Garage fire safety

[not done it yet]

Nothing to worry too much about but there are some oils that will spontaneously set on fire - lemon grass oil is one of those. The oil was not entrusted to the shop floor workers when it was to be used. It had to be filtered to remove solids, so that was a job for the lab. All filter paper and residues needed to be disposed of very carefully before we left work - most certainly not left in the factory building over-night. It was not the QC waste bin that caused the factory to burn down!

Also some surfaces can encourage spontaneous combustion of otherwise ‘harmless’ solvents - I experienced that problem with a food grade powder of extremely high surface area. No problem with aqueous solutions but organics were a problem when adsorbed on the surface - the mixtures could soon get hot.

 

[Erie Fred]

Crumb rubber. Local tire recapping shop had their place go up a few times from the ground off rubber sitting in a pile.

 

[Gazz292]

Years ago i was using my bench grinder to sharpen a wood turning chisel,

i'd just bought a big bundle of 0000 wire wool to use as part of polishing the bowls i was trying to turn, sparks from the grinding set the wire wool burning... that weird thing wire wool does where the strands fizzle, same is if you apply a 9 volt battery to it (taught that in the scouts as a way to start a fire for cooking)

I thought nothing of grabbing the air hose and directing the blow nozzle at the wire wool.... that was a big mistake, it made a sound like an oxy burner going full chat, and my bundle of expensive wire wool was reduced to next to nothing faster than i could react.

--------------

I have a wooden workshop now, and switched from mig to tig welding as no way was i going to weld in there with the mig with all the molten metal splatter flying about.
when i tig i do so on a 10mm thick weld plate on short legs sat on the workbench (until i get to welding up my tig cart with weld plate on the top of it)
a welding blanket is placed under the weld plate and up the wall where i have plastic lin bin's mounted... as even when tigging i occasionally manage to make sparks (usually some contaminated bit of metal)

I have a metal cabinet that the more worrying flammable stuff is stored in (paint spray cans, acetone, isopropyl alcohol, glues, brake cleaner, the mapp gas canister etc)

By the door i have a 5 kilo Co2 extinguisher and a 5 litre foam extinguisher, plus the welding blanket is a fire blanket,

My last resort if a big fire breaks out is to take / knock the regulator off the argon bottle, open the valve and close the door whilst i go and phone the fire brigade.... obviously telling them what i've done to make the atmosphere in the workshop low in oxygen.

I have linked heat detectors on the ceiling connected to an external 'banshee' siren that is located about 2 meters from the bedroom window, i was thinking of linking the heat detectors to the house's linked smoke alarms, but figured it was better to keep the workshop separate so i'm not running around trying to find out which detectors gone off.

And all electrical sockets i can plug a power tool into, plus the mill and lathe are on an emergency stop circuit, using a contactor to power a sub panel, so i have to 'arm' it when i want power by pushing a button,
a microswitch in the door lock 'hole' triggers an alarm if i try to lock up with the E-stop power on, so i can't leave anything powered up when i'm not in the workshop (except the frost heaters, dehumidifier and heat alarm / external siren mains power feed)

 

[finyuk2005]

Yes....."Me"......lit my pant leg right up....

It must be a right of passage for welders!
your not a real welder till you have set yourself a blaze!

same as your not a real farmer till you have had ring worm.... according to my cousin

 

[fizzy]

I switched to using cheap cat litter for oil spills....a lot less mess...I leave it down a while and seems to just soak up everything.

I use that as well - fullers earth is also used for NBC decontamination

 

[fizzy]

Years ago i was using my bench grinder to sharpen a wood turning chisel,

i'd just bought a big bundle of 0000 wire wool to use as part of polishing the bowls i was trying to turn, sparks from the grinding set the wire wool burning... that weird thing wire wool does where the strands fizzle, same is if you apply a 9 volt battery to it (taught that in the scouts as a way to start a fire for cooking)

I thought nothing of grabbing the air hose and directing the blow nozzle at the wire wool.... that was a big mistake, it made a sound like an oxy burner going full chat, and my bundle of expensive wire wool was reduced to next to nothing faster than i could react.

--------------

I have a wooden workshop now, and switched from mig to tig welding as no way was i going to weld in there with the mig with all the molten metal splatter flying about.
when i tig i do so on a 10mm thick weld plate on short legs sat on the workbench (until i get to welding up my tig cart with weld plate on the top of it)
a welding blanket is placed under the weld plate and up the wall where i have plastic lin bin's mounted... as even when tigging i occasionally manage to make sparks (usually some contaminated bit of metal)

I have a metal cabinet that the more worrying flammable stuff is stored in (paint spray cans, acetone, isopropyl alcohol, glues, brake cleaner, the mapp gas canister etc)

By the door i have a 5 kilo Co2 extinguisher and a 5 litre foam extinguisher, plus the welding blanket is a fire blanket,

My last resort if a big fire breaks out is to take / knock the regulator off the argon bottle, open the valve and close the door whilst i go and phone the fire brigade.... obviously telling them what i've done to make the atmosphere in the workshop low in oxygen.

I have linked heat detectors on the ceiling connected to an external 'banshee' siren that is located about 2 meters from the bedroom window, i was thinking of linking the heat detectors to the house's linked smoke alarms, but figured it was better to keep the workshop separate so i'm not running around trying to find out which detectors gone off.

And all electrical sockets i can plug a power tool into, plus the mill and lathe are on an emergency stop circuit, using a contactor to power a sub panel, so i have to 'arm' it when i want power by pushing a button,
a microswitch in the door lock 'hole' triggers an alarm if i try to lock up with the E-stop power on, so i can't leave anything powered up when i'm not in the workshop (except the frost heaters, dehumidifier and heat alarm / external siren mains power feed)

That is how thermic lances work basically

 

[caprinut]

further to my previous post about a fire door the following are required for building regs, part B8; https://www.housebuild.com/construc...other-guidance/internal-fire-spread-structure. I followed these when built my own integral garage and I provided a lockable steel cabinet to contain all volatile and combustible materials.

Common sense mate.

That's what you need.

Unfortunately you also need to comply with building regs if you want to sell your house.

Bert