Welding tanks Explode

Clever guy. I saw the video on the news here.

Maybe he should quit smoking. It seems to have addled his brain.

-- Ed Huntress

Here's the vid

It seems like the welding tanks DID NOT explode. The VAN exploded because it was full of combustible gases.

Ivan Vegvary

On Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:01:40 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Ivan Vegvary" quickly quoth:

It was probably a set of tanks which hadn't been shut off and the hoses purged. That little bit of acetylene blew the shell clear off the van. Unreal! Leave it to a Floridian NOT to notice that the vehicle stunk of flammable gas before lighting up. There's an Obama voter for ya. (Hi, Ed.)

-- Such is the irresistible nature of truth that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing. -- Thomas Paine

*It also points out the power of a cigarette addiction*

I once knew a long term smoker to be on oxygen for his breathing problems. He was sitting in a smoke-free clinic to see the doctor about his problem. He told me, "I'm going outside and have a cigarette - if it kills me." Well, it didn't kill him right then but he's dead now.

Don't worry about going to see Marlboro Country, just keep smoking your cigarettes and you'll get to "Marlboro County" sooner than you'd like - SIX FEET UNDER.

My father died at the ripe old age of about 61. I *think* about 60 camels a day "helped" him die. Yep, he was a chain smoker - light the next one with the current one.

was sitting

right then but

day "helped"

Some people prefer to make rational decisions for themselves. To many smokers that bit of daily relaxation for decades has a lot more value than a few extra years in a nursing home waiting to die.

Stupid should hurt, nice that he didn't take anyone with him.

My dad died from smoking. He *slowly* suffocated from emphysema over a

10 year period. "Waiting to die" sounds much more peaceful than it really is. "I just want it to be over" was a constant theme for him in the last stage.

Smoking also increases the risk of heart failure. The REALLY lucky smoker will just keel over. If it happens at 61, maybe that's no so lucky.

Bob

A couple times I have jumped into my work van in the morning, shoved the key in the ignition, and said to myself, "wait a second, what is that odor? Acetylene!" Jump out, leave the doors open for a few minutes! I will probably be on one of those videos some day! Greg

1) Acetylene is close enough to the most easily ignited gas:

2) There's a switch in the doors to turn the lights on. I doubt it's an "intrinsically safe" type.

Take care.. Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Smoking kills the sense of smell. A non-smoker easily identifies the garlicky aroma of acetylene, or the distinct musk of methyl mercaptan in leaking natural gas or propane, and can get out before it's too late.

Some smokers can get Skunk sprayed and think nothing of it.

If you keep carrying and storing Acetylene bottles inside an enclosed van on a regular basis, you COULD BE. Because the dome light switch makes a pretty good sized little spark every time you open the door, long before your nose could have a chance to warn you.

Take the bottles out at night and over the weekend, whenever you don't need to carry them. Build a sealed box to store the cylinders in, and/or install motorhome style roof vents and operable side/rear windows (the tip-out type) so any vapors can't build up.

And remember that acetylene bottles have fusible plugs that will dump the entire contents if they overheat, including the acetone filler. Oxygen cylinders have rupture disks. You do NOT park in the sun with gas bottles inside and no ventilation.

GTE had special heavy sheetmetal steel boxes built that vented to the underside of the van and sealed to the inside, and that was only for carrying one or two MC bottles. Anything bigger, and it went in an open truck bed only.

And we still didn't carry it around unless we thought we would need it that day.

-->--

My mom didn't quit smoking until she was too weak from emphysema to get out of bed, and nobody would bring her a cigaret.

=================== funny true story

I lived in a small town in Connecticut for several years, and the barbershop where I got my hair cut was run by an individual that ran a sports book on the side [or possibly the barbershop with the sideline...]. He was very good about taking bets but was sometimes a little slow about paying, and was known to have memory problems about how much was bet, the odds, or even the wager when the event went against him [although his memory seemed fine when he won].

One day he closed the shop at 5:00 on the eve of a long weekend, went out and got in his car parked behind the shop, and when he started it and tapped the brakes pulling out, the car blew up. The damage was extensive, with windows broken on the second and third stories of buildings in the alley, and the entire back half of the car was blown off. He was not seriously hurt, although singed by and deaf from the blast, although it took some time to remove him from the vehicle as he had the back seat packed with camping/fishing gear and this had been blown forward jamming him against the steering wheel.

He immediately paid off all his outstanding "business" debts [in some cases with interest], and it was only later the BATF investigators determined that the explosion was due to a propane leak on his camp stove that he had in the trunk, and when he tapped the brakes it made a spark at the brake light.

------

I worked on a job site where someone started cutting the gang box locks with a cutting torch. You couldn't get to the locks with a bolt cutter.

Someone else decided a way to stop it was to "surprise" them. A slightly leaky acetylene tank was left in one and when the torch got close enough it really got their attention. Of course, it was an "accident" that the the leaky tank was left in there, but they found out who was cutting open the boxes at night. We had all kinds of policies and procedures come down from the safety department -- but we had no more gang boxes cut open! :-)

was sitting

right then but

day "helped"

Yeesh, their breath probably scared off the Angel of Death. Or he thought they were already dead. :-)

tschus

The 2000 Year Old Man attributed his longevity to eating a pound of garlic right before bed. In the night, the Angle of Death would wake him, and he'd say "Whoooo hiiis hiiit?" and the fumes would drive him away.

-- pyotr filipivich "I had just been through hell and must have looked like death warmed over walking into the saloon, because when I asked the bartender whether they served zombies he said, ?Sure, what'll you have?'" from I Hear America Swinging by Peter DeVries

Danged ad is longer than the video. And just how was this cameraman focused on that particular piece of the planet at that particular moment?

Steve

"Al Patrick" wrote

A few years back in Las Vegas, a resident of a trailer park was sitting outside having a smoke and using his oxygen tank at the same time. He had emphysema. EMTs and FD rolled. Camera crew arrived and was filming. A kid about eight years old came into the scene holding the remnants of an aluminum O2 bottle and asked if this was something important.

A great lady I knew finally died from emphysema. She had security clearance, and used to be one of the gals that shuffled blueprints across the huge Boeing construction hangers powered by roller-skates. She had an interesting life, but it was hard to watch her die.

Steve

I was doing that not long ago. Three packs a day. Finally decided I'd rather quit than die and just quit. THEN the price of cigarettes went sky high! In the end, there isn't a day goes by that I don't think I want one.

But I'm glad I don't _have_ to smoke any more.

REAL glad.

Richard

This "story" is lacking some details, me thinks.

(EMTs and) FD rolled. To put out the cigarette?

Camera crew arrived and was filming. Someone smoking is newsworthy, or they were making a documentary? They probably weren't filming, maybe taping or transmitting to the studio.

Someone shot the oxygen bottle? From a grassy knoll?

A kid about eight years old came into the scene.. He wasn't in school? Oh, it happened in a trailer park, that explains everything.

I still have to wonder how much money the kid got for the scrap of aluminum. Maybe enough for a 6-pack so he could get his cousin Irma drunk and knock her up.

We never will hear the full story because what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Irma later becomes a stripper, I bet.

WB ......... metalworking projects