Hydraulic fluid injury

[J_J]

Even leather gloves could not prevent this. Man was using hydraulic tool, and the line burst at the crimp line.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Now that hurts just to look at. Imagine trying to flush that wound out.

 

[jimmyj]

Yeeeikes!

Gosh, I always thought a glove and rag were safe. What would have had to do to be safe JJ?

 

[J_J]

Yeeeikes!

Gosh, I always thought a glove and rag were safe. What would have had to do to be safe JJ?

There is really no way to protect your self from something like this. The only prevention I can think of is to inspect fittings and hoses for wear and tear. Absolutely, do not risk your eyes without protection to look at something close that is pressurized. Some of the guys on the forum have been sprayed with hydraulic fluid from burst pipes or hoses. If it get under the skin, in your eyes or ingested, that is not a good thing. Used fluid also probably has some chemicals that have carcinogens mixed in .

 

[BrentD]

Chain-mail gloves over the leather ones.

 

[Charlesaf3]

To be precise, sprayed hydraulic fluid can inject, and be an amputation situation... not something to mess around with.

I wear welders gloves as my tractor gloves (cheapie Harbor Freight ones - one of the few things there worth owning... ). I did have a hose blow from a kink on my TnT, which if I'd been by it would have injured me severely at BEST - it trashed the sheet metal on the back of the tractor

 

[two_bit_score]

That's hard to look at, but thanks for posting it as a reminder that those hoses can be dangerous.

 

[J_J]

I am thinking that a lot of that damage is tissue that was saturated with hyd oil, and had to be removed. They thought they would have to amputate, but I guess they saved what they could. . He had 5 operations.

 

[Charlesaf3]

If he didn't get amputated, he's darn lucky.

Thanks for the reminder - it's easy to lose respect for the stuff when you are around it a lot

 

[mjncad]

Good lord!

 

[Reg]

Thanks for the post.
I think it is "a problem better avoided than solved", e.g. by regularly inspecting fittings - and NOT when they are under pressure.
I admit to not wearing gloves recently as the weather has been warming.
No excuse; other than I focus on what I am doing with the tractor and pay (too) little attention to the fact that I am doing it with a high pressure hydraulic system.

 

[jimmyj]

Are there tips to minimize pressure before inspections?

 

[J_J]

Are there tips to minimize pressure before inspections?

In general, look at your hoses and fittings with the engine off as routine operation. With the tractor running, activate all the systems, and get off and check for leaks, etc.

The above injury was a blow out and nothing could be done. Perhaps the hose needed replacing, but who knows.

 

[Reg]

Are there tips to minimize pressure before inspections?

a) Do it before you start up, e.g. after the tractor has sat all night and (hopefully) pressure has bled off.
b) After switching off, lower the 3PH, lower the FEL and put the joy-stick forward/back, left/right 3 or 4 times, then put it in float.
This should be part of your shut down routine anyway, in case kids or someone else fiddles and twiddles with the controls while a different kid/someone crawls around under a part of the tractor.
Always check hoses if you snag a branch or something else gets close to tangling up.
Check regularly for signs of leaks, investigate any oil on hoses or around fittings, etc.
Mostly just common sense stuff, but checking for it needs to be a habit.

 

[huffy34]

If you HAve to check your hydrulics while under PSI, use a piece of cardboard or paper to find any leaks. This also works for inspections of diesel fuel injection lines which are also under high pressure and will penatrate skin or eyes faster then you could possibly react.

 

[Charlesaf3]

a) Do it before you start up, e.g. after the tractor has sat all night and (hopefully) pressure has bled off.
b) After switching off, lower the 3PH, lower the FEL and put the joy-stick forward/back, left/right 3 or 4 times, then put it in float.
This should be part of your shut down routine anyway, in case kids or someone else fiddles and twiddles with the controls while a different kid/someone crawls around under a part of the tractor.

This is a REALLY good point I hadn't thought of. I bleed down under the theory that it stresses the hydraulics less, but hadn't thought of potential injury. I'm going to get really religious about this now, I'm really glad you said that.

The backhoe and the bucket come down HARD even with the tractor off.

 

[mjncad]

It's easy to become complacent, so I just printed that picture out and intend to post it in the garage as a reminder of what hydraulic fluid injuries can do.

 

[Cat_Driver]

Yep as bad as some of these accident pictures are hard to rad and see they're like a warning ticket from a cop telling you to slow down.

I know I get a little cocky at times but then I take a step back and slow way down. Some of the most simple things can be a life or death situation dealing with machinery.

Even with rigging, I took a certified rigging course and thought during the whole course I kept thinking how lucky I am because everything they were teaching me I was doing wrong for years.

 

[JB4310]

I'm hoping our machines don't produce the kind of pressure that caused that accident ??

I had a damaged fitting and it did spray out but didn't seem that powerful, didn't try to feel it though.

JB.