Spontanious Combustion

[foggy1111]

My wife was staining and varnishing the woodwork for my daughters new home in a warehouse building I own. So, she put a bunch of used rags in a 55 gallon plastic drum....basically a garbage barrel....and left for the night.

Came to the building today and opened the door. :confused2: A huge cloud of smoke billows out the door when I open it. We could not see the far end of the building wall. Got the overhead door open and then the far door to evacuate the smoke. The barrel had melted to the floor and all inside contents were ashes. The barrel was a few feet away from a boat and the gas tanks and another 20 feet from my 3320.

EVERYTHING is covered in a film of soot.....necessitating a good clean up. But...it coulda been worse. Soot happens.

That's the building in the pic behind my tractor.

 

[Transit]

That's all, a little soot. You used up your life time supply of luck. At the very least the rags should have been out doors in a metal container away from anything combustible.

 

[grnspot110]

I used to work for a farm machinery dealer, all used grease rags were to be put in a fireproof metal container (made for that purpose). One morning when the container was opened, nothing but ashes, made a believer out of all employees! ~~ grnspot110

 

[tommu56]

Oily rags should be in a metal can with a metal lid to eliminate O2 and outside if you can (no pun intended)

You were lucky
When you opened the door it could have let oxygen in and it flashed over (remember back draft movie) I saw it 3 times in my 25 years as a VFF

Same as hay lighting up a barn fire if it's wet it rots and creates heat and under the wrong conditions will start burning.

tom

 

[dave1949]

Some volatile stains and polyurethanes actually say on the can something like, 'Do Not put used rags in an enclosed container'. I guess this is the reason. Glad you were lucky to not have a fire break out.
Dave.

 

[LBrown59]

My wife was staining and varnishing the woodwork for my daughter and put a bunch of used rags in a 55 gallon plastic drum....basically a garbage barrel....and left for the night.

That wasn't a good idea was it?

 

[jinman]

Linseed oil is one of the worst for spontaneous combustion. I would not only put rags in a covered metal can, but also maybe dunk them in water.

 

[Willl]

Wow, very, very lucky.

Run, don't walk to your nearest handymart and grab one of them lotto tickets. :thumbsup:

 

[dcyrilc]

I have always hung my rags over my chainlink fence outside to air dry. Kind of like you would hang sheets on a clothes line. After they have dried, they are safe. Wet, I would never bunch them or leave them in an enclosed area due to the possibility of combustion.

Glad to hear that you didn't loose the building and everything in it. Many people don't realize or believe how dangerous that can be.

 

[Western]

Wow, very, very lucky.

Run, don't walk to your nearest handymart and grab one of them lotto tickets. :thumbsup:

I think he used all his luck up!! time to go to church and build up some more..

 

[czechsonofagun]

I heard about it many times, never experienced it myself - prolly because I am bit paranoid in disposing similar stuff.

 

[foggy1111]

I have always hung my rags over my chainlink fence outside to air dry. Kind of like you would hang sheets on a clothes line. After they have dried, they are safe. Wet, I would never bunch them or leave them in an enclosed area due to the possibility of combustion.

Glad to hear that you didn't loose the building and everything in it. Many people don't realize or believe how dangerous that can be.

Actually....this is what she did with the rags: Hung them to dry and then put them in the barrel. :confused2: It's all going to clean up again....with some more elbow grease. Lesson RE-leaned.

 

[Big Bri]

my mother in law paints (pictures) one night after painting she woke up in the middle of the night with a haze of smoke in the house. She ran out side and called 911 from the neighbors. Fire Dept. got there searched the house and found what was left of a wicker wast basket where she disposed of her clean up rags. was also lucky because none of the fire/smoke detectors went off.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

A few years ago on my boating forum a fellow left soiled rags in the attached garage of his split-foyer home.....Gutted the garage and home with fire. Pictures were some ugly to look at. Kids and all made it safely out of the house at night.

This is a real danger folks. Learn and remember.

 

[skipmarcy]

I have always hung my rags over my chainlink fence outside to air dry. Kind of like you would hang sheets on a clothes line. After they have dried, they are safe. Wet, I would never bunch them or leave them in an enclosed area due to the possibility of combustion.

Glad to hear that you didn't loose the building and everything in it. Many people don't realize or believe how dangerous that can be.

Exactly what I do also, hang them outside to dry good before putting in the trash.

 

[dcyrilc]

Exactly what I do also, hang them outside to dry good before putting in the trash.

After a couple days in the sun they're stiff as a board. That's when I pitch them.

 

[brin]

Do be careful with Linseed Oil for sure...Twice in my life I have had linseed oil soaked rags ignite due to spontaneous combustion..The first time it started a fire in my friends fathers workshop when we were in high school..his father had left the rags after finishing some poject and they went out to dinner and came home to a house fire. The second time it happened I had used some linseed oil to polish a cedar chest for my wife and mindful of the earlier experinece I tossed the rag out the back door after I finished and was going to put it in a metal container after I finished inside but as I was opening the door some 20 minutes later to get the rag I saw that it had burst into flame and stood and watched it burn.. Had I carelessly left it inside our house would have burned down......Be careful.

 

[foggy1111]

We ended up moving all the house trim to our garage in order to get it out of the "burn smell" which permeated the warehouse building. Washed all the wood trim up and air dried it....and thankfully, it doesn't carry any more odor.

Strange thing tho.....my wife started staining more trim boards and left a few rags sitting in a pile on the floor. When she picked them up they were starting to heat already. :confused2:

No used rags will be stored in our garage. Those first rags which started the fire were DRY. Beware.

 

[ToadHill]

A number of years I was driving down the street on trash day. I saw a pile of debris that was just starting to smoke and by the tome I got to it the flames were beginning to leep about 8 ft. high.

I was in my business truck and had a tank of 100 gallons of water on the back. I fired up the motor for the pump and put out the fire, I spread out the garbage and found a bunch of sawdust and varnish cans. I left my business card and an explanation of what I'd done to put out the fire.

The next day when I checked my messages I have a very upset caller who wanted to know why I didn't clean up the mess I'd made at the end of their drive.

No good deed goes unpunished!

 

[dcyrilc]

A number of years I was driving down the street on trash day. I saw a pile of debris that was just starting to smoke and by the tome I got to it the flames were beginning to leep about 8 ft. high.

I was in my business truck and had a tank of 100 gallons of water on the back. I fired up the motor for the pump and put out the fire, I spread out the garbage and found a bunch of sawdust and varnish cans. I left my business card and an explanation of what I'd done to put out the fire.

The next day when I checked my messages I have a very upset caller who wanted to know why I didn't clean up the mess I'd made at the end of their drive.

No good deed goes unpunished!

It never fails to amaze me how clueless people can be.:confused2: