Oil and rags catching fire you tube video

[Keith 66]

Just wetting them & then putting them in a waste bin is not enough, water evaporates the oil is still there...
The point about metal bins is that it contains a fire & you can smother it with a lid or something, plastic bin just becomes more fuel.
Leaving stuff laying about & using angry grinders is a good recipe for flames too, I heard of a guy who set a bucket of acetone off with a jet of sparks from a grinder, (acetone has zero degrees flash point).
Then there was me who forgot about a pound of gunpowder in a tin & set it off with an angle grinder. Quite an exciting day that was.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

One of the sad things about my job is doing insurance assments for insurance companies.



So many works shops, mosty small home ones who have been destroyied by fire, when they have had a small fire and no extinguishers to hand.



The last one I did was caused by Linseed oil rags and poor disposal of the waste.

He had one extinguisher, did not know how to use it. But when I inspected it, it would not off functioned.



I am not sure what is worse, not having a extinguisher or having the wrong type.



Clock rrstoring workshop was advised to have powder units. Small fire and they grabed the powder unit, yes it put the fire out. But the powder was all over the place. It meant all tyhe time peaces had to be striped and cleaned. All the power tools as well. It took 8 weeks to clear the mess.

A Foam unit is what should of been installed.

 

[Jorny]

Just wetting them & then putting them in a waste bin is not enough, water evaporates the oil is still there...
The point about metal bins is that it contains a fire & you can smother it with a lid or something, plastic bin just becomes more fuel.
Leaving stuff laying about & using angry grinders is a good recipe for flames too, I heard of a guy who set a bucket of acetone off with a jet of sparks from a grinder, (acetone has zero degrees flash point).
Then there was me who forgot about a pound of gunpowder in a tin & set it off with an angle grinder. Quite an exciting day that was.

If you drench them in a bucket of water it is enough to discard them safely. I am not talking about rinsing and wrenching out the water. The linseed oil will not be able to oxidize in a way that produces enough heat to ignite.

 

[Homeless Squirrel]

Swarf near a grindstone is dangerous as well.

Saw dust/wood shaving esp damp/fresh self combusts even more so stored in black bags etc!
Go see/watch when tree guys have chipped up leave a while then see how much heat and smoke rouses when you rake pile over.

 

[Homeless Squirrel]

Anything covered with oils is a liability.
Cotton is flammable esp dust/fluff on it's own without oils.
One of the most dangerous in motor trade for unknown for so many as all think petrol/diesel etc but Brake fluid takes top spot as unlike Petroleum spirits which need a spark/naked flame(Cigarette is film stuff)to ignite or just evaporates Brake fluid will ignite at lower temps from being spilt on likes of an hot exhaust manifold!. (Mini Metros and some of the other Austin Rover cars were Fave Pyro Chariots.Had a shunt impact dislodged brake fluid res it then deposited it's contents on manifold =Toast) They sort of rectified it with Zip ties round units so can't pop off.

 

[Tom P]

Ever seen on oxygen cylinders, regulators, hoses and any other oxygen associated equipment. Oxygen Use No Oil?
There is always the damger of fire if these two come together

 

[alan895]

Has anyone else watched that video again after seeing AvE's videos on the subject and thought differently on what they saw the first time?

 

[Jacob]

Has anyone else watched that video again after seeing AvE's videos on the subject and thought differently on what they saw the first time?

I watched that first vid again and thought it was faked. Mind you it was also about 30 minutes too long so I didn't watch it all!
Not that linseed oil rags can't spontaneously ignite but I reckon it'd be difficult to catch on vid without a lot of "preparation".
PS 2nd vid looks dubious too.
Is there money to be made from vids like these? Let's face it nobody is going to spend 30 minutes waiting for oily rags to not catch fire!

 

[okeydokey]

Just wondered so if I put the rags in a bucket of water for a while - say an hour or so and then take them out and put in a rubbish bin if the water evaporates and the rags become very dry are they still likely to self ignite?

 

[Jorny]

Just wondered so if I put the rags in a bucket of water for a while - say an hour or so and then take them out and put in a rubbish bin if the water evaporates and the rags become very dry are they still likely to self ignite?

Both Selders and Ottosson recommend putting rags in water before throwing them in the bin. You do not need to soak them for an hour. Selders in their videos put the rags in a bucket of water before throwing them in the bin. Ottossons rinse them under a tap before putting them in a plastic bag and throwing it in the bin.