PSA – Avoided a shop fire today!

[Steve N]

Would have sworn this was going to be an oily finish soaked rag saga...............Whodathunk it was gonna be TS flambe  
 



Good to hear nothing happened.


If your "shop" is like mine it has an abundance of fuel (Wood) and I also have finishing supplies, and gas because our two mowers are in there too. So when you buy an extinguisher buy one bigger than the tiny spritz model
Plus if you are detached from the house like I am, keep a cell phone with you for 911 calls
 

[MichaelMouse]

I'd say cedar oil ignites at a much lower temperature than the cellulose (~355 for western red).  Oil was probably the source of your burn.  If it gets enough fuel/air it can possibly rise to the ignition temperature of the wood. 

That fuel/air business is why we can survive with dust collectors.  There isn't enough fuel in the dust, and abundant air to oxidize it quickly en route to the main dust pile.  If it ignited, it's consumed, and no ignition from there on. 

My take on extinguishers is the same as FWW.  By the door, because you're more likely to discover a fire than neglect one under your nose that you could stomp out.

[bobs64ford352]

The last place I worked at changed out all the old halon fire extinguishers, with the ABC type and the manager asked if anyone wanted one, so I took one. I figured that would be a good one for the shop due to it being a larger size and I believe halon isn't supposed to ruin the surroundings. For your DC closet, even though you have fire proofed it maybe a detector and or fuseable cut off switch, like what is used for boilers/furnaces might be a good idea, if you haven't already done that. Your post just got me thinking about that for the DC I'm setting up that will be on the other side of the wall from my shop.

Thanks, Bob

[Steve N]

You are correct that it doesn't "ruin" everything like water, or foams can. Probably not best to stick around if it goes off


It could save your shop if you were gone, and a fire occurred though.

A pretty good read

[Curlycherry]

Never EVER turn on a dust collection system or shop vac or any kind to suck up smothering ash or wood dust.  Don't do it ever.  The moving of the dust will essentially mix it with air and you will get an explosion.  I have personally done it once myself with a shop vac.  I cleaned up some metal dust from sharpening a lawnmower blade and bam my shop vac blew up.

[AHill]

The last place I worked at changed out all the old halon fire extinguishers, with the ABC type and the manager asked if anyone wanted one, so I took one.  I figured that would be a good one for the shop due to it being a larger size and I believe halon isn't supposed to ruin the surroundings.  For your DC closet, even though you have fire proofed it maybe a detector and or fuseable cut off switch, like what is used for boilers/furnaces might be a good idea, if you haven't already done that.  Your post just got me thinking about that for the DC I'm setting up that will be on the other side of the wall from my shop.

Thanks, Bob

Halon is, indeed, a "clean" extinguishing agent.  It's also a CFC, which is why it's not made anymore.  They used to use halon on military aircraft as fuel tank explosion protection.  Older aircraft are grandfathered.  Newer aircraft use nitrogen as an inerting agent.

[MichaelMouse]

Halon is, indeed, a "clean" extinguishing agent.  It's also a CFC, which is why it's not made anymore.  They used to use halon on military aircraft as fuel tank explosion protection.  Older aircraft are grandfathered.  Newer aircraft use nitrogen as an inerting agent.

In 4800 hours, Had one Oxygen system failure in the B52.  Do I need to tell you that on that flight, the halon extinguisher at the EW station sprung a leak and filled the cabin with noxious fumes?  Navigator threw the leaky offender into the forward wheel well, dropping it somewhere in L Michigan when the gear were extended.

I believe the navy used to have carbon tetrachloride fire suppression systems "back in the day."

[packerguy®]

I still cannot determine what triggered the smoked unless there was metal embedded in the wood. Regardless I have some questions for the collective brain trust.
1.       How many of you have an extinguisher in the shop?
2.       If one uses the extinguisher on a machine, is it toast (assuming the fire is put off) or can it still be salvaged?
3.       I was lucky that this was in the saw cabinet and quickly spotted. If this was in the dust collector, I would have missed it because it is in its own closet. Although that closet is lined with rock wool insulation (fire proof) what other precautions can one take? Any of you have the unfortunate experience of a dust collector fire? What worked and what will you do different?
4.       Any other words of wisdom or advise to tackle such an emergency?

I also found this on the FWW website http://www.finewoodworking.com/2010/02/02/10-ways-to-avoid-shop-fires. Counting my blessings here. 

1. Yes. Three ABC in a 500 sqft shop. 
2. Not sure. But if there is fire, I care less about a machine....its about the bigger picture. 
3. Change bin every day
4. Stay calm

[iclark]

In 4800 hours, Had one Oxygen system failure in the B52.  Do I need to tell you that on that flight, the halon extinguisher at the EW station sprung a leak and filled the cabin with noxious fumes?  Navigator threw the leaky offender into the forward wheel well, dropping it somewhere in L Michigan when the gear were extended.

I believe the navy used to have carbon tetrachloride fire suppression systems "back in the day."

I have been told that NACA in the late '40's and early '50's used to use garden sprayers full of carbon tet to hose down the ways on many of the machine tools at the end of a shift. Of course, back then, they also had open vats of chopped asbestos that the guys could grab a double handfull and carry to where they needed some insulation for a process.

Sometimes things do change for the better.

Our computer folks used to love halon because it would not destroy computers. Our fire department fought to get it outlawed because some of the by products produced when it was sprayed on a hot enough fire were suspected carcinogens. The fire chief suceeded in getting rid of the halon and requiring water sprinklers in the computer rooms. I am not sure what the effect would have been of spraying water on a Cray 2. I thin that all of the CDC machines had been phased out by that time. I am pretty sure that I know what would have happened with our VAXen.

[Larry G]

I read this post about a week ago........this week end was ripping some material......and was getting a lot of smoke......got paranoid..... pulled the dust door  on the unisaw and cleaned out the dust into the floor....look what I found...2 clumps of dust embedded with embers.......killed the embers, swept up the dust into a metal can and set in the middle of the garage pad......learned a lesson about smoke and embers.......so thank you for the post.  best regards.....Larry G.