Gas welders take care!

[roy mawbey]

Guys,

Yesterday driving the 356 down one of my local roads I was told to turn round by the police. I didn't know but 200 yards further down a garage workshop I use as well as my boys do had just had the roof blown off and with then a fire has virtually destroyed the buiding.

Dave the owner, was on the TV local news last night. He advised one his guys (I know them both) was gas welding on an exhaust system. He advised there was a blow back to the bottle. That started to flame. The evacuated and he said they had 90 seconds before it blew up. Someone filmed it on their camera huge mushroom of smoke. 8 cars including 2 Porsche destroyed as well as all his great tools.

They are great guys clever and I have trusted them with my BMW without question. Careful and always honest. I think of my time with the 2 large bottles in my house garage years ago and the extension
hoses happily welding away for so many hours. I know they are to be treated with care but God, my insurance just houshold would never have been covered if they went up. One piece of the bottle blew down a brick wall and they showed it on the news. The rest of the bottle is somewhere else.

So be very careful, I would like to know how this accident happened, anyone have idea's. He says he has full insurance to cover the cars and damage but I just wonder if he will survive business wise, I really hope so.

Roy

[bbspdstr]

Roy, that is sad. Good that you give a warning.

One answer is to install check valves in each line. That only allows a one-way passage of gas and the one most dangerous is the acetylene, the fuel gas. The oxidizer (oxygen) is what makes it burn hotter than simple air. Heat (ignition), fuel and oxygen are fine when combined within a plan and under control...otherwise, look out!

My first shop burned after I moved. It was an old frame building and not a matter of if, but when it was going to burn. Two young men began a business of fixing cars in that old cabinet factory and added a gas heater up on one wall. One of the guys was under a car, draining a gas tank and he spilled some on the floor. The vapors traveled everywhere, but those that went to the gas heater pilot light ignited, flashing back at the man under the car. His screams got the attention of his partner who pulled him to safety, badly burned but he survived. The building became and still is a parking lot.

Same building, earlier when I was there, had adjacent roofers storing the tools of their trade in sheds just 20' from one side of my building. One of their large tanks of gas lit and the top was like the hat of Oddjob in the James Bond movie...right through my wall like a razor-sharp frizby. Other tanks lit from that and it was like sky rockets of big steel tanks going 100' in the air. The sheds were destroyed, but my building got only cuts and bruises and no Porsches were lost.
It happens way too often. I have 2 mil of insurance and add riders when I occasionally exceed that value, just so I can sleep at night.

[JTR70]

Thanks for the FYI Roy! I know of the dangers with those tanks if the heads get knocked off but never really thought about a back-flash into the tank itself. I always figured the tremendous pressure would prevent that. Maybe the tanks in question were on the low side??? Anyway Bruce brings up great idea; a check valve on the acetylene. I'll be looking into that for sure. Very interesting stories Bruce. Stuff like that happens before you even realize the danger your in.

Thanks again! Justin

[roy mawbey]

Thanks Bruce for advising about check valves on each line. Like Justin says it makes good sense. I will mention that to Dave next time I see him. So far I have no idea when or if they will continue. I hope his insurance had the same sort of cover as yours Bruce. I guess it must be high as he said full cover was taken out.

Though to find premises with 2 lifts and all the tools quickly is difficult. I wonder too if in the 90 seconds or so, he had the chance to unplug his computer and take it outside. Can you imagine unless he had a back up disc at home losing all your contacts, invoice info etc, then trying to find that all out!

Its amazing what you save on your PC how often do you make copies to a CD to keep eleswhere?

I will let you know when I find out how he is doing now.

Roy

[roy mawbey]

One of my sons advised me today the cylinder tanks had check valves on them and therefore maybe one was faulty. Of the 4 tanks in the workshop 2 were oxygen, one argon and one acetylene. The acetylene was the one that exploded parts going straight through the brick wall.

55 fireman and 8 fire engines from 2 counties took 5 hours to put it out. The remaining tanks were sprayed with water for a number of hours.

The building is completely gutted along with 9 cars. Houses alonside were also damaged. Only one wall remains standing. The fire reached oil tanks which caused a lot of the damage. So many people have come forward to help Dave the owner. He already has the offer of an area with a lift. His own lifts were flattened and of course his tools it would seem are also destroyed.

Its hard to believe what that accident caused till you see it. I can only imagine they must take the word of the staff with regard to the check valves, I wonder if they can fail?

I attach a link of showing the start of the fire, its made a lot of news over here locally. Maybe the video link might not work we will see.


http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/

Roy

[roy mawbey]

The above link works butyou have to scroll down to last Tuesdays news section. Please try this link I have just copied.http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/story/2013-08-13/fire-breaks-out-in-bognor/

Roy

[bbspdstr]

Dave handled that very well when interviewed. I would have been a mess! I got a phone call in the middle of the night in the very early '90s. The voice that woke me from a sound sleep said "This is Lieutenant So-and-so from the Springfield Police. There is a fire at your location and your building is totally engaged....will you respond?"
I stammered a "y-y-yes, I suppose...." as I tried to wake enough to process that information and ran to get dressed.
I was living about 25 miles away at that time, but traffic was non-existent so I got there in about 15 minutes, hoping to get a police escort, but seeing nary a cop until I got to my shop.

The good news (for me) was that it was my business neighbor's shop and it was not that bad. He had a small office made with plaster-board in the corner of a fireproof shop, as was mine, about 6' away from each other. He had paper trash under his desk near an electric space heater, the temp went down unexpectedly and....poof! It was contained primarily to the office but lit desks, files, etc, so it looked ferocious. The plasterboard cube made it a furnace with no chimney, but it burned straight up through the metal roof and that was it, back-lighting my building like that was on fire too.

My building had a few large electrical conduits shared with his, so there was a lot of smoke passing into my shop, adding to the illusion that my building was on fire, as well.

Both buildings, as were all others on the big property (formerly used to construct helicopters during Viet Nam) were made with steel or asbestos sheathing and metal roofs, so even though that is now verboten, it saved two businesses, a 904 and a C-2 Cabriolet and about 10 other Porsches in my shop that night.

We can start another depressing thread about floods and I can post some graphic pictures from the worst of 3 of mine in that same building...I think at least one includes Noah.......

[JTR70]

Would be very interested to see photos of that Bruce. Very Scary stories for certain; especially getting the call at mid-night.

Thanks for the link Roy. The shot of that heavy gas cylinder laid completely open really drove home the point as to the extreme violent energy involved with this. Glad no one was injured!
Justin

[MMW]

Here is a link to an AWS sheet about this.

http://www.aws.org/technical/facts/FACT-28.pdf

[roy mawbey]

Thanks for that info Mic it is interesting. Yes Justin, it does mention working with a cylinder that is low on gas might not be a good idea it could upset the balance.

Yes Bruce, I thought he was cool on that interview probably went to pieces later that night. I reckon I would have done.

Roy