Chemical Storage @ Your Motorpool

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Have you ever considered how seemingly docile chemicals stored in close proximity could potentially destroy your hobby shop or motor pool facilities?!?!?!?.....

Check this out. What's wrong with this picture....



OK, let's hear your horror stories. What other chemicals could produce devastating conditions????

 

[goldneagle]

I am guessing vinegar and baking soda do not go together well. I'm not a chemist.

BTW I store all my combustible chemicals in a flammable liquids cabinet.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

I suppose that technically, baking soda and vinegar are not actually "explosive" as in fireballs and heat, but when mixed there is RAPID and MASSIVE expansion of gasses - I think it's CO2 (Carbon Dioxide). Many old kids' chemistry kits used a soda bottle taped or tied to a roller skate (the old metal kind) and a bit of vinegar and about a tea spoon of baking soda to make a "Rocket Car" that the expelling thrust would accelerate and propel the roller skate about a hundred yards if you had that much pavement to play with.

I visualize that cases of soda mixed with that much vinegar would be REAL exciting at least, and with accelerated cardboard, plastic jugs and pallet pieces somebody's going to have an OSHA investigation on their hands.

All you need to add to that dangerous mix is a displaced GL Forklift Operator and SHAZAM ! ! ! . . Things that go BOOM in the Big Box Store.

IMHO

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UclxSfPoapc

 

[Jeepsinker]

I store my fuel cans in the middle of all my rolled up plugged in extension cords....

 

[FloridaAKM]

To comment on this thread will probably cause me too much trouble; so that said, watch out for your lithium battery storage too! What's under your bathroom & kitchen sink can cause some major pains if they get together inadvertently...

 

[Bighurt]

Sodium Bicarbonate and Acetic acid

NaHCO[SUB]3[/SUB] + CH[SUB]3[/SUB]COOH → CH[SUB]3[/SUB]COONa + H[SUB]2[/SUB]O + CO[SUB]2[/SUB](g)

Produces Sodium Acetate, water, and Carbon Dioxide

 

[wreckerman893]

I store all my bad stuff in a small confined area so the fire department can find it. It's easy to follow the fireball.

I actually remember my buddy getting a chemistry set (back in the day) that not only had the formula for gunpowder in it but also the necessary ingredients to make it.

It didn't take us long to use up what came with the set and to learn that two of the ingredients were available at the local drugstore in BULK AMOUNTS. The local authorities were not amused.

 

[patracy]

There's plenty of things to be aware of here with chemicals. Heck even the paint on our trucks is a carcinogen if ground/sanded/exc. But one thing people might not think of is all the welding we do here. It's nice to clean up metal surfaces before welding to ensure a good weld with no flaws. I've done this myself before I knew about it, but you should NEVER use brake parts cleaner to clean off surfaces before welding. Welding produces UV radiation and intense heat. The chlorines, dichloromethane, and trichloroethane found in many of these can have a reaction and produce phosgene.

A little history lesson. Phosgene was used in WWI for some of the first chemical warfare. It produces a odor that smells something like fresh cut hay. But if you're able to tell this, it may be too late. It only takes 0.4 ppm for humans to detect the odor. About 4 times the safe level.

Here's a blurb about it from the CDC:
http://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/phosgene/basics/facts.asp

The problem is, it's very slow to effect the body, but the effects can be long term or death if one doesn't take care. And with all the odors from welding to start with, it's easy to not even know you've been poisoned.

 

[gimpyrobb]

A nice cheap way to blow up plastic bottles is dry ice and water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZHGK37jBp8

 

[FloridaAKM]

That is an awesome way to make noise & scare people @ the same time. It was done @ the chemical plant I work @ during the night shifts as a real gag, due to carboys of dry ice plantwide. Now, you would get fired just for trying to make one. Law enforcement frowns on it also as they consider it to be making an explosive device...

A nice cheap way to blow up plastic bottles is dry ice and water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZHGK37jBp8

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

This thread was not created to demonstrate inappropriate activities but to DISCOURAGE foolish practices such as the storage of incompatible substances in close proximity to each other.

Let's now return to that intended topic.

 

[wdbtchr]

Something common but can be a big problem is chlorine tablets for swimming pools. When I was working in the power plant we used HTH chlorine tablets in all of our cooling towers added every Tuesday. We also added about a gallon of slimeacide every Thursday also. One of my co-workers forgot the chlorine tablets so he decided to add both on Thursday. Plastic 5 gallon bucket about 1/3 full added the gallon of slimeacide on top. Problem he did it inside the engine room intending to carry it to the tower. Didn't get a chance, it auto-ignited and created about a twenty foot fire inside the building. It might to be good to note that the city fire department wasn't amused after responding. Fortunately it was in the open area and the only damage was the bucket, a little paint on the ceiling, and one sprinkler head, hence the fire department responding in the middle of a chemical plant. I don't think the laundry was ever able to get out the stain in the seat of his coveralls.

