Our House blew up.,

Tom-D

Tom-D

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Tom-D
Really, I was washing the dirty microfiber polishing rags that use in the shop, and the washer fumes, were ignited from our gas dryer, as it was drying the first load.

It blew the doors off the utility room, and embedded them into the wall across the hall. set fire to tapestry in the utility room. and several other minor fires which we put out quickly.

all is under control now except my nerves.
 
Sure, sure. Richard Pryor explained his "accident" saying he was eating cookies and milk, and he dipped the cookie in the milk the and stuff just blew up (if you'll forgive my paraphrasing).


Glad nobody got hurt (except your nerves, which can be cured with a couple shots of medicinal bourbon). Hopefully there's some insurance to take care of the mess.
 
Glad no one got hurt, Tom, 'cept some inanimate objects.
 
Ouch. Glad nobody was hurt!

So that must be why most washers and dryers have a warning label on them to never use them for stuff that might be imbued with solvents, etc... :wink2:
 
Wow - glad no one was hurt.

--

A guy I work with was inside his house when a broken gas line caused his basement to fill until the water heater pilot set it off. Blew the whole house apart around him - he and his son were on the opposite corner from the source of ignition and were able to climb out a window without a scratch. That was about 15 years ago - his house was rebuilt, but he still finds pieces of the old house in the yard when he digs a garden.
 
Sorry to hear that, and glad all is well, but...

:needpics:
 
What did you use to polish with these microfiber rags, let me know, I'll try to avoid that stuff.

Glad it didn't take out the rest of your house/shop.

From my machine shop days, I do remember hampers with CO2 fire extinguishers hooked up to them that were to be used for 'oily rags'. Somehow, enough oily wet rags can spontaneously ignite, sort of like a pile of wet hay.

Found the door of a refrigerator in the chemistry lab blown off one morning. Someone had put a solution of whateveritwas in ether into a conventional refrigerator.
 
Glad no one was hurt; it sounds like the damage was limited and I'm glad for that too. It'd be better if it never happened though.
 
Wow, Tom! I'm glad you are all OK.

And here I thought that spontaneous combustion and flammeble warning on the washer and dryer was nonsense.
 
That reminds me of that unfortunate day when I cured the squeaky vacuum cleaner fan with a blast of WD40 up the intake while it was running.
 
Tom, like everyone else I am so glad you are OK. How did your previously very patient wife make out? The blast may be over, but the damage may not be fully realized yet....:fcross: :fcross: :fcross:

-Skip
 
Glad everyone is okay :D and you have some cool new wall art. :dunno:
 
WE have now re-gained our composure, and it looks like minor damage the deductible on the insurance will be greater than the repair costs.

lesson learned, no matter how many tines you have done it before, it may not work this time.

the $7.50 bundle of rags is not worth cleaning, even if seems like the thing to do. It's not cost effective.

This too will pass
 
I had a brief thought about washing some (Nuvite) polish rags last week, then thought "nah, nothing ever happens with these things." When I took them out of the washer they still smelled of polish residue, and for some reason I decided to hang them in the garage to dry. Maybe for once I had a good idea.
 
wabower said:
I had a brief thought about washing some (Nuvite) polish rags last week, then thought "nah, nothing ever happens with these things." When I took them out of the washer they still smelled of polish residue, and for some reason I decided to hang them in the garage to dry. Maybe for once I had a good idea.
Click to expand...

It was the washer that blew, not the dryer.
 
Tom-D said:
Buy Whirlpool, it's 30 years old, and still works even after this.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... maybe they'd like to use your experience in their advertising.

Seriously, though, glad everyone's okay.

-Rich
 
wabower said:
I had a brief thought about washing some (Nuvite) polish rags last week, then thought "nah, nothing ever happens with these things." When I took them out of the washer they still smelled of polish residue, and for some reason I decided to hang them in the garage to dry. Maybe for once I had a good idea.
Click to expand...

