holes in my old shirt and Levis. Finally, my brother came running out of the house and said that there is smoke coming out of the trash can. Actually, it was a cardboard box we were using for a wastebasket. By this time, it was actually flaming and since it was slightly behind me, I did not see or notice it burning. He immediately got the hose and doused it until it went out. But, everything was wet, including the workspace, so now, it was clean up time. We did learn a lesson from this incident, eventhough we were carefree teenagers at the time. Jnaki We are also pretty knowledgeable about fire as my brother had 3rd degree burns over 30% of his body from the explosion in our Willys gas coupe many months later in 1960. A gasoline fire is devastating, hard to put out, and burns on contact. The jacket he was wearing lost a complete right arm, the Levis had only part of the right leg left, the Moon Tank was non existent, so was the aluminum Moon Foot Pedal. He told me later that it was extremely hot sitting in the driver’s seat, the fire extinguisher did not work as planned, and that he jumped out of the Willys, just after the traps. He did not know how fast, but he jumped out and rolled many times in the gravel next to the drag strip surface. (The racers on the return road estimated that he was going about 60 mph when he jumped.) The Bell Helmet worked to save his hard head knocks. Fire is bad, before, during and the aftermath is equally devastating.
This hasn’t been fully discussed or followed up on. I’m also wondering? What are the proper and safe disposal procedures for these oily rags, whether they linseed oil or other oils solvents etc. ? Sure you put them in the proper can, but then what? Like Gary asked, what’s next when you empty the can?
I always throw them in a fire drum, or use them to start my fire drum, then they cannot cause any more harm, - destroyed forever. But I live in a rural area. I certainly had no idea that a rag could be combustible as shown. That was new to me and a real education. Thanks for posting........bttt
Last Summer, I had a electronic surge protector overheat and exploded in my bedroom. Unbeknownst to me the surge protector was a known fire hazard by the company that made it and recalled because of faulty wiring. Well, I still had mine and it created a giant black patch in the carpet where the protector melted into the carpet. It's just luck the whole house did not burn down.
Before doing any oxy cutting I get the water hose and water the general area, that way the blobs of liquid metal hit the water and quench before doing any damage.
A trick I use when applying multiple applications of linseed oil or other sealer is to double-bag the rag then put it in the freezer until the project is done, then the rag goes out to the burning barrel.
On a semi-related follow up not related to spontaneous combustibility of linseed oil, my friend Mark Wojcik (ChopOlds) taught me a rule that I strictly adhere by to this day. That is... "NOBODY LEAVES THE SHOP FOR 15 MINUTES AFTER THE LAST HOT WORK" Period. End of story. No exceptions. That obviously includes grinding and sanding. The idea being that if a hot ember, piece of slag, cut metal, etc. is smoldering somewhere unseen, it will manifest itself within the time that a person is there to deal with it and contain it before it spreads. I think it's a great rule not only for the obvious fire prevention reasons, but also it allows me to build in time to put my tools down for the session and wrap up, knowing that I don't want to start any more work or reset the 15 min clock. I usually use the time to clean up tools that I have out, put them away, dust off the wrk bench and sweep up the floor. By the time I'm done with that the 15 minutes has elapsed, and not only is the shop not on fire, it's cleaned up as well.
I'm always cognizant of what I throw in the trash after hearing stories of spontaneous combustion. Scary stuff.
Standard house with wooden 2X4s will burn like a torch if caught on fire! That wood in the walls has been drying for years!
Last fall I was driving down the road in my semi truck, got to smelling something metallic, like grinding dust. I was passing a cast iron pipe mill, so didn't think too much of it at the time. A few miles later, I noticed my AC wasn't cooling as it should, so I cracked a window. Right after that I noticed the inside the truck was hazy, wtf? When I opened that window, it cleared a bit, then I saw something out of the corner of my eye, a whiff of smoke.....HEY! The trucks on fire! I whipped it off the side of the road, jumped out and raised the hood, fine there, opened the passenger door a little smoke poured out, stepped back in to the sleeper and noticed a curl of smoke from behind the bed. Opened the side luggage door, and smoke and flames! Grabbed the extinguisher from the cab and gave it a shot, nothing but smoke, another shot and it was out. A few minutes later after I got my wits about me again, I put on my gloves and started pulling stuff out of the side box. The metallic smell came from a metal support spring on a spare plastic airline that melted , there were also a few nylon tie down straps that melted. The culprit of the whole deal was a greasy towel that was in the bottom of the compartment being used like a floor mat. It had been in the truck since the day I got it two years before, and had gotten pushed back and crumpled into a wad. The vibration of the truck along with the grease and oil on it caused it to burst into a slow flame, which in turn fed on the nylon straps and plastic airline. I never would have thought it would have done that, but it did. I always keep rags in the truck or car trunk in case I break down and need to wipe up before driving, but now, I make sure they are CLEAN rags, if I use them, I toss them ASAP and replace them. Not as dramatic as Ryan's fire, but could have had a worse ending, I could have blacked out from the smoke and wrecked, the truck could have burned to the ground, etc.
I had a similar experience. I had a linseed oil soaked rag on my workbench and the next day I smelled something smoldering and saw the rags smoking on my bench. I threw them outside on the lawn and they burst into flames. I was very lucky I happened to be in the shop at that time, because in another hour it could have all burned down. I empty my shop waste cans every night and never leave used rags sitting around. Thanks for the video reminder.
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