Something happened on the weekend!

Yesterday I was working in my garage at my work bench soldering with a bernz- matic propane torch. I had a flashback on the torch and either ignited fumes or the torch was leaking ,it caught fire,and the flame spread to the front of my coat. There was no harm done,as I had the coat out in about 5 seconds,and probably within 10 or 15 seconds blew the flames out on the torch. I am assuming most of what lit was vapors including whatever brakekleen or similar products were on my work coat. When I started to take stock of what happened and what could have happened,the first thing I realized my closest fire extinquisher was 75 feet away in my rv. I was barely able to blow out the torch when I did,if I couldn't blow it out or get the torch out of the garage I would have had to get that extinquisher.It was a way to far away. I have a reasonably clean area to work in, but because the garage is only 400 square feet, with in 10 feet there was brake kleen,solvents,upholstery adhesive,house paints and other flammable liquids,as well as my car & motorcycle.I now have a fire extinquisher on my bench, and also am going to get a metal can for storing cleaning rags. I know there is a lot of people on this site that don't have proper shops,and worse yet a lot of our garages are attached to our homes.Stop and think,how you will handle it and what flammables you have. Heaters with open flames could be another big concern (I keep a 5' clear area around my radiant and use it minimally)at this time of year. By the way,the wife doesn't know which is a good thing.If you want to hear the ironic part,I was soldering the ends on the battery cable for my safety kill switch,things were very tense for a few seconds. Look around at your own site and get a fire extinquisher, approved for gas & electrical fires!
John

Sometimes we learn the hard way. Fortunately for you everything worked out. Now others should learn from your experience. But will they???

Good points. I'd be very cautious about storing cleaning rags in a can if they have been exposed to any combustible liquid which might ignite.

That's really great that you shared this story. It's always good to be reminded - or alerted - to hazards.

Thanks.

I will be getting a new fire extinguisher tomorrow. Glad you are O.K. and thanks for the story.

Thanks for the reminder. I'm going to put one in my new shop now that I am starting to work in it.

Note the big red thing hanging on the wall. Was one of the first things to be hung up.

In another shop we used to have, I was grinding something on the bench with and angle grinder. I first made sure any rags were across the shop (~12ft. away) so they wouldn't get caught on fire. Started grinding and a few minutes later I see a flicker coming from behind me. Look over and the damn pile of rags is on fire. The grind threw sparks JUST far enough to catch them. I quickly stomped them out and wet them down. Just goes to show you though, you can never be too safe. I should have put the rags in a metal bucket.

Also, if you are working with sparks or a flame, it's always a good idea to hang around for a bit after your done to make sure nothing decides to flair up after the fact. Sparks on a rag is a good example.

When you were using the bernzomatic did you happen to put it upside down a few times?

I have seen this happen before because of using the torch at too steep of an angle, it should always be used 90 degrees or higher, never anything below horizontal, like I get the feeling you might have been doing, especially if you're soldering somthing small on a bench. The gas tends to leak out and the flame doesn;t quite go out, then when you flip it up, it catches all the gas that just leaked out.

This may or may not have been what you did, but, if it was, there's nothing wrong with the thing, it just isn;t designed to be used upside down.

Good Luck,

Fire is scary, isn;t it? Its amazing how much we start thinking about things when we have a scare!

I'm glad you're OK!

B

Hi Guys,
Just to re-enforce this story, my best friend lost his house this past Sunday to a fire. Their power had been out for a few hours, and they were several candles lit. The power came back on and one of the candles was overlooked. That candle was in the kitchen. He woke up to the smoke alarm at 3 am. He went to the kitchen to find a wall of fire, he couldn't get to the sink to use the faucet, or sprayer. He turned to get the other 5 people out of the house. So, 30 minutes later, no house, lost 1 pet, lost 4 cars in the garage. Since, he has told over and over....if I only had a fire extinguisher in the house.

Hi, John:

Your story reminded me of an incident that happened to me a long time ago. I had bought an old Ford that literally had sat unattended in a farmer's barn lot for many years. The gasoline cap was long gone and I just assumed the gasoline tank was empty (ha, on that note, you can guess where this is going!). I don't think the car even had an engine in it. Like I said, this was a long time ago (more than 30 years!).

I had bought the car and towed it home to my garage to do some serious channeling and to practice my welding and cutting techniques. I had my cutting torch and was doing some cutting when I heard a faint "pop." I stopped and looked around and, there, at the opening where you normally would find a gas cap, was a pretty blue flame. "Just some fumes," I thought as I snuffed out the fire. I went back to my cutting and there it was again, "pop." As I snuffed out the flame this time, it occurred to me that perhaps I should investigate further.

I then proceeded to actually cut the bands (with a cutting shears!) holding the tank in the car and removed the gas tank. It was much heavier than I expected and when I finally drug the thing outside to empty it, I would guess there must have been at least 3 or 4 gallons of gasoline inside!

So I guess the moral of the story is - NEVER take things for granted. Better safe than sorry! (I was very lucky.) B)

Glad you are ok John! What Lee said; don't have a lid on the metal bucket.

I'm ashamed to admit I don't have a fire extinguisher in my garage. I'll be getting one today.

John, Thanks for sharing. Safety should be our first thought every time we work on these cars.

This past summer I was welding on the TR7 and could smell smoke (more than their should be). Lifted up by welding helmet to find a piece of cardboard under the car on fire. I quickly went to the wall of the garage, grabbed the fire extinguisher and put out the fire.

I’m glad I keep an extinguisher close by (with a second under the workbench) but I should have removed the cardboard before I ever started welding.

A fire extinguisher is kind of one of those things that you don't think about having until you need it. Then you ALWAYS remember it because you didn't have one that one time.

NitroRustlerDriver Wrote: