In the thread on the shop carpet the issue of fire from coolant mist on the walls got me wondering. Being one of the hobby guys in a wood framed garage, what other not obvious sources of fire have some of you seen?
Steve.
Flamable vapors, both heavier than air that lie on the floor as well as mists from areosols are high on my list. Even wiping off a part with laquer thinner leads to a solvent soaked rag that I try to get outside or into the fire.
Sec> In the thread on the shop carpet the issue of fire from coolant mist on the
Grinding sparks getting through cracks in the plywood wall and starting a fire behind. The firemen had a fun time chasing the fire inside the wall. Grinding sparks and Oxy-acetylene cutting sparks travel great distances. Welding is relatively safe. Randy
Steve.
Sparks from a pedestal grinder igniting the used paper towels in a nearby garbage can.
Mike
Grinder sparks and any sort of spark-friendly location - ie, if you also do woodworking and have sawdust around, rags, lint, mouse-nest, etc. Have seen a construction site (not mine) turn into a destruction and much more major construction site in 30 minutes when some brilliant idiot cut some rebar with an angle-grinder before lunch, and nobody stuck around during lunch on sparkwatch.
Keeping the place clean and tidy will reduce fire danger by reducing nice places for fire to start.
If you're in a wood-framed garage with open studs, give consideration to putting 3 feet of cement-board on the bottom (takes knocks better than drywall) and type X drywall on the rest. Cuts the fire danger considerably. Insulate while you're at it.
Someone flipping a butt into a trashcan full of acetone-saturated rags will focus your attention...
Don't ask.
While on that subject, can some olde-timer tell me something about oily rags and spontaneous combustion?
Mostly an issue for linseed oil soaked rags (generally a woodworking or painting related item), as linseed oil is a "drying" oil (it oxidizes and gets hard). That reaction gives off heat. Put that reaction in a nice, well-insulated location like a pile of rags, and you get fires that start by themselves, especially since the reaction is faster when it's hotter, so it puts out more heat, which makes it faster...
Option 1 is to avoid it (and walnut oil, and tung oil) completely.
Option 2 is not to use rags.
Option 3 is to use rags, put them in a ziploc, and put that in the freezer.
Option 4 is to use rags, and toss them in a woodstove on on an open fire when done.
Option 5 is to use rags, and dry them out flat - on the floor in a single layer, on a clothesline, etc - some way that heat cannot build up.
Option 6 is to use rags and place them in a bucket of water
etc...
You can still get double-wall oily rag safety cans (which are supposed to be emptied every night) that have a tight lid sealing the rag area (to limit oxygen supply) and the double walls help to keep anything else from catching if the rags start burning.
As far as I know, a motor or machine oil soaked rag is a great thing for some other ignition source to start a fire with, but is not likely to start up on its own.
oxidizes
build up.
supposed
Supposedly spontaneous combustion is the no 1 cause of fires in Launderettes (Laundromats state side) here in the UK. Typically lacquers from hairdressers or oils from industrial clothing remain after a wash / dry cycle and if the washing is put into bags whilst still warm will degrade, give off heat amd eventually spontaneously burst into flames.
In my total wipe out fire back in April the Chief Fire Officer was blaming spontaneous combustion as he walked in the door, ignoring the fact that the seat of the fire was imediately below the incoming 3 phase supply head. OK some washing was in the area, but it was amazing how quickly the electricity company (EDF - Electricity de France) removed the burnt offerings of their equipment, and it was never seen again !
AWEM (now back up and running having had a 5 month living through hell scenario)
I was using a steel-cutting carbide blade in a Skil worm drive and the chips were orange/red hot and flying pretty far. I expected that they would have cooled enough by the time that they landed, but not so and a rag in the corner was set on fire. Of course I didn't realize it had happened until I smelled the smoke. Bob
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