High Pressure Leak Horror Story

[x703jko]

When the tech from Finch Services was at my place on Monday to look at my BX24, I asked him about the warnings regarding high pressure leaks from a pinhole in a line.

He says that he knew a guy who apprenticed at another shop. One day he and the senior tech he was apprenticing with were trying to track down a leak in a 10,000 psi ag tractor. As the guy put it, the senior tech glanced away for a second as the apprenticed saw a puff of mist, which he then ran his hand across just as the senior tech turned to look back...the senior tech clearly saw a puff of "red" from the top of the apprentice's hand...the apprenticed noticed nothing...felt nothing.

The high pressure stream pierced the apprentices hand completely through...

The senior tech then shut the tractor down and immediately applied a tourniquet to the apprentices arm and the rushed him to the hospital....by the time they got there...the apprentice was unconcious, barely breathing, and his arm was swollen twice it's normal size.

They managed to revive him (he was actually poisoned by the SUDT), but they had to amputate his arm above the elbow.

Scary...

 

[kennyd]

That is a scary story
You should have put it in the safety forum!

 

[curtisfarmer]

10,000 psi.......yikes! Must be some type of prototype.

 

[SnowRidge]

10,000 psi.......yikes! Must be some type of prototype.

I wondered about that and tried to find 10 kiloPSI hydraulic hose, and it exists. The manufacturer termed it extremely high pressure hydraulics.

 

[J_J]

I wondered about that and tried to find 10 kiloPSI hydraulic hose, and it exists. The manufacturer termed it extremely high pressure hydraulics.

A good example of a 10.000 psi hose is the port-a-power hose. Mine is. A lot of the 1/4 hose is rated to 10,000 psi. It seems like the larger you go in hose sizes, the psi decreases, probably because of the surface area.