Unkel Kunkel Posted January 19, 2021 Report Share Posted January 19, 2021 The latest Veteran Car Club of GB mag. details an explosion that happened whilst one of their members was repairing a petrol tank he had removed from a car. It threw him several yards and the mangled tank flew down his garden. He was very lucky to escape with his life, a broken collar bone , two broken ribs and second degree burns to his face and an arm. Apparently, whilst preparing the tank for repair, a hair dryer was used to speed things up... .. Yes, OK , Obviously not a good thing to do- but I think it was very admirable of him to admit this and share it as a warning. - Please don’t underestimate the risk with fuel tanks.They can be welded / soldered but only after a methodical and careful sequence of preparation. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Clark Posted January 19, 2021 Report Share Posted January 19, 2021 That's a vey important reminder, thank you for sharing. The classic car owner concerned has had a vey fortunate escape. Some would not be so lucky in such circumstances. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted January 19, 2021 Report Share Posted January 19, 2021 does this just prove fuel doesnt ......Go off with age ,. but does with a hair dryer quite different but a guy from the factory had his car on bricks to remove gearbox , the car rocked and fell and trapped him , punctured the fuel tank which exploded as the paraffin heater took hold of the spillage the guy didnt make it . we rely on this stuff but often without real cause for concern of our safety stay safe Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteH Posted January 19, 2021 Report Share Posted January 19, 2021 Once, as a young "sprog", I "Repaired" a motorcycle tank seam leak with a blowlamp and solder. It was FULL of hot water. (Don`t try this at home children!). Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinR Posted January 19, 2021 Report Share Posted January 19, 2021 I wonder how many Darwin Awards have been "awarded" by working on Petrol tanks ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unkel Kunkel Posted January 19, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2021 A battery that can propel a heavy car for more than thirty miles will seem very impressive and treated with caution because of its “stored energy” in way a gallon of petrol which has more potential perhaps would not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted January 19, 2021 Report Share Posted January 19, 2021 we have all seen some lithium battery disasters from phones. to Lexus ending up in violent flames Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy S Posted January 19, 2021 Report Share Posted January 19, 2021 I poignant reminder on why to be careful when working on, or around a petrol tank. How many forget to disconnect the battery when doing a sender, or electric fuel pump? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unkel Kunkel Posted January 19, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2021 These times are sombre enough, I merely wanted raise awareness. (Must have been one hell of a bloody big bang, Eh?) .. Sorry .. that’s so totally inappropriate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteH Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 The level of his injuries are relatively minor when assessed in light of the potential. Another "lucky" cat, with only 8 lives left!. Many years ago, when first married, We lived near a scrap yard. The owners son was killed cutting up an old railway oil tank that had lain empty for many years!. The explosion rocked our House several hundred yards away!, Rude awakening, I was in bed, being having been on night shift. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyman Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 I have always had respect for fuel tanks having watched older apprentices "setting" them off on disused land. The bang was incredible especially if someone had put a small bag of acetylene in before hand. It seemed fun at the age of 15yrs fresh from school........ It did teach me not to mess with them at close range. Tony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 as youngsters we (thought we had ) filled a 5 gallon drum with gas . far better than teachers cocoa tin experiment it blew as we lit the vent hole i can still see the flash with no eyebrows or fringe Mum wasnt impressed Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyman Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 1 minute ago, Pete Lewis said: as youngsters we (thought we had ) filled a 5 gallon drum with gas . far better than teachers cocoa tin experiment it blew as we lit the vent hole i can still see the flash with no eyebrows or fringe Mum wasnt impressed Pete I don't think we would get away with it now Pete Tony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 The Dutch have indulged for many years in celebrating the New Year by 'Carbide schieten'. Traditionally using milk churns with a football jammed in the top, which makes a very satisfactory bang, plus a harmless(ish) projectile, they are scaled up these days. No wonder Jacob is deaf now! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 6 minutes ago, poppyman said: I don't think we would get away with it now Pete Tony. depends who knows Ha we all did some questionable learning which wont happen with the screen obsessed kids of today what happened to adventure ??? Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyman Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 30 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said: depends who knows Ha we all did some questionable learning which wont happen with the screen obsessed kids of today what happened to adventure ??? Pete Exactly Pete, unless the screen explodes of course Has anyone set fire to someones paper whilst they were reading it? Great fun in the canteen..... To many fire alarms and sprinklers now. Tony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 40 minutes ago, poppyman said: Has anyone set fire to someones paper whilst they were reading it? Great fun in the canteen..... To many fire alarms and sprinklers now. Tony. 