welding steel petrol tank(small leak)

[cortina2003]

hi all

it dont matter now ,,,as i sold the cortina now,,,but thanks all for help and info,,,,,last one bit scary full tank and welder

 

[jugs]

*unsafe suggestion deleted by mod*

It's the vapour that's explosive - you can extinguish a cigarette in neat petrol

Troll or just stupid

Edit
The *unsafe suggestion deleted (rightly) by mod* was made by BChild. Certainly not by Jugs

 

[BChild]

Troll or just stupid

Edit
The *unsafe suggestion deleted (rightly) by mod* was made by BChild. Certainly not by Jugs

Having seen it done with no adverse effects

My comments still stand - if mods unhappy and choose to delete then I don't have a problem with that

As previously illustrated and commented on this thread - the vapour is the "explosive" danger and getting rid of that is very difficult

 

[Wozzaaah]

I'd just rather not see suggestions like that on here, it's better to advocate safe practices as I'm sure you understand.

I know it's not what was discussed but I've seen the effect of spatter falling into an open bucket of petrol and I most certainly wouldn't want to see it again!

 

[BChild]

I'd just rather not see suggestions like that on here, it's better to advocate safe practices as I'm sure you understand.

I know it's not what was discussed but I've seen the effect of spatter falling into an open bucket of petrol and I most certainly wouldn't want to see it again!

Again I bet the vapour ignited first

Like I said no probs

 

[malcolm]

I'm not convinced either. While it is the vapour mixed with oxygen that explodes I'd not trust myself not to blow holes. Soon as that happens I'd have fuel and hot stuff outside the tank with predictable consequences.

If I was welding a vehicle and not removing the tank it might well be a safety option to fill the tank, crazy as it sounds. The vehicles I tend to weld normally need welding right beside the tank so I do remove it.

Tanks in Renaults are a pain to remove if they are full, and I don't have many cans, so any spare fuel goes into my Renault. Double pay for the job.

 

[Jerry Miller]

i have patched a fuel tank before i used a penny soldiered one side of it cleaned the spot to be repaired placed the penny with the soldier to ward the hole heat it with an iron till the soldier comes out around the sides and it is fixed just the way i did it hope this helps,jerry

 

[Tino]

I have welded several petrol tanks, it can be done safely if if you are very careful. First wash it out several times, you will probably know that petrol leaves a varnish and the inside of the tank will be coated, it's very tough and you wont get rid of it,as you heat it up it will give of fumes which could explode. Bung up all the holes in the tank, apart from one at the top and one at the bottom. Pipe argon in the bottom make sure everything is sealed, use another pipe out the top to take the argon /fumes a safe distance away(out the way of sparks, flames etc), fill with argon,I use the same flow as I use for welding about 15 l/min (I always leave it for at least half an hour, wastes a lot of argon but I have never had one pop or bang) keep the argon flowing all the time as you weld. As for welding a full tank I have known it to be done on oil and diesel tanks (very stupid and very dangerous) but never petrol, I'm sure it would be lethal!

 

[Scorpion]

A few years ago some oik decided to nick the petrol from my car by sticking a screwdriver into the side of the petrol tank.
I was not amused and since I needed the car for work and the local garage didn't have time to fix it I used some epoxy putty as a 'temporary' fix.
Didn't leak at all and I really DID mean to fix it properly before I traded the car in 4 years later but somehow I forgot...

 

[Robotstar5]

Isn't there something like "play-doh" or "plastercene" that reacts with petrol and goes hard forming a seal?

 

[jugs]

Post 249 borrowed from:- Nasty Accidents Thread

Had a bonfire after my last annual gardening effort, but put a bit too much petrol on to get it going... Two nights in hospital with 6 or 8 % burns.

You were quite lucky, my brother done the same last year. He was burning his garden rubbish and used petrol, but it went out the first time, so he poured some more in only to discover it was still lit, he jamp back with the fright, knocked over the petrol can and then fell into the resulting pool of burning petrol. He's lucky he has a pond in his garden and managed to put himself out before driving 20 miles to the nearest hospital where on arrival he collapsed. He was moved immediatley to the special burns unit at Ninewells hospital in dundee where he spent the next three months being operated on after recieving 60% 3rd-4th degree burns. After much plastic surgery he is on the mend but now has to wear a pressure garment for at least the next year (23 hrs a day) and has lost 70% mobility in his left arm and has some extremely nasty scarring that will be with him the rest of his life, luckilly it missed most of his face. I almost lost the plot with him when I first saw him in the hospital, but when I saw the state of him I couldn't speak. His first words to me were "I know..........I know)
He also knows how lucky he is to be alive, most people with that severity of burn don't survive with all the complications it brings about. So for anybody reading this DO NOT USE PETROL TO START A FIRE!!! It will bite you eventually.

daz
__________________

And that's what happens from just burning petrol with no explosion, does anyone seriously want to try welding a full tank, if so pop into your local burns unit first. (& book a bed)

 

[Teuzer]

Official(?) instructions

it dont matter now ,,,as i sold the cortina

For what it's worth to those who want more official source matter, they may be interested in these freely available documents:

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publish this (724kb). - not really super detailed instructions though.

The Dept. of Labour, New Zealand govt., has a much more specific step-by-step pamphlet with helpful drawings . It can be downloaded from here (314kb).

Cheers

 

[TAITSIE]

isn't there something like "play-doh" or "plastercene" that reacts with petrol and goes hard forming a seal?

petropatch or quicksteel

 

[jugs]

For what it's worth to those who want more official source matter, they may be interested in these freely available documents:

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publish this (724kb). - not really super detailed instructions though.

The Dept. of Labour, New Zealand govt., has a much more specific step-by-step pamphlet with helpful drawings . It can be downloaded from here (314kb).

Cheers

Well found Teuzer clearest set of Info I've seen on the subject. this is the relevant pdf-
http://www.osh.dol.govt.nz/order/catalogue/pdf/hotwork.pdf

The whole site looks more practical than the Brit hse (which seems to be written by solicitors not engineers)

 

[Stunter]

DO NOT USE PETROL TO START A FIRE!!! It will bite you eventually.

It's not just petrol, if you put diesel on to a fire it can do the same.

It may not be so explosive initially but if you chuck a load on a bonfire to start it - you massively increase the surface area - which then vapours off, you come along to light it and CABOOM!

Take care out there people

 

[Robotstar5]

petropatch or quicksteel

No, it wasn't a commercial product designed for the job, it was a useful get-you-home side effect of something you would not normally consider.

 

[Finalreminder]

For what it's worth to those who want more official source matter, they may be interested in these freely available documents:

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publish this (724kb). - not really super detailed instructions though.

The Dept. of Labour, New Zealand govt., has a much more specific step-by-step pamphlet with helpful drawings . It can be downloaded from here (314kb).

Cheers

Gold star to that man.
That PDF should be immediately nicked and stickied here.

 

[madkayaker]

good PDF there was a case a little while back near me of a very big underground take being welded. It had been purged washed etc etc so permit was issues. Some Burk opened a valve and the fumes backwashed into vessle so when welder struck up BANG. They never did find the poor bloke the explosion and fire was that big

 

[wyn]

good PDF there was a case a little while back near me of a very big underground take being welded. It had been purged washed etc etc so permit was issues. Some Burk opened a valve and the fumes backwashed into vessle so when welder struck up BANG. They never did find the poor bloke the explosion and fire was that big

Oh dear....whoever the permit was issued to should have locked off all valves etc and been gas monitoring..a spell in jail maybe..unless it was the welder.

 

[madkayaker]

not sure was 10 years or so back in a big loo roll factory