Yesterday’s coverage of the explosion and destruction at Bill Kuhlmann’s race shop got me to thinking about shop safety and preparedness. I work on my junk outside for better or for worse, but I always have a fire extinguisher close by and I try to take all of the precautions necessary to be as safe as possible. I had a truck I was working on catch on fire behind my parents house years ago and I vividly remember sprinting into the house for a fire extinguisher while openly praying that the fire didn’t spread to the woods adjacent to where the truck was parked. Stuff like that leaves an impression.
While the explosion at Kuhlmann’s shop happened when no one was around and leveled the place so badly that fire officials don’t know if they will ever be able to name a cause, other shop disasters that we have covered were readily preventable. So, today’s question is a bit of a somber one, but frankly it is important! Have you ever had a shop disaster, near miss, or otherwise? Are you prepared in case something goes wrong in a hurry at your shop or home? Seriously, we want to know!
QUESTION OF THE DAY: HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SHOP DISASTER OR NEAR MISS? ARE YOU PREPARED IN CASE SOMETHING GOES WRONG AT YOUR SHOP OR HOME?
Yep, the fuel line wasn’t tight on the carb. I had the plugs out doing a compression test and had the coil wire grounded at the front of the motor.
Fuel dripped out, fumes got to the grounded wire and instant fire.
The fuel line had pressure on it so it wouldn’t stop dripping, feeding the fire.
I’m sure everyone knows…a gasoline fire is hard to put out with anything but an extinguisher, especially when its being fed more gas.
Fortunately I had a fresh extinguisher handy and a good puff put it out. If the fire had burned thought the pressurized rubber fuel line….things could have been bad.
I had a couple small fires start from grinding sparks, once the kleenex box on the workbench, another time some dry grass in front of the shop. I make sure to hang around for a while after grinding, to make sure nothing is smoldering.
And the fun one was when the transformer at the corner of the property started a brush fire, fortunately the wind was blowing it away from the shop…but it burned the grass all around an old car body that was nearby.
I had my son-in-laws hot rod a 59 ElCamino custom with a 500 Caddy and FAST EFI . While trying to get the new injection to work I had it facing the street (thanks goodness) when the injectors hung open and filled the cylinders with gas. I pulled all the plugs, sucked out the gas and blew the holes dry. I decided to put silicon spray in the holes and spin it over once. I forgot to unplug the 02 sensor and all the gas in the exhaust blew up soon after I turned the key on. It was flaming out the plug holes like a blow torch. The initial explosion scorched the paint on both fenders and the hood. Also carbon blacked the garage door. I ran for the garden hose and sprayed it until the flames quit. It burned some wires but not too bad considering it could have burned down the house and car. I never worked on it again and he sent it to a hot rod shop to finish. I now have fire extinguishers every where. First time in 50 years I had an issue but learned a lesson for sure.
Grinding in the garage the closed parts washer caught fire. 2 extinguishers put it out. now have 4 extinguishers and am paranoid about fire
Nothing quite exciting like that oil water separator started over flowing in my shops parking lot in the middle of the day lot oily water all over the parking lot. Cleaned everything up got the tank sucked out. Couple days later guess who shows up the DEC they could of fined us $10,000 per day per violation thankfully everything worked out fine no fines paid.
My friend lost his garage, and nearly lots his uncle’s ’37 Dodge pickup he was working on that was nearly finished. The fire dept believed that the fire started from a trouble light that was left on underneath the truck. My friend spotted the fire, ran into the garage, and managed to get the truck out, saving it, though not without significant damage. The paint was cooked, the interior melted, and for the most part, it was back to square one.
My friend had a stove he used for heat, I believe it used corn, but he also had a large plastic tank, probably 50 gallons or bigger, that was filled with used motor oil he used as a drip. Man, did that tank ever create an oil slick in the garage when it went! Thankfully, everything turned out ok. Insurance covered the truck, garage, and he built a garage much larger than his previous one.
i had an upper radiator hos come off while breaking in a cam on a run in stand. BAD burns above waist to upper chest. very painful. for 23 days they soak you each day, then scrub off dead skin with brillo pad to prevent scarring. Can’t be too careful
Friend of mine had a fire at the garage. one of his mechanics had accidentally poured oil on the floor. customer came in smoking and the fire erupted. the customer and mechanic got severe burns. the fire burned almost all the cars because he didn’t have enough fire extinguishers. the insurer sorted him out financially but from that day, he has an extinguisher at every corner of his garage. Got me scared too and am paranoid about fire.
I was there when a smokey fire broke out. There was a fire extinguisher present there but you couldn’t see and it was unmounted. If you can’t find the extinguisher with your eyes closed you may not be able to find it when you need to.