Esteemed listers:
Obviously, if you get ALL of the gas and vapor out of the tank, the danger would be nil, but how does one tell when it's all out? It only takes a drop or two to produce about a ten kiloton yield! LOL!
My dad relates one story about the gas tank refurbishing line at Raritan Arsenal, in the post Korean War days when all the WC 3/4 tons were coming through depot. Standard procedure there was to boil the tanks (thousands of them) in Oakite solution, which is just Spic & Span on steroids, and then pack it with damp sand before attempting to solder leaks. the idea was that if it was full of sand, it could not be full of vapor. Well, you gotta remember that was back in the days of carbon tetrachloride fire extinguishers and propane fired freon leak detectors. The fix was often more dangerous than the problem! It was certainly long before OSHA came on the industrial scene and before anyone knew of the dangers. Anyway, the regular guy was out sick, and his replacement got the first tank of the day out of the Oakite, and lit his torch....from observers who had an outdoor vantage point, most reported a big blue white flash in the sky over the repair shed, and all the motorists on the !
base got out and saluted, thinki
ng that the 75mm pack howitzer at the entrance circle had been fired for morning colors.
The hapless worker got all his hair and eyebrows burned off, and they called him "Winky" from that point on, because he was so spastic that he could not hold still and look you in the eye!
My own dad was burned badly after washing his tools in gasoline at the end of the day. He had dumped the gas, and dryed his hands with a rag, and was standing with his hands in his pockets talking to a fellow worker. Two things occured at the same moment: The other guy struck a match to light a cigarette, and my dad took his hands out of his pockets. There was a flash, and my dad was in flames! Apparently the gas vapors on his hands and in his pockets got stirred enough to ignite off the guy's match. Damages were burned hands and arms, one burned leg, and all his hair. He had smaller burns all over his face, and got scared out of ten years growth.
I used to wince and walk away when I used to watch guys trying to light them gas fired GI can heaters in the army. After five or ten drops of raw gas drippped into the combustion chamber, the report sounded like a 4 deuce mortar firing!
It only takes a few drops guys!
Be careful out there!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 05 2001 - 00:40:35 PDT