Lucky escape.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Watford on 16/03/2020 12:26:44:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 15/03/2020 20:13:20:

Why does this thread bring to mind the Archers?

Neil

Not sure Neil, why does it?

Mike

Neil refers to the ongoing Grey Gables Kitchen explosion, Ambridge's answer to Krakatoa. I thought all right-thinking people listened religiously to the Archers? I know I don't!

Dave

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Robert G8RPI, very good link for people to watch, it reminds me of a video we watched at the last gas awareness and safety course I went on, in which a Transit van was put in an empty quarry with one of the small 3.9 kg cylinders of propane, which was a typical size for plumbers etc. to have among their kit, and from a distance of a quarter of a mile or so, the gas was allowed to escape and then ignited, needless to say the van and the cylinder were totally obliterate and pieces scattered a good distance. The fireball even from that was about the size of a typical three bed house and was just as dramatic as the one in the link. Personally, I would not want to be anywhere near a propane cylinder in a fire, even if the safety valve worked. You need to remember that even hot metal, and it doesn't need to be red hot, can ignite propane.

Neil, I don't know anything about the Archers, never listened to it.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 16/03/2020 19:40:45

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

470 degrees Celsius is quite hot, all the same. Once had petrol sprayed (no gushed) from the mechanical fuel pump all over a car engine at around 100mph. It did not ignite. It was still boiling on the hot engine even after stopping. That was a lucky escape!

[PlasmaParticipant @plasma]

We were taught about BLEVE at police training school in the late 80s.

It was something that could happen during road or rail crashes and the kind of incident we hoped we would never see.

We were told a rail tanker explosion in America was something like a small nuke going off and the cylinder acted like a rocket, flying a great distance spewing flame as it went.

No wonder any cylinder involved in fire is treated with extreme caution by the fire service.

Mick

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

Welding Supply Store caught fire in Columbus Ohio around 30-40 years ago. Some cylinders were heated up till They exploded, one went 15 miles, The newspaper clipping was hung on the wall by the door.

[MeunierParticipant @meunier]

Wasn't there a fire at BOC depot Acton/Willesden?, '60s or '70s IIRC when acetylene cylinders shot off like rockets.
DaveD

a quick DuckDuckGo failed to find links, forum memory probably better.

Edited By Meunier on 17/03/2020 21:30:55

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Back in the middle ‘50s we could see a fire in the distance and after finishing milking, Dad took me and at least one of my two brothers to investigate as it was clearly some conflagration. Turned out to be a dump of about 3 acres with railway sleepers ablaze some seven miles distant.

We watched it from what we thought was a safe distance, along with a crowd of other people. BANG! a very loud bang which we could feel the strong pressure wave at probably 150-200 yards (can’t remember how far but I can remember the bang and pressure wave) from the site. It was a winter evening and we were quite warm from the fire!

Apparently there were 32 (empty?) acetylene bottles on the site. I remember a policeman bringing a piece of metal, possibly a foot long but not very wide, and showing it to us, quite a while later. He said he found it on the road about a quarter mile from the site.

It was still hot as he was wearing stout gloves and holding it only by the ends. Shortly afterwards another went off and I think we probably left very soon after. Quite likely Dad and the rest of the adults realised the risks or were ‘advised’ to move.

Six or seven of those bottles went up, apparently, during the fire. I remember the firemen close to the site scuttling around when that second one went off, before we heard it or felt the shock wave. I didn’t realise the risks (not old enough) of course. Can’t remember any more of the details from the incident – to me it was just a huge fire and two explosions. Fire was at a siding(?) close to Finmere in Bucks.

[Robin GrahamParticipant @robingraham42208]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 16/03/2020 12:52:30:

Posted by Watford on 16/03/2020 12:26:44:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 15/03/2020 20:13:20:

Why does this thread bring to mind the Archers?

Neil

Not sure Neil, why does it?

Mike

Neil refers to the ongoing Grey Gables Kitchen explosion, Ambridge's answer to Krakatoa. I thought all right-thinking people listened religiously to the Archers? I know I don't!

Dave

Ooo noo! I've been less than religious recently but wife informs me that Linda Snell is in hosp. Who will organise the Easter fair? It's worrying. Off to iPlayer now…

Robin.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Even a small aerosol exploding in a fire can release a fair amount of energy. Spectacular to watch.
Dave W

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