Technical Hot Rod, literally.

I was thinking about this very thing a week or so ago. My garage and shop behind it that come off the house is about 60-80 feet long. I was thinking of 3/4 water pipe, and putting those thermally activated sprinkler head things every 10 feet or so. Also some kind of horn, etc that sounds if activated. Haven’t really got past the thinking part yet and digging into the “how to”.

The part of my company I work for is a 3rd party provider for service at Amazon (among other places) but Amazons fire watch and most things, exceed the NFPA, OSHA guidelines. As I recall, I think (besides clearing the area within x amount of radius, etc) it 60 minutes continuous watch, then every 30? Minutes for 2 additional hours. I’m fuzzy on it because I don’t do hot work, just have to do the online thing every year to stay employed.

Also, time for my PSA!

I made a thread about this but it got locked, I understood why when I asked. But many do their work in the garage, many have the dryer in their garage. I had to change the 220 plug socket that was there for 20 or so years, because I had one that matched a new dryer and cord I bought. Inside was loaded with lint etc an easy ignition source if sparking was to occur.
When I saw that I went to all my plug sockets, popped covers in the garage and shop, blew them all out.

 

I do all of my welding outside, been doing this since around 1982. I have a cart I use to work on at a decent height. I try to charge batteries outside in the car or will take the battery out of the car and do it outside.

I knew one racer, he was packing up after a night of welding on his stock car, noticed the seat smoldering and dismissed it as... that ain't going anywhere. His whole operation was a cinder about 6 hours later.

 

Hello,

Several years ago, my wife and I were coming home from a visit to our granddaughter’s house. As we crossed the I-5 freeway, we could see smoke coming from just at the end of the overpass bridge. The local sheriff’s car and several CHP cars were directing traffic. We would have taken photos, but the look on everyone’s face standing on the bridge ovedpass just did not call for a photograph or two.

Sitting by the curb at the end of the overpass, with the freeway rushing below, was a 4 door 55 Chevy sedan with the doors open, the trunk lid open and black smoke was pouring out of the whole back seat and trunk. No fire trucks around and the CHP folks kept people from stopping and had the episode in hand. The occupants looked in shock, but were just down road looking at their family car.

Several beach chairs were leaning on the freeway guard rail, a cooler and several other items were scattered on the sidewalk. But, the 55 Chevy was lowered in front, but the back was on the ground with flat tires and the bumper resting on the concrete surface. Why?

At first, everyone had the same idea of stopping and helping, but were immediately waved off by the CHP. The smoke was just blowing the sky above and the flames were shooting out of the rear doors/trunk. No one was trying to put it out.

We both asked our selves how that could have been on fire. It looked like they were coming home from a day at the beach, and now, their 55 Chevy was on fire. When I saw the rear tire flat, I assumed it was a blow out with an overloaded car, family + whatever was in the rear seat and trunk. When the tire blew, it may have lowered the “lowered” car ever so close to the street surface and then scraping on the gas tank, which looked like it caught everything in the trunk on fire.

Jnaki

The traffic was moving along as the CHP had the situation in their control. But still no fire truck or paramedics. So, could a lowered car explode when the gas tank scrapes?
Professional technology from @themoose ... thanks

In our cruising around days, the 58 Impala was stock height. With 4 teenagers in their seats, the car was lowered to the point of having to slow down at intersections dips and the drive-in restaurant entry driveway. Otherwise, we would scrape. So, yes, a lowered car has its own problems being low, but with passengers, becomes a moving nightmare in the making.

One of the laws the local police ad CHP did enforce was the lowered car rule. We did get stopped many times in various sedans with teenagers inside, whether it was a double date or 4 guys out cruising around.

Later on, several lowrider guys had skid plates welded under their gas tanks. That led to more safety for those absolutely “LOW” cars in daily drives. But that is another story.

 

Pex is getting used in my shop for the sprinkler system. It is approved for residential systems. Temp on pex is approved to 180. Run a 155 or 175 head temp. Will be a cheap instal. Won’t get you any certificate for insurance but it would work. Just make sure uv rays don’t destroy the pipe


Edit to say, this instal would not be legal instal. Go at your own risk.

 

Regarding under construction vehicles - I had my '33 insured by Hagerty long before it was registered / roadworthy just in case of a "what if". Just had to update the policy for it once it hit the road.

 

Now when I wake up, gotta do the Googling

 

Hello,

We have Pex for some water line installations. It works, was handy to install, legal for all building codes for additions and modifications in the house. But not for house/garage sprinkler systems. All of those lines are special coded and have to be installed to the approved latest spec sprinkler heads.

When we moved into our final house 20+ years ago, we had whole house/garage sprinklers in every room and area. So, the law at the time of our purchase said we had to have it upgraded. So, the previous owner had the upgrades installed.

Who knows, when our house is at the next level with our family later on, it may need another upgrade. It is for the upgraded safety codes. If you are going to install sprinklers in the garage, it has to have a special line that is always on, separate from the normal household water inlet line.

We had an attic sprinkler line accident and to shut it off, the normal water inlet lever outside was not able to shut it off. It is hooked up separately and had to be shut off at the street covered hole valve unit.

Jnaki

So, if you are thinking of installing any sprinkler line, be aware of the building code rules for sprinkler and access. The official sprinkler water pipes are colored orange and carry a different set of specs. No, the insurance companies will not insure your house or property in the garage.

Why put in something not specifically used for an official sprinkler system? It is for all of our safety in the house AND garage. Something that is easy/cheap is not always the right thing to do. That is like attaching white PVC pipe for a motor water line... would you do that?

 

It always amazes me how careless people are about fire. It's one of my biggest fears both in the shop and at the track.

