Been a rather expensive week.

[mikey]

As a couple of you know last Friday night I was cutting on a car with my plasma cutter and had a small (this is an understatement per my wife) fire ball and explosion that rocked houses 1/8th mile away. The ensuing fire ball has allowed me to replace a window, put new siding on the house and completely remodel:jump: the garage due to smoke damage, not to mention $12k ( not a total estimate yet) of repairs to the inside of the house to clean smoke damage and repaint every room. However :hmm: my camaro was unscathed except for residue from the fire extinguishers. The car had been sitting 20+ years with open fuel line, no drive train or gas cap. I have been cutting, welding and grinding for the last 11 years with the car sitting in the garage:screwy:. Luckily the blast blew out the back of the tank as I was in front of it. With help from concerned neighbors and too many fire extinguishers to count, not including mine which by the way had lost it's charge, we were able to pretty much put the fire out before the 7 fire trucks arrived. My wife says that I have a guardian:angel: (her father who was a fireifighter) watching over me as I was not injured except for minor smoke inhalation and singed hair. I have been christened with a new name of Morris courtesy of the neighbor, he also told me I only have 8 lives left. Moral of the story is make sure your fire extinguisher is fully charged and no matter how long a gas tank sits, it still may contain explosive fumes.

[shep]

Man glad your OK. Sounds like you definitely have someone looking out for you.

[mc84_zz4]

Man! it's time to go light that 'thank you' candle, lucky is an understatment.
Glad you came out unharmed.
I would have never thought there would be fuel in an 11 yr old empty/open tank, BTW.

[ArtosDracon]

I've lost my eyebrows more times than I'd like to admit, glad you came out the other side unscathed, not a fun experience.

[Tiger]

waw 20years.

glad you made it with only material damage.

to all, this is something to think about so please be safe in your garages.

[Samckitt]

Holly cow. I read this to my wife & her comment was that we would get along great. She calls me "Tim" (Tim the toolman). But I do have to say I have yet to rock houses 1/8 mile away.

Glad you didn't get hurt.

[John Wright]

I needed this thread to remind me not to be rocking the houses in my neighborhood.....I was planning how to open my fuel tank that has been sitting, out of the car, in my shed for several years(empty). I plan to fill it with water to displace the fumes and try to purge the remaining space with co2 or something non-volatile.

[ArtosDracon]

water is almost impossible to fully get out of a baffled tank, especially if the pick-up or anything else is still in tank. I highly recommend purging the tank with nitrogen or another inert gas.

[Jim Nilsen]

I soaked a gas tank and rinsed it repeatedly for 3 days before taking it to the radiator shop to get soldered up on a leak by the strap.

I told the guy to fill it with water as much as he could before he started to make sure there wasn't any fumes. He said it wouldn't be a problem. He put the air to it and sunk it under the water in the tank and found the leaks. He then proceded to start warming up the surface with the torch. The tank was captured in the fixture he uses to hold the radiators under the water to find the leak. Fortunately when the tank blew up like a beachball in less than a split second we were all just shook up and noone was hurt.

It is the fumes that are explosive and an empty old tank is a bomb no matter how old it is.

I got a used tank from the guys old 68 Camaro for free because he felt that I was smart enough to tell him what he needed to do and he ignored me. It's not the way I like to get new parts but my thoughts on saftey proved themselves to be right and I will never put any heat to a gas tank without it being full of something even if it is gas itself.

You were lucky that the explosion had a direction and it wasn't yours.

I can hear Barney Fife saying

KABLEWEY Andy that's what it's gonna be KABLEWEY
Good thing it wasn't a goat.lol

Glad you and the car are safe and the house, WELL your wife probably wanted all the new stuff you are going to get and never told you !!!

[Kenova]

The one time I worked on a gas tank I dragged it out to the back yard, removed the sender unit and stuffed my shop vac hose in it. The hose was hooked up to the exhaust of the vac. I let it run for a couple of hours and let it sit outside for a couple of days.

Ken

[elitecustombody]

Glad you're OK and the house is still standing, now post pics of the carnage.

[BonzoHansen]

Glad it ended up ok for you. I really wish I had a detached garage.

[mikey]

Here's one will have to get more tomorrow as I get to cleaning on the garage.

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/msracer17/explosion/house.jpg

[BonzoHansen]

ouch!

[shmoov69]

Wow, glad you're ok. Can you hear now?!?

Funny stuff Jim! So, you are an Andy fan too?! Lol.

[BA.]

Wow dude! Sucks to have all that damage but it sure sounds like you were L U C K Y !!


Note to self - purchase fire extinguisher.

[Conrad283]

Glad you're ok ... It seems like this should be on "seconds from disaster"

[Kenova]

I keep coming back to this.....


I can hear Barney Fife saying

KABLEWEY Andy that's what it's gonna be KABLEWEY


:lmao::lmao::lmao:

[mikey]

No new pics yet I was out in the garage cleaning it out and inventorying damaged stuff all weekend. What a friggin mess I've got crap everywhere. Well at least the place will be spotless for the first time since I moved in 11 years ago.

[Happyfunballs]

Wow, you weren't kidding. +2 on needing a fire extinguisher in the garage

[mikey]

Well we finally got to move back in last friday. Garage is still not done yet. Should be done in a week:jump:they sheet rocked and started mudding it today. Here's some pics before it was gutted and after it was somewhat cleaned out
http://s639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/msracer17/explosion/

[Mathius]

Glad no one was hurt.

I put a suggestion on the mythbuster's site more than once for them to cover gas tanks and see just what would set off a gas tank and what wouldn't.

I've heard so many shade tree cures for making it safe to work on a tank like that from purging the tank with your car exhaust while welding on it (Yeah, what do you do if your exhaust is running rich?), to drilling a hole in it to ensure that if it does ignite with 2 exits it will blow right threw and you'll be fine. :bsjerk:

Mathius

[Happyfunballs]

Wow. That tank pic is amazing. I suppose you're keeping it to remind yourself?

[ZL-1]

What insurance company and how are they to deal with?

[mikey]

What insurance company and how are they to deal with?
American Family pretty good so far but I also have some pretty good connections. My agent is my former asst. manager's dad. I also know most of the automotive adjusters through my day job. We haven't gotten to my contents list yet though. I have actual cash replacement value. They might squeal a little when I get my tool list turned in 4 Sata paint guns for starters @ 700 a piece and a 3-4k more in body supplies and tools.

[Zee]

Actual cash value or ACV is different from Replacement cost. You have one or the other and better hope you have replacement cost.

[mikey]

Actual cash value or ACV is different from Replacement cost. You have one or the other and better hope you have replacement cost.
It was a long and busy weekend don't know what I was thinking when I typed that it's actually replacement cost.

[TonyHuntimer]

Did you try to find the fires' origin?
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2010/06/gastank-1.jpg

J/K!

WOW! Looks like it blew the rearend out of your car! You're lucky to be alive. Glad that you and your family are okay.

Note to self... Maybe magazine centerfolds aren't the best wallpaper if you are going to work with flamable materials. :)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2010/06/garage5-1.jpg

Tony Huntimer
RaceHome.com