by "TheTurbochargedSquirrel" (thatsquirrel)
Published 04/20/2017 at 10:26
by "TheTurbochargedSquirrel" (thatsquirrel)
Published 04/20/2017 at 10:26
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STARS: 1
Come on guys. Sure it isn’t quite as bad a gas but oil is still flammable. At least they have the extinguisher right there.
UPDATE: Another shot shows the sparks going directly into a funnel that was presumably used to fill the oil jugs with old oil. You should probably find a new place to store that oil guys...
"MonkeePuzzle" (monkeypuzzle)
04/20/2017 at 10:28, STARS: 1
they never claim to know what they’re doing, they are rampant amateurs.
I quite enjoyed watching them figure out how to weld up the holes in the tub.
but lets hope it doenst take a fire for them to realize sparks and garage liquids are a bad mix
"TheTurbochargedSquirrel" (thatsquirrel)
04/20/2017 at 10:36, STARS: 1
I don’t think a spark would actually be able to ignite the oil as it would probably be cooled by the oil before the oil can reach ignition temperature (not actually that much thermal energy in a single spark which is why you don’t really have to worry about burning yourself while grinding) but still a bad practice to fall into.
It’s an interesting watch and has me kinda thinking about the nasty rear quarters and drivers side back of the wheel tub on my sister’s 2001 Outback (which is my old car). I can barely weld 1 inch steel tube and occasionally burning through and sheetmetal looks like a massive pain to me.
"Svend" (svend)
04/20/2017 at 10:50, STARS: 0
Well I always said Australia is the only place where the only thing not trying to kill you is you, seems I was wrong.
"jimz" (jimz)
04/20/2017 at 10:51, STARS: 0
motor oil isn’t flammable until it gets up to about 500°F.
"Sovande" (sovande)
04/20/2017 at 10:52, STARS: 2
You could drop a lit match in oil and it won’t ignite. The sparks aren’t going to set the oil on fire. It would take a good deal of heat to get the oil hot enough to actually burn, in the area of 400 degrees.
"Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
04/20/2017 at 10:55, STARS: 0
Speaking of fire: I read in the newspaper the other day that a rag soaked in linseed oil “spontaneously combusted” and burned a house down. Anyone know if this is possible? I know some checmicals can react and start a fire on their own, but I thought linseed oil needed an ignition source.
"TheTurbochargedSquirrel" (thatsquirrel)
04/20/2017 at 10:55, STARS: 1
You can also drop a lit match into a bucket of gasoline and it wont ignite. This situation probably won’t start a fire but it is still a bad habit to be putting anything flammable near a spark or heat producing device.
"ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com" (ita97)
04/20/2017 at 10:57, STARS: 2
While it may not be the best practice, it also isn’t dangerous. Motor oil is not volatile, and it takes an awful lot of heat energy to reach an ignition temperature. If you’ve ever seen industrial heat treating processes, they take entire batches of glowing chunks of metal and quench them in vats of often flammable liquids. When I turned wrenches at the hydraulic shop, cutting, machining, welding and brazing all happened around open containers of hydraulic oil. The only thing oil that ever burned was the waste oil we used to heat the shop with via a waste oil furnace in which the oil had to be atomized before it would ignite.
"TheTurbochargedSquirrel" (thatsquirrel)
04/20/2017 at 10:59, STARS: 3
Linseed oil reacts with oxygen in a drying process which is very exothermic. As the oil heats up this oxidation process becomes faster and hotter. Under the right conditions it can get to temperatures which can ignite the linseed oil and the rag it is on.
"Sovande" (sovande)
04/20/2017 at 10:59, STARS: 0
Agreed!
"Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
04/20/2017 at 11:01, STARS: 0
WOW! I did not know that! Thanks for the explanation.
"MonkeePuzzle" (monkeypuzzle)
04/20/2017 at 11:03, STARS: 0
yes, its not so much that the oil would ignite in this particular situation, but more that they are storing things below their belt sander which is a bad practice. The practice could result in bad outcome with different items in same location.
"vicali" (vicali)
04/20/2017 at 11:30, STARS: 1
Oily rags are bad mojo, especially when there is linseed, shellac, drying oil, lacquer, varnish involved..
"jimz" (jimz)
04/20/2017 at 12:45, STARS: 1
oily rags are known for being able to spontaneously ignite. it’s why shops have lidded metal containers for soiled rags.
"smobgirl" (smobgirl)
04/20/2017 at 12:58, STARS: 0
Random, I saw one of those waste oil furnaces in use for the first time fairly recently and I have to say they’re freaking brilliant. I know they aren’t particularly cheap but I don’t see why more shops don’t use them.
"Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
04/20/2017 at 13:05, STARS: 0
This is seriously interesting, not being sarcastic here at all. I learned something today
"ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com" (ita97)
04/20/2017 at 13:20, STARS: 1
They are neat, but the catch is that you need a pretty substantial and regular supply of waste oil to make it work, otherwise you also have to have back-up way to heat the shop. When we got in a really big cylinder it might have 20+ gallons of used hydraulic oil in it. We probably burned an average of 20-40 gallons of waste oil a week to heat a ~3000 square foot shop in Albuquerque (which doesn’t have harsh winters). We stockpiled waste oil in drums out in the parking lot throughout the entire year to usually make it through a winter without having to fire up the natural gas furnace. I don’t think very many automotive or equipment shops outside of quick service oil change places would collect enough waste oil to make it work consistently, and trying to burn sooty motor oil all day long would probably involve a lot maintenance to keep the jets flowing in the furnace. You have to be careful about how clean the oil is and watch for water contamination.
There is also the issue of air quality permits that most shops would never be able to justify to expense of entering that process. As far as the authorities were concerned, that waste oil heater didn’t exist.
"smobgirl" (smobgirl)
04/20/2017 at 13:30, STARS: 0
That’s a fair point. The owner of this place was laughing that sometimes they have to really crank the heat and leave all the doors open in the winter to burn through theirs fast enough (this was in the PNW). But the cost savings over their natural gas system were pretty substantial.
"ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com" (ita97)
04/20/2017 at 13:45, STARS: 0
I have no doubt on the cost savings. I think I remember the owner saying he once paid $800/month in heating the small shop via the gas furnace, and then he had to pay to have waste oil hauled off on a regular basis. By burning most of it, we only called the waste oil disposal guy once a year to pickup a few drums of contaminated oil that we didn’t want to burn.