🤚 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark powell Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 The fun to be had with crow scarers.... Hours of fun. I never bought any shop firework bangers after being introduced to these. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 2 hours ago, poppyman said: I have always had respect for fuel tanks having watched older apprentices "setting" them off on disused land. The bang was incredible especially if someone had put a small bag of acetylene in before hand. It seemed fun at the age of 15yrs fresh from school........ It did teach me not to mess with them at close range. Tony. A great mate of mine once demolished an old mill chimney with drums of thinners. The chimney came down alright, with quite a few parts of it going through roofs and windows quite some distance away. He got the idea from his previous workplace in Banbridge Motorworks, where they exploded a tin of thinners in a pile of old tyres - the instructions were to burn off all the old thinners, presumably the unused stuff which would have gone off or been a fire risk over the weekend; he poured it into one tin, placed a stack of tyres over it like a chimney, and on top he placed a Landrover bonnet complete with spare wheel. The bonnet flew clean over the roof and came down in the next street, through the roof of a hairdresser's. He ended up in court and got a substantial fine... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 we had a inspector who loved the smell of used baccy tins so we put a dead mouse in one and left it carefully place for him to find when the lid came off the honk was dreadful all from such a small little mouse . like a thick green mist ...a real stench hung around for days Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathew Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 One near miss, one not. My sisters ex as a kid threw a safe off the top of a tower block, just to see if he could open it. It didn't open and left a big dent in a path below. He was lucky he didn't kill someone below! One not, someone I worked with liked to work on his car. Jacked it up and went under, the Jack failed. He lived with his grandad who had gone away for the week. He laid under the car all week before he was found. Please support the car before going under. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Truman Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 As young teenagers we used to make our versions of hand grenades, old soda syphon bulbs we drilled the end out to make the hole bigger then poured gunpowder into them then a wick all without using any steel so no spark then rode down to the banks of the mighty Yarra here in Melbourne dug into the banks lit the fuse and run like hell we would blow around 3 at a time I reckon over a period we could have diverted the rivers route they did that much damage. We made our own gunpowder and when dad, a Chem Eng found 1.5 lbs of it in our home workshop, talk about fuming I really got into trouble at school ( one of Melb’s premier private schools) over that episode was on report for a couple of terms. Trouble was dad knew the headmaster well and he lived near us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 Gunpowder? Pfui! We made explosive from sugar and a well-known garden chemical, that I think is no longer available for exactly this reason. Made excellent pipe bombs, but also could fuel spectacular fireworks if packed into a cardboard tube with some magnesium ribbon now and then along it. Less lethal was the "Syrup Tin Experiment" that our chemistry teacher showed us, vary much in this fashion: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 48 minutes ago, Peter Truman said: As young teenagers we used to make our versions of hand grenades, 29 minutes ago, JohnD said: Gunpowder? Pfui! We made explosive from sugar and a well-known garden chemical, that I think is no longer available for exactly this reason. Yes, I think I dodged most of those in my youth. When HM Gov tightened up on dynamite and gelignite over here in the early 1970s we had a variety of home-made stuff demolishing our town centres, the first being CO-OP, a mix of Sodium Chlorate and Nitrobenzine, so called as it demolished the CO-OP in Belfast. They then moved on to ANFO, a mix of Ammonium Nitrate (sourced from fertilisers) and Fuel Oil, and this proved successful for a time, but then some foreign chappie imported Semtex which really took the fun out of things. The current batch of ne'er-do-wells are using hydrogen peroxide and acid which were easily available on the high street - the London Bus Bombings being one such example of how effective they are. Even these days some of it really is trial and error using stuff stolen from school chemistry labs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unkel Kunkel Posted January 20, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 Well we obviously like explosions ! It is remarkable we lot of hooligans reached adulthood with the full complement of eyes ears fingers etc.! Some of us experimented with nitrogen triiodide N13 Easily made (best skip that bit) and left in tiny wet patches here and there on a school corridor. As it dries it becomes explosive - a very sensitive contact explosive -so much so that even dust settling on it will cause an a very loud, sharp CRACK! (but not very powerful) explosion and a tiny purple puff of iodine. (With something a little of sugary to attract, it is possible to make a