[SEL] Spontaneous Combustion

[Spencer Yost]

I knew it, and still had it happen.  I wadded up my rag and threw it outside on the gravel while I went in to grab lunch.   I almost chastised myself for being too cautious.   Nothing could happen over a lunch- right?

Came back from lunch to a scorched rag smoldering on the gravel parking pad.  In my case I think the sun accelerated the time to combustion(and it was summer) because the shade retreated from the rag; but still- up in smoke in 45 mins!

Definitely be careful with linseed oil.

PS.  I have one of those rag buckets now where you can't leave the lid open.

Spencer

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 29, 2011, at 17:18, "Jim Hardman" <Jim at hardmanfamily.net> wrote:

> We almost had a fire... and I should have known better.
> 
> For years I have been warned about spontaneous combustion, but never experienced it.
> 
> We were cleaning an engine with mineral spirits using cheap Wal-Mart face cloths.  Our son and grandson were helping scrub off oily areas... flywheel spokes, surfaces that were caked with dried grease, etc.
> 
> The original paint had turned dark with a veteran patina, but there was no rust and the bright work cleaned up really well.  The last step was to wipe everything down with a 50-50 mix of mineral spirits and boiled linseed oil.  Let me tell you, this engine came to life.
> 
> We dropped the used facecloths (six or seven dark with grease and mineral spirits, plus three still pretty moist with linseed oil) into an oversize coffee can and went on to other work.
> 
> The next afternoon, our son said "Dad, I smell smoke"... and I ran down to the shop.  The can was belching out smoke, you couldn't see across the room, a converted two-car garage.  The rim of the can was still cool, I carried it out to the driveway and dumped it out.  The rags were glowing red, they were partially consumed by glowing coals.  Our grandson blew into the rags and "poof!"... they burst into flame.
> 
> Yes, we have a fire detector in the shop, but the smoke detector was disconnected due to over-sensitivity.  I couldn't spray WD-40 without causing a false alarm.  And so no... we didn't detect the smoke.  The fire detector is a rate-of-rise temperature sensor tied into the alarm system.
> 
> It took 24 hours to cook off.  Had this happened at night, or when we weren't home, we could have had really serious trouble.  Having a shop connected to the house is a huge advantages during the winter months, but a fire could take down everything.
> 
> As I say, I should have known better.  I even recall being warned about this in grade school.
> 
> Beside feeling foolish, I feel pretty fortunate that our only consequence is having to air the place out.
> 
> My wife shook her finger at me and said "Don't you ever do that again."  Yep, I hear you.
> 
> Be warned...
> 
> Jim in Vermont
> 
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