Man, after reading the post from 48fordcoe (thankfully he's ok!), I got to thinking about my shop. Mig set up, tig set up, Oxy-Ac set up, gas cans for the lawn mower, weed eater, etc.., laquer thinner, one-shot, cleaning chem's, etc..and all kinds of other crap that could burn..... Granted my garage is somewhat neat, (I'm a freak that way) but if a fire starts small and I don't know it or I'm gone then..? I know my shop (3 car garage attached to my house in the city) is not much different then other people that build at home so I got to think'n.. What do you guys (firefighters, builders, rodders, you know...everyone) do with your gas welding bottles, gas cans etc??? If there is a fire, will the place blow up??? Is there a good way to store this stuff so if a fire happens that my home won't become just a hole in the ground? Thanks in advance for sharing.....
Gas cans don't belong in the garage where you work and double that if it is attached to the house. I stash my gas cans and gas powered yard eq in a separate shed that doesn't even have power to it. A friend of mine lost his garage, house, race car and eventually wife (divorce) when he worked on his car in the garage with a gas water heater and it ignited the fumes from a gas leak and burnt the place and everything in it to the ground.
move your flammables out of the garage, a shed does fine. for your OA tanks, just make sure they are secured and shut off at the end of the day. If you have a parts washer, move it out also unless it is a water soluble type. if you smell gas from your car, roll it out immediately! old cars tend to leak fuel from old lines, do your fuel system first before storing it in your garage. fires suck!
a real cheap investment in your case would be a "sand cabinet" that body shops use. Picture a refridgerator with dry fire extinguisher powder in the walls of it instead of insulation. the interior of it is mega perforated (some have a heavier screen) so in the event of a fire, the plastic baggie it is stored in melts, and the powder pours over all the stuff inside the cabinet. they're freakishly heavy (and a P.I.T.A. to move) but as I recall reasonably inexpensive. good for your paints and other flamable liquids. Bottles should be chained to the wall and closed completely when not in use. the Oxygen and Acetelene would be my Major concers, as any other bottles would actually put the fire out. (shield gasses are inert.) Gasoline is far and above the most dangerous thing you are storing, and should be kept in a well sealed container OUTSIDE of your home (preferably a small workshed, with a good lock to keep the kids out of it.) Same with Kerosene, Charcoal lighter fluid, and any Naptha based cleaners...and Nitromethane, if'n you got it.) basically, the fumes from these are heavier than atmospheric air, and tend to "puddle" in low lying areas. like your garage floor. near your pilot light for your Hot Water heater. (why can't they just be "water heaters"? it's not like the water is already hot when it goes into a Hot water Heater....sorry.) Barring a lightning strike to your acetelene bottle, you should be okay so long as you keep your surroundings safe and clean. one last thing....didja know metal shavings are flamable? sweep those up and trash 'em. sawdust is a bitch, too. water spreads a sawdust fire just like gasoline until it is saturated. don't ask me how I know.
I keep my oxy, propane, and gas in a shed. However, I still have three vehicles with gas tanks, one of which has vents which can drip if it gets hot and the tanks expand (when the tank is full). Can't be helped. I also have a lot of spray paints and cans of solvents. I should at least put them in a metal cabinet (looking for a cheap used one). Rebecca
One of the biggest concerns is using rags for your pinstriping or other projects and leaving them balled up or worse down in a trash can with several other balled up rags. Spontaneous combustion will occur, only a matter of when. Spread your rags out at night on the bench, or better yet outside on the driveway. Or, use a 5 gallon steel can with some water in it that you can submerge used rags in. I have seen a house burn to the ground and an industrial plant burn (saved by the sprinkler system) both from the same situation. Use metal cans with screw on lids for your solvents. Store them on the opposite side of the garage from any pilot lights. Keep the lids on and the cans upright (seems logical, but my kid stripes and leaves laying on their sides behind the workbench, etc.) Can't be too careful. I second or third the opinion about getting the gas out of the garage.
My wife called me at work a few weeks back and said the garage smelled like gasoline really bad. When I got home I opened the door and it was strong...My snowblower carb gasket went bad and drained about a 3/4 gallon of gas onto the floor. Thankfully I had the furnace (ceiling) unit turned off. It was strong enough where I think the pilot light could have set it off. (now I have a fuel shut off on it) Also if you are heating a garage with a home or mobile home furnace make sure it is not on the floor. A local guy's garage exploded several years back from settled gas fumes and the furnace pilot kicked in. Blew the walls out brought the roof down in a ball of fire.
Thanks for the input guys... Where I live, we're not allowed to have a shed, but I'm going to figure out a way to keep the gas outside in somehow. Because the garage is attached, I was thinking about running a water line across the ceiling and attaching some commercial sprinkler heads to it. I have pretty good water pressure and I could run a line and bypass the home's water regulator. I don't mind running some copper line for water....I'm thinking it won't be to expensive and in the worst case, everthing gets saturated with water but I hopefully won't lose the house....or family...
Be aware that a gas water heater will most definately ignite vapors. I came within a breath of getting blown up by one and laquer thinner.
Great point. We don't have water heaters in the garage here (nebraska, tornado country), we have it in the basement. But, I am thinking of adding a heater to the garage. An overhead natural gas radiant or something and it may have a pilot. Soooo, I gotta think this through. Thanks!
I'm probably not as tidy in my shed as I should be. However I am concious of all the stuff in there. I always turn EVERYTHING off before leaving the shed. If I've been welding or cutting, I finish up and use the next 10-15 minutes to have a beer and plan my next job before going inside. Any smouldering rags or dust or anything should show up in that time. My shed is 30 metres from my house so I don't have the concern about burning my house down but I would be paranoid if they were attached. As I see it there are two issues: risk and consequence. By risk I mean "what is the chance of what I have burning?" If you assess that you can come up with preventative treatments and precautions to prevent a fire. By consequence mean "if I have a fire what is likely to happen?" If you assess what is likely to happen that might influence whether or not you have acetylene or other bad stuff in your garage and how you store it. If your preventative measures are stringent enough, consequence should become a moot point...almost In reality most garages aren't going to "blow up" if you have a fire, but there is no doubt in my mind as firefighter that home garages are one of the most unpredictable and dangerous jobs we go to for all of the reasons mentioned in the posts above. In the end, keep it tidy, turn everything off, put the bad stuff outside or in cabinets and use common sense. Can't do much more than that...or take up golf. Pete
MR 48 Chev, how long you been in Toppenish? I grew up in the area, went to school in White Swan. Still enjoy visiting the area and the murals in your town are cool.
as a retired firefighter. most garages catch fire cause of fumes. also rags with laquer all balled up will generate enough heat to cause a fire. so throw those rags in a sealed container or out side. If a fire breaks out, mostly smaller container will explode and scare u. Every one should have a extingusher inside. Also put the cans, paint or anything else flamable in a old refridge. they are air tight if the seal is good. Now for heat, use electic heat and water heaters. NO FLAMES. hope this helps all.
It does! I have Elec Cove heat and water heater. I do have a few too many chemicals in the shop but thinking back, I ALWAYS had that much in paint and shit even as a kid building Models in my bedroom.
likewise! i will leave my gas cans outside of the garage sometimes but never IN the garage. i live in the country though and can do that without much worry someone will run off with them.
One of my running buds has used an old fridge like 41 Mopar suggested to store his paint in for years. He keeps it padlocked to keep the grandkids out and runs a light bulb inside in the winter to keep it from freezing inside. I have a one car garage that my grandfather built close to 80 years ago maybe earlier and I wouldn't use a cutting torch inside it for love nor money. One spark in the wrong place and that thing would go up like a pile of kindling.
Thanks to all for this post! It has certainly go t me thinking. I have not been careful enough in my storage habits and this post makes me realize how dumb this is! I've got 68 acres, a shed, and an unwired pole barn. There is certainly a better place for some of this stuff than my shop!!
have a friend that has his fire exstinguishers mounted by the doors on each side at about 2'? i always wondered why and he said that is about as high as most people can reach when they are on the ground, the safest spot during a fire.
Great tips here. I need to do a once-over on my setup and make sure I'm not being careless. By the way, with your pressurized gasses, fire is the least of your concern. The energy present in these is immense, and if ruptured or the valve knocked off, WILL kill you. So make sure to have those chained up as well.
Handle height of 3 to 5 feet is the code. If you are crawling out, then the fire extiguisher is of no use. Get the fire department.
If you have a big fire get OUT! and call the fire dept. then if safe fight the fire from the doorway. Stay out!!! Most little fires can be put out with water...have a bucket close when welding or grinding. Do a fire watch after you've done any "hot works" (welding, grinding, heating) ...I check my garage at least twice after I've done anything hot. Make sure that you mount your fire extinguishers close to the exit....don't let the fire get between you and the extinguisher. So many things to say but the most important "thing" is YOU! no thing is worth dying for....family,people, country, freedom might be worth dying for but not THINGS!
Keep your eye out for a used industrial flammable liquids cabinet -- they're usually bright yellow and all steel with double walls and self-closing doors. I got one free from work that they were going to throw away because it had a few rust holes. I patched up the holes and painted it and it's good as new. I keep the cabinet outdoors. I keep most of my paints and flammable stuff in there.
I keep my welding bottles, gas cans etc. next to an outside wall, that way if they blow the room ventilates and I have an escape route. That reminds me, I need to relite my water heater..........
I have a similar problem, in a number of ways. I have an oil heater, and then all the other "stuff" found in most garages. One consideration that I would recommend...even for winter months...is VENTILATION. Fumes hang around, and the sooner you get them out, the better your odds of avoiding a disaster. Even in the winter I've opened the big roll-up and turned on a fan to get fumes out. Just my .02 Jack
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