You're still lucky. I was thinking that only save thing to do it leave them out flat and separate to dry and air out in the sun and wind far away from any property, then when they are no longer outgassing you can wash them.

Even if you throw the rags out you have to go with the tightly sealed airtight container to avoid spontaneous combustion.
 
Now don't leave those Linseed oil rags laying around either.
 
mikea said:
You're still lucky. I was thinking that only save thing to do it leave them out flat and separate to dry and air out in the sun and wind far away from any property, then when they are no longer outgassing you can wash them.

Even if you throw the rags out you have to go with the tightly sealed airtight container to avoid spontaneous combustion.
Click to expand...


I thought the tightly sealed container full of oily rags would cause spontaneous combustion?!
 
zebra said:
I thought the tightly sealed container full of oily rags would cause spontaneous combustion?!
Click to expand...

Dunno. I just remember that we had heavy steel cans with step on lids in shop class.

As I understand it you need evaporation for spontaneous combustion. The evaporation lets them get hot(?) enough to ignite.

Ahhhh, Oxidation not evaporation.


  1. A substance with a relatively low ignition temperature begins to release heat, which may occur in several ways, such as oxidation or fermentation.
  2. The heat is unable to escape, and the temperature of the material rises
  3. The temperature of the material rises above its ignition point
  4. Combustion begins if a sufficiently strong oxidizer, such as oxygen, is present.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_combustion

I've seen when I pile up grass clippings in my compost pile it gets really hot. It says that's fermentation and it can ignite.

So you want a tightly sealed container.
 
mikea said:
Dunno. I just remember that we had heavy steel cans with step on lids in shop class.

As I understand it you need evaporation for spontaneous combustion. The evaporation lets them get hot(?) enough to ignite.

Ahhhh, Oxidation not evaporation.


  1. A substance with a relatively low ignition temperature begins to release heat, which may occur in several ways, such as oxidation or fermentation.
  2. The heat is unable to escape, and the temperature of the material rises
  3. The temperature of the material rises above its ignition point
  4. Combustion begins if a sufficiently strong oxidizer, such as oxygen, is present.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_combustion

I've seen when I pile up grass clippings in my compost pile it gets really hot. It says that's fermentation and it can ignite.

So you want a tightly sealed container.
Click to expand...

Evaporation in all petro chemicals causes a cooling effect. this is what causes carb icing.

Vegetable products rot, causing heat, linseed oil is a prime example, many house fires are caused when the floors are being re-finished. because linseed oil is a re-finishing product left in a sealed container to rot, heat, and spontaneously ignite.

The Rags I was washing were all pre-soaked with a liquid detergent, in a cut off 55 gal drum, But a large portion of them were used last month to clean the solvent wash tank. and I believe the liquid soap didn't dissolve the solvent. it then evaporated out in the washer and the dryer (which is gas) ignited the fumes.
 
Why does this sound like an opening line to a Darwin Award??

Glad everyone is unharmed.
 
Tom, I'm sorry to hear about the damage. I'm glad you guys didn't get hurt.

rottydaddy said:
So that must be why most washers and dryers have a warning label on them to never use them for stuff that might be imbued with solvents, etc... :wink2:
Click to expand...
I have that same warning on mine, but never thought it was a possibility...until now.
 
The washer said it was the dryer who put him up to it :D
 
Tom-D said:
Buy Whirlpool, it's 30 years old, and still works even after this.
Click to expand...


Cool, not only did you get to blow up a major appliance, it even kept working. It's always a good day when you get to blow something up....
 
My only experience with this was about 38 years ago when we had a dryer fire. It spontaneously combusted, even though the lint trap was regularly cleaned. No explosion, though! The parents put out the fire and called the fire department just to be sure, telling them to come in silent, since everything was under control and they didn't want to cause a scene. Of course, they came in with sirens blaring! :)

Tom, glad everything turned out alright!
 
Glad you're OK. That's number 1. And thanks for the reminder to the rest of us about what to watch out for.
 
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