 

[barefootin]

A gentleman I work with picked up a 100th Anniversary HD Ultra Classic years ago dirt cheap... The story was the owner had put it in his shed next to the pool chemicals for the winter. When the weather broke and the roads were clean enough to get the bike out, there wasn't much of the Chrome or Aluminum that was salvageable... It was pitted and white, literally every piece.. Even the gauge bezels were pitted.... We re-highlighted the fins, cleaned it up, and he bought swap meet parts for the most damaged components but it is still ugly...

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

A gentleman I work with picked up a 100th Anniversary HD Ultra Classic years ago dirt cheap... The story was the owner had put it in his shed next to the pool chemicals for the winter. When the weather broke and the roads were clean enough to get the bike out, there wasn't much of the Chrome or Aluminum that was salvageable... It was pitted and white, literally every piece.. Even the gauge bezels were pitted.... We re-highlighted the fins, cleaned it up, and he bought swap meet parts for the most damaged components but it is still ugly...

Yes, Corrosives are inherently NASTY ! ! !

I once dealt with an estate where the widow had stored all her deceased husband firearms under her bed wrapped in an old bedspread.
The real problem arose when her evaporative air conditioner blew super-humid air on her during the hot summer night of west Texas. While the moist air did cool her well, it also kept those guns wrapped in a wet bedspread. Literally thousands of dollars worth of weapons were nothing but rusted and pitted steel when, after 25 years, she finally unwrapped them to try to cash them in for some living funds.

So sad.

 

[61sleepercab]

Do not mix ammonia or urine with chlorine bleach as you will relive WWI with your chlorine gas cloud. Fraternity brothers cleaned urinal with bleach/ammonia mix and run everyone out of bathroom with fumes.
Never store any metal items with chlorine in any form ,such as pool chemicals unless you want a rust ball left. I saw the aftermath of pool chlorine pucks stored with 50 to 100 old gas engines which had no paint, springs, or tin parts left.
Do not keep oily dirty rags in open trash can or near grinder or welder.
Never wash parts in gasoline!!!!!! My 420 John Deere crawler had the transmission rinsed with gasoline and some remained in a drain pan with some water. A water hose was spraying and water hit a trouble light bulb which burst and ignited the gas in the pan. 6 foot flames were barbecuing my crawler until the drain pan was pulled outside and finally smothered to extinguish.
Do not use Styrofoam board insulation unless it is covered by dry wall or some nonflammable surface. A friend's garage foam board ceiling ignited from a car carburetor backfire and could have burnt down the whole garage!

 

[DrillerSurplus]

Do not mix ammonia or urine with chlorine bleach as you will relive WWI with your chlorine gas cloud.

Chlorine exposure resulting from mixing household cleaners containing bleach and ammonia is unfortunately a fairly common occurrence. Drilling is a dangerous business, but the biggest workman's compensation claim one medium size drilling company had was when a part time janitor mixed two cleaning products as he was cleaning the shop bathroom. He passed out & continued to breathe the fumes for a few hours until someone found him. It almost killed him & he ended up permanently disabled.

From The New England Journal of Medicine: "--When inhaled, chloramines react with the moisture of the respiratory tract to release ammonia (NH3), hydrochloric acid (HCl), and oxygen free radicals. --In higher concentrations, the combination of hydrochloric acid, ammonia, and oxygen free radicals may cause corrosive effects and cellular injury, resulting in pneumonitis and edema. Emergency tracheostomy was required in a patient because of upper-airway compromise induced by chloramine gas. The patient, a previously healthy 53-year-old woman, was cleaning a walk-in freezer at her workplace with over-the-counter liquid ammonia and bleach. - -. Approximately 30 minutes after beginning to clean, she noted shortness of breath and called 911. Over the next three hours, she had increased tightness of the throat and became unable to speak above a whisper. Despite aggressive use of nebulized albuterol, racepinephrine, and intravenous steroids, her symptoms progressively worsened. Rapid-sequence intubation was attempted but was unsuccessful because of swelling of the upper airway. Emergency tracheostomy was performed."

The woman survived, but even in the hospital it took drastic measures to save her. Make sure your family knows about this danger.

 

[fasttruck]

If you have a swimming pool think about keeping the pool chemicals away from brake fluid.