Fire Hazzard

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buster

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Jan 2, 2008
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Location
Brookeville, PA
Hello

I am getting ready to set up a small workshop but the only place I have is next to my furnace and hot water tank. Is there anything at all that can be flamable in the penturning hobbby. Thanks for the help in advance.
 
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It depends on what you are turning. Remember to read all warnings on any chemicals that you may be using. I have a kerosene heater in my shop and never had a problem. Dust does get into everything.
Good luck, Johnnie
 
Many of the finishes and solvents you will be using are flammable. Probably your worst enemy will be dust. I don;t know how much of a danger there is. Do you have gas or electric?? You may want to put a little extra effort into good ventillation.

You might want to call your local fire station and see what they recommend.
 
I've been making pens in my basement, in the same room with 2 furnaces and 2 water heaters since August 2005. The house is still standing. I do have a good, large shop vac and use it often.
 
My shop is also in the basement with the gas furnace and water heater. I've not had any issues other than dust getting on everything...If you use a lot of solvents, I've heard that you can put the rags in a metal coffee can with water and that will prevent spontaneous combustion...

Good luck!
 
I would also worry about dust effecting the efficiency of those two. Is your water heater enclosed? Venilation is the key. You dont want a flash fire!
 
I had issues with dust in my furnace before I got a dust collector, not fire or anything but it smelled like something was burning and it set off the smoke detector. I immediately got a DC and got it set up and have not had the same problem since (about 2 years). I highly recommend getting and using the DC as it also helps with reactions to the dust and CA fumes.
 
Unless you're turning only acrylics, wood itself is generally flamable. Wood dust is much more so. So, it's a good idea to make sure you have good dust collection, and all that.

badger
 
First, make sure you have a good dust collector. Saw dust can be explosive... if you generate the kind of stuff I do. [:I] But as said, it can be a real problem. And make sure you have a fire extinguisher handy. The fumes of many of our finishes and solvents are also flammable. I use many of these within a few feet of my open flame space heater, but I try to make sure I keep the air moving when I do.
 
Originally posted by badger

Unless you're turning only acrylics, wood itself is generally flamable. Wood dust is much more so. So, it's a good idea to make sure you have good dust collection, and all that.

badger
Click to expand...
First, Most plastics are by far more flamible than woods.

second, anything in "dust" form is flamible. Including metals. Yep, Iron Filings burn wonderfully. And my favorite way to start a campfire is steel wood.

That being said, Everyone I've know with a shop with furnaces and woodburning stoves (or my little shop propane heater), I have yet to hear any reports of a fire from the dust. If you are getting that much dust in the air over the flame, then you likely will be dead long before from what's in your lungs.

You should do something about the dust for safety (lung particularly) and for cleanup. Fire, I wouldn't be so concerned. As was mentioned it could effect the efficiency of your furnace though, but that's the cleanup part of what I stated above.
 
On a cold morning I started taking a hot shower, smelled some smoke like burning paper but kept showering. The wife screamed into the bathroom that the basement was on fire.

I told her to call the FD and ran downstairs and grabbed a fire extinguisher. The flames were near the gas water heater and burning the gas valve. I aimed the dry extinguisher at the base of the fire and let 'er rip.

The fire was put down just as the FD arrived. I dragged a burning cardboard box full of my shop rags outside.

What happened:
(1) Dumb bell me kicked the box out of the way the previous night and it landed next to the water heater.
(2) The next morning it kicked on while I showered and caught something in the box on fire.
(3) My basement smoke detector DID NOT sound until after the fire was out. Interesting.
(4) I had the WH inspected and had to replace the gas connection, tubing and WH control.
(5) Bought a new WH, gas as before, but this one has a closed combustion area. Supposed to not ignite even fumes.

Here's a thought about dry extinguisher powder. It really comes out in a hurry, bounces off walls and ceilings, taste bad and does a nice job powder-coating anyone dumb enough to be soaking wet from a shower. The white cake in the hair was especially attractive.

So fires can happen. You need a good extinguisher and can't always rely on smoke detectors to warn you in time. We could have been on our way to work and the house would have been destroyed. By the open gas line when it burned through.
 
I would also caution about fumes. My brother's basement caught on fire when the fumes from glue reached the pilot light of his hot water heater. Carpet installers had glued down some carpeting and didn't bother to open windows. My brother caught it in time to extinguish the blaze.

One other bit of advice, from personal experience ... one extinguisher is not enough. I once had to use an extinguisher and could not believe how quickly I emptied it. I now have three in my shop . . . near the exit.
 
The one thing I use that scares me the most is acetone. It may only be my imagination but that stuff smells like it would go up in a flash. CA debonder is mostly (if not all) acetone. I would also be a little careful about spraying accelerator near an open flame. If you atomize any flammable it makes it about a gazillion (OK, I am exaggerating) times more flammable.

The denatured alcohol has some risk but it burns relatively slowly. I remember when I was a boy at home, my mom poured rubbing alcohol in a old coffee can turned upside down and lit it to singe the pin feathers of chickens when we butchered.
 
Well obviously you don't have the room for a shop then, and I don't wanna see those poor tools sitting dormant, maybe you should send them my way for safe keeping! (cough cough i hope you have a powermatic)
 
Dust can explode, that is why they ground dust collection systems.

Because of OSHA, we have fewer fires and explosions due to safer equipment/machinery.

Everyone knows the fire triangle...
Air, Fuel, Heat... When the proper amount of each is met, you get to meet the first responders.

Too much or too little means no fire, once conditions are met, that's a different story.:(
 
Originally posted by palmermethod

I dragged a burning cardboard box full of my shop rags outside.
Click to expand...
If any of them had oil on them, then you had a big hazard regardless of the placement of the box. Oils react with fibers to cause some heat/combustion. The extra heat from the water heater likely tipped the balance a bit, but it could have happened regardless.

Keep an old paint can to store oil rags in. And keep the top on to limit the air when possible.
 
Originally posted by jwoodwright

Dust can explode, that is why they ground dust collection systems.
Click to expand...
Yes dust can explode and is know to do so in DCs. But compare the parts per million of dust flowing through a DC to the same amount of dust floating in the air of a 10x10x10 room.

A 10 foot run of 4" DC is 2366 cubic inches. (I think my math is right)
A 10 foot cube room is 1728000 cubic inches.

So the ratios for the two scenerios are very different (by 730 times). As I said above, how many dust explosions in home shops have you ever heard of? Even those that aren't running DC?

Yes, it's possible, but extremely unlikely. And the dust fire would be most like when the dust is airborn, meaing you would be in the room most likely.

I'm not trying to say that you shouldn't be prepared for a fire, but the focus should be elsewhere in potential sources. The oil soaked rags for example.
 
I have several halon fire extinguishers sitting around in the shop. They are great for putting out a fire , but the side effect is that they remove all the oxygen from the room. At least I won't burn to death. My point is that you need to use caution and take as much saftey measures as you think you need and then double it. A fire will damage your pens.
 
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