Angle grinder ...

[Andy Burns]

... claims another victim

[GB]

[ss]

Out of interest would there be a safe way to do this...other than dont :-)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You'd treat it like welding a petrol tank. Best left to the pros. ;-)

I think they steam clean them first. Then probably check with some form of remote flame - from a safe distance...

[ARWadsworth]

Well I suspect that the drum stored (or once stored) petrol and not oil.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Fill it with water, of course. Some people purge then with exhaust fumes, but that's been known to be not as effective as you'd hope.

[damduck-egg]

Could be many things that may only have given off fumes to form an explosive atmosphere once the substance was heated. As kids we used to put the drums that the floor polish came in upside down over the open hearth of the school incinerator ,a few minutes of heat and applying a lighted stick to the outlet was usually accompanied by a satisfying whoosh as the drum launched into the air. The practice came to an end when the supply of ammunition dried up after an accident,not to us but to the wife of a master who though not physically injured was somewhat shocked after a particularly successful launch descended into a Greenhouse she was tending at the time.

G.Harman

[Bill]

When I cut the end off a drum, that had contained diesel, to form an incinerator, I filled it with water first to wash out any remains and also remove any air,then cut the end off with it still full of water.

With an angle grinder of course!

[Onetap]

I've had a motorbike petrol tank welded, and they wanted it steam cleaned b= efore starting on it.

I also had some specialists demolish steel heating oil tanks on a project.= The atmosphere was tested for fumes before they started, they had a ventur= i (no motor, no sparks) ventilating device driven by compressed air and the= y used pneumatic hammers with cold chisels to cut the steel.=20

There are safe ways of doing it. A little oil can make a lot of fumes. = =20

[Part Timer]

For an explosion rather than a fire to happen that was my thought too. Speaking of fires and oil tanks there is a guy on my course at uni who butchered an old heating oil tank at a previous house with an angle grinder. It was full of small birds which had entered via the air inlet pipe on top, then couldn't get out. They were all soaked in oil so there was a fair amount left after draining down. He mentioned fire brigade involvement!

[Bill]

A neighbour of mine, who was skint, borrowed money from family to fill his very elderly heating oil tank. That night a seam at the bottom of the tank split due to the unexpected weight of a full delivery of oil. That involved the fire brigade and environment agency. He was not a happy bunny.

>

[John Rumm]

That was my first thought as well... I would not have expected most "oils" to produce explosive vapor in that way.

[SteveW]

The way people DIY work on petrol tanks is to washed out and then fill with water or alternatively run a hose from an exhaust pipe into the drum to ensure an oxygen depleted atmosphere.

SteveW

[Phil]

If you're welding TIG or MIG it's an easy matetr to arrange an inert gas purge.

[charles]

if you happen to have a cylinder of it lying around. rather like the vet's comment on the phone when my mother's dog was rendered unconcious by a blocked chimney. "Give him oxygen - you have oxygen haven't you?*

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You likely would if welding with those - the IG stands for inert gas. So most would have a cylinder with them. Although there are so called gas less ones which use a coated wire. But given the cost of the gas in domestic quantities most wouldn't waste it on this.

Crikey. Sounds like a good story there. How was the dog?

[Andy Dingley]

Inert gas purging is really unsafe. The problem is that you purge, but you = can't maintain it afterwards. If air gets back in there (even mixed in with= the remaining inert gas) then you're potentially explosive again. You just= can't guarantee a gas purge for things you're working on, especially not i= f "working" means cutting vents into them.

"Steam cleaning" is unreliable too, because it's dependent on the care with= which it's cleaned, and on how effective the steamer is at removing the re= sidue. It's mostly done to remove a surface layer that will burn (not explo= de). It's rarely an adequate guarantee that you can prevent vapour producti= on and an explosion.

Your only real guarantee is to reduce the ullage space with something inert= that you can continually demonstrate is still present and effective. The e= asiest of these is water.

(I use water fills for plasma cutting too)

[Phil]

can't maintain it afterwards. If air gets back in there (even mixed in with the remaining inert gas) then you're potentially explosive again. You just can't guarantee a gas purge for things you're working on, especially not if "working" means cutting vents into them.

which it's cleaned, and on how effective the steamer is at removing the residue. It's mostly done to remove a surface layer that will burn (not explode). It's rarely an adequate guarantee that you can prevent vapour production and an explosion.

that you can continually demonstrate is still present and effective. The easiest of these is water.

Gas purging seems OK for keeping the oxygen in air away from the back of my TIG welds, at a continuous positive pressure (ie/ some flow). I'm sure that water would interfere with the weld process (I did say "if you're welding").

Phil.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

If you've never actually done it, shut the f*ck up.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

They'd have made lovely firelighters.