Another fun day at the auto salvage yard

AggieMike88

Touchdown! Greaser!
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The original "I don't know it all" of aviation.
We have the mobile crusher in to flatten and haul off the cars/trucks we are done with. They are crushed into bundles of 5 cars, then wrapped with netting and loaded on a large flatbed trailer.

As car #5 was being loaded into the masher, the operator heard a "pop!" and smoke appeared.

9-1-1 was called, and the Denton FD rolled up within 5 minutes of the call. The loader operator broke up the bundle so the firemen could work the individual cars. Took them awhile with both water and foam due to all the combustible material (foams, rubber, plastics) that are still in a car when it is mashed.

Later today or tomorrow, my plans are to call the community outreach officer of the FD and see about scheduling some fire extinguisher training for my crew.

Anyhow, just want to share a slice of the day of a modern auto recycler.
(and if you say the j-word, I'm going to fly out to your home and smack you)

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Oh gawd! It was Jimmy Hoffa wasn't it? :eek:

Last seen entering Mike's place:

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Local car auction had 10 cars catch fire a couple of nights ago. Apparently it started from the battery compartment of a 2011 Kia wreck and spread downwind from there.

I would assume you pull the batteries and airbag inflators before you crush the cars. What do you think lit off ?
 
Seems like letting it burn would make it easier to recycle the usable metal. Isn't that how they used to recycle trolley cars by torching them?

Glad you were able to provide the local fire department with a training opportunity.
 
Glad you were able to provide the local fire department with a training opportunity.
I spoke with the on scene commander and let him know that anytime he wants to bring his crew to come out and train with the extraction tools to call me.
 
Yeah, we used to get some of the local salvage yard to "loan" us cars to practice. They'd actually tow them over to the training facility and then remove the hulks when we were done.

Any idea what went pop?
 
Local car auction had 10 cars catch fire a couple of nights ago. Apparently it started from the battery compartment of a 2011 Kia wreck and spread downwind from there.

I would assume you pull the batteries and airbag inflators before you crush the cars. What do you think lit off ?
Kismet that this was likely a Kia Optima that started this. And we think it was the 12-volt battery hidden in the rear of the car that wasn't removed, arced, and started the fire.

Batteries are supposed to be pulled 100% of the time. But one got missed. The local scrap yard will pay $15-25 for them as cores. The hybrid car battery packs are work $200-$350 as cores. Tomorrow's safety stand up is going to cover fire prevention and battery removal.

We are not required remove airbag inflators.
 
Later today or tomorrow, my plans are to call the community outreach officer of the FD and see about scheduling some fire extinguisher training for my crew.
There is a place called Texas A&M that does a lot of fire training. You may or may not have heard of them. :)
 
Seems like letting it burn would make it easier to recycle the usable metal. Isn't that how they used to recycle trolley cars by torching them?
For me, leaving the combustible material in there is more desirable. I'm paid by the total weight of the cars we send up, so the extra few hundred pounds of plastics and foam add to the total paid.

The shredding operations are fascinating to watch. The entire car can go into the hammer mill and quickly be turned into small bits in seconds. Then there is lots of tech (eddy current, magnetism, water) to very rapidly separate the various materials that make up a car. Steel goes one direction, copper and aluminum another, and plastics/foams/rubber another. About 95% of a car becomes recyclable material that could be used to build more cars.
 
Fire extinguisher training? What a concept. Mine has been OJT. When I worked offshore I tried to schedule fire school at A&M but never got it done. I did put out a gas well fire with an extinguisher once. That was exciting...
 
There is a place called Texas A&M that does a lot of fire training. You may or may not have heard of them. :)
Yup. And overflown their facility many times since they are located very near the airport. Very fascinating place.
 
Fire extinguisher training? What a concept. Mine has been OJT. When I worked offshore I tried to schedule fire school at A&M but never got it done.

Years (Reagan era) ago I was working for the US Army as an electrical engineer doing computer work. They suddenly realized that one of our major facilities had been built without a fire suppression system (Halon was the usual back then). They decided we needed to have a lot of halon hand extinguishers. They also thought we should be trained in them so the post fire department came over and set fuel fires in pans and let us put them out with big halon extinguishers. I don't know how much tax dollars and damage to the environment was done in that silly exercise. The next time we had some inane training I showed up in my turnout gear (I was a volunteer firefighter and paramedic).