 

You are correct of this. Reason I said you won’t get any certificate with the instal.


I’ll edit to make sure people know it’s not legal

 

I always try not to do any welding or torch work at the end of the day. I'm paranoid about a spark smoldering and finally starting a fire.

 

After a good friend watched his 66 big block roadster vette burn to the ground, I have been a lot more conscious of what fire can do to these old cars, shops, etc.

 

We worked on a project in a friends shops for years. We stayed for a half hour after any welding or grinding if it was near the end of the night. Good time to do something quieter or chat. The end of the work routine was to walk around the shop and unplug everything before turning the lights off. The half hour time post hot work came from our workplace that had a fire dept.. The unplugging of the chargers, tools, radio etc was to eliminate the potential for an electrical fire.

 

Another thought is to keep a metal can with a lid around to throw oily or gas soaked rags in to keep them from catching fire, spontaneous combustion can and does happen when we get careless. HRP

 

Just a question regarding the battery chargers. Is the problem only with lithium batteries? I leave my drill battery packs on charge while I’m not present. Same goes for the trickle chargers for the car batteries. The drills use the old 18v ni-cad batteries.

 

When I was building my Touring at my pal Randys shop he was building an A coupe. We would stop working, crack a beer and just bench race for 30 minutes or more on "fire watch" before we called it a night. Can never be too careful about sparks!

 

I have a whole row of battery chargers in my shop. I recently bought a digital timer so I can set the charging time for 2 hours, then all the chargers turn off. Many times I have forgotten a charger for a day or two.

 

Try rolling up in the fire rig at your friend's garage, and you had several hundred dollars of paint in it. Luckily I had picked up my fenders he was painting the day before. He lost a custom Merc and a 60 Poncho convertible.
He was using a torch while working on a customer's OT pickup on a lift, and the oily undercarriage lit off. He managed to get the lift down with the flames ever increasing, and tried pulling the truck out of the building. Unfortunately he didn't swing the lift arms out, and the truck hung up.
After we got the fire out, I asked him why he didn't just put the fire out with the garden hose he had right outside. He replied- "I didn't think of that".

 

If you have enough guys, used beer works for small fires.

 

...Just be careful with the item used to deliver the used beer!!

 

I had an underhood fire this past Summer in my attached 1 car garage.Never had a fire before and it was an eye opener.First thing that flashed in my mind was the house is gonna catch fire, and I couldn't get my Camino out of the garage cause 2 cars were parked in front of the garage.Tried to put it out by smothering the fire with towels but it was spreading!Ran out and got the garden hose and doused the fire out.And I have an extinguisher right at the door but I panicked and never thought to use it!I was upset at first but after a while I realized it could have been much worse.The hardest part was yet to come....finding the right people to fix the damaged body and paint work.Easy part was dealing with Hagerty.They never questioned any choices I made or any invoices I submitted.Had a complete refund in 3 business days after submitting.And no deductible cause it was fire damage.

 

I've posted this story before but maybe worth a mention again: My dad and I were messing with my great-grandfather's '51 5 window AD Chevy. I had got it running but it wouldn't pump it's own fuel yet. Against our better judgement, I was starting the truck and Dad kept it going by continuously spilling a little gas out of an old 5gal round fuel can into the carb. Sure enough there was a backfire through the carb. There was a 3 inch blue flame coming out of the can spout and it was making a low wolf-howl noise. The truck was sitting in a one acre field of 2ft tall dead grass. Dad smoothly took the metal can cap off the fender of the truck and screwed it back on the burning can and set it gently on the ground. We ran about fifty feet out and just watched the can for fifteen minutes. Dad said, "the can probably would have exploded if I had just thrown it" not to mention the ensuing grass fire that probably would have claimed the truck. Anyway, we agreed to not do that again. Wound up giving the truck to my cousin. Just one in a series of near-misses with my Dad and I doing questionable things to and with cars.

 

I kill the power at the breakers when I'm not working. I've always had a phobia about fire in the shop. The climate here isn't terrible plus I don't have water in the shop so the heat is off also.

 

I'm pretty sure the battery charger that started my friend's fire was for the old 18v ni-cad batteries. In his case, it was the charger itself that started the fire. He thinks it shorted out or got too hot, and started burning. As it was burning, the electrical started shorting out, and the wood bench it was sitting on started burning. The fire then spread to the wall and went up into the roof.

I really wonder about the number of guys that keep those battery maintainers plugged in and on all the time.

 

If you are doing any welding or torch work, do it at the beginning of your time in the shop. That way you will be out in the shop should something start to smolder or catch fire and you can deal with it. Don't do any thing that could start a fire in the last hour that you will be in the shop.

 

Well that sucks. I’ll have to keep a better eye on mine. I do put them on a large metal plate away from anything flammable.
As far as the Battery Tenders go, they do have safety features built in. Protects from over heating and over charging. The cheaper brands, I have no idea. I do not leave them on all the time.

 

Boy does this bring back a memory! When I was young, 8 or 9 years old, growing up in Canada we lived in a rural area. My dad used to burn the old thatch out of the lawn each spring. Generally no further than the garden hose could reach from the house. One year the fire took off and headed away from the house and got up under the shingles on the side of the garage. Not a thing he could do about it and by the time the fire folks got there it was a total loss. Burned a 1954 Mercury Monarch completely in the process. The clutch had gone out in the car and my dad had put it up on blocks to replace it. Nothing he could do to get it out either.

I always try to do my cutting and welding during the day time hours. Even after I am in the house for a couple of hours before I hit the rack I go back and open the door to the garage, turn on the lights, sniff around, and check for smoke. We all work too hard for this shit to let it go that easily! I have extinguishers and a 100 feet of hose all connected up right outside the garage door ready to go!