Flammable safety cabinet for finishes

[Admiral]

With respect to extinguishers - there are arguments to not keep in the shop, or keep it next to the exit.  Better to use the extinguisher to fight your way in than to use it to fight your way out.

Frank S in IA

Yeah, that was sort of my thinking in putting one by the exterior door (I've got a walk-out basement) and at the stairs.  I actually have several more, as there was a recall of Kidde extinguishers, and by mistake they sent me 8 new ones instead of just 4.  I offered to send 4 back if they would pay shipping and they said just keep them.

[Big Dave]

Several years ago American Woodworker magazine published a plan to build your own flammable storage cabinet out of 1" plywood.




I believe the plans are still available from Popular woodworking, but I haven't looked in a while. I built a smaller version of this for my shop that's held up pretty well over the last 9 or 10 years...

Two pennies worth.
Dave

[brycechard]

In the name of the Lord God, please, please take care of your safety. If you want to be safe and that your loved ones are not injured, as well as other people, then buy a fire-resistant scale and store all flammable items there. I did the same thing in my store and I know that I am safe. Moreover, there will be no complaints from the fire inspection to you. Last year I was on a tourXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX the firefighters showed me how cool and fire-resistant materials for shakafs can be. I bought one of these for myself and now I'm glad that I'm safe. I wish you all good luck!

   

[FS7]

I'm still not clear on what the actual risk is. There are quite literally billions of bottles and cans of flammable substances in kitchens, shops, garages, basements, and bathrooms in this country. While I suppose almost anything is theoretically possible, spontaneous ignition of a can of solvent on a shelf, for example, is not something I've ever heard of. This is separate from proper drying and storage of rags.

If you are arguing from a perspective of making things worse in a house fire, that sounds like it would be moving the needle from "very bad" to "slightly worse than very bad," which is essentially the same thing.

I guess I'm rather surprised to hear that my current shop situation is somehow unsafe.

[msweig]

For home use the biggest thing is it will take more time for the fire to spread. If I had a fire on the first floor of my house (three story, zero lot line, first floor is simply a garage, bedroom, and bathroom) I need as much time as possible to get out of the house. If the fire starts and then hits a big pile of solvents on that first floor I might not be able to get my kids and get out the door. Which leave coming down a ladder out a window (likely through flames at the bottom of the ladder). Not ideal. The cabinet can make it take longer for the fire to spread, giving more time for smoke detectors to go off/everyone get out of the house. 

It isn't about making the fire damage less severe on the house (though that can be a side effect).  It is about letting people have time to get out.

Mark

[lincmercguy]

"spontaneous ignition of a can of solvent on a shelf, for example, is not something I've ever heard of. This is separate from proper drying and storage of rags."

I'm also a bit confused here. I'm always extremely cautious with rags. I either spread them out to dry, then put them in my outdoor can once they are dry. If it's not soaked in finish or oil, I have one of those safety cans for rags (they are cheap). The unused cans of stuff sit on a metal shelf on the opposite end of where I do any welding.

I could probably use a couple more extinguishers though. My shop is about 200' from the house, but I'd rather not lose it.