Then came the one day they told me I had to take a CPR class. This was doubly stupid as I was a certified paramedic and had to get continuing education in advanced cardiac life support, not just CPR. Second, I ask, why just me and not all my coworkers. Turns out, I was the only EE. The rest were computer scientists (this I knew because I fought to keep my EE designation because the pay scale is higher for engineers). What difference does that make? You might hurt yourself on some wiring.

1. I'm an engineer not a bloody electrician.
2. If I get zapped, I'm not going to do CPR on myself. You should make all my coworkers get trained.

These were the same people who wanted me to ban the customer engineers (i.e., computer repair guys) from the machine room because they had soldering irons that may set the place on fire.
 
I spoke with the on scene commander and let him know that anytime he wants to bring his crew to come out and train with the extraction tools to call me.

We get cars from the local salvage yard for extrication drills. They drop them off and pick up the bits and pieces a couple of weeks later.

One way to make it more realistic for the FD is if you have a way to 'pre-crush' the car for them e.g. by dropping a jersey barrier across the A-pillars or if your crusher allows you to shorten the car a bit without using the flattening mechanism. It's one thing to cut a door on an otherwise intact car, it's something else if you can't tell which end is forward. Also, if they have a dummy and you can flatten the dash on top of the legs using the vertical crusher or a jersey barrier it makes for a great drill.
 
You have it backwards. The Aggie football program is a dumpster fire, that's why they're always trying to put it out. :D
We are going to turn it around this year....says every college football fan.

When you see someone wearing an A&M shirt you know they went to Texas A&M, when you see someone wearing an OU shirt you know they went to Walmart.
 
I would pay money to get to crush a couple cars.....

Loads of fun (at least for a couple hours anyway) running over cars with a D9 Cat or ripping them apart with a 225 Excavator. After you've flattened and torn them apart the fun's over and it's time to go back to work.
 
Loads of fun (at least for a couple hours anyway) running over cars with a D9 Cat or ripping them apart with a 225 Excavator. After you've flattened and torn them apart the fun's over and it's time to go back to work.

I have torn up a few cars in demolition derbies back when they used full sized cars, and I got to flatten a Yugo with a backhoe once. The Yugo wasn't much of a challenge though...
 
Auto salvage question. The big speedway in College Station is overflowing with cars caught in hurricane flooding. Trucks come and go every day. What becomes of all those cars?
 
Auto salvage question. The big speedway in College Station is overflowing with cars caught in hurricane flooding. Trucks come and go every day. What becomes of all those cars?

Probably get plowed under when the race track become a housing development......
 
Auto salvage question. The big speedway in College Station is overflowing with cars caught in hurricane flooding. Trucks come and go every day. What becomes of all those cars?
That is a sub-lot for Copart Houston (www.copart.com) and many of the Hurricane Harvey flood vehicles are passing through there. Just about all of them are sold with non-repairable flood branded titles. That means they cannot be put back on the road, and will be parted out. Buyers are from all over, including overseas.
 
Your business makes money to feed the family, while you have this much fun at work? :eek:
I'm envious. :)
 
I bought one of those blenders one day when it came up cheap on woot. It's good marketing.

Are they any good? Literally every time we blend something I open it and say "______ smoke, don't breathe this!" to my wife. She rolls her eyes every time! Might be worth it for that alone.
 
What did the Texas A&M graduate say to the Ohio State graduate?

























would you like fries with that?
 
Are they any good? Literally every time we blend something I open it and say "______ smoke, don't breathe this!" to my wife. She rolls her eyes every time! Might be worth it for that alone.
They're certainly powerful. THe major issue I have is that for many cooking things they're not as nicely designed as many of the other blenders on the market. The square jar doesn't help things.
 
They're certainly powerful. THe major issue I have is that for many cooking things they're not as nicely designed as many of the other blenders on the market. The square jar doesn't help things.

Never thought about their use of corners until now. That does seem like a design oversight.
 
We are going to turn it around this year....says every college football fan.

When you see someone wearing an A&M shirt you know they went to Texas A&M, when you see someone wearing an OU shirt you know they went to Walmart.

Same deal here in the Pacific Northwe(s)t. If someone (like me) is wearing a WSU shirt, they went to WSU. If they're wearing a uw shirt, they bought it on sale at Walmart.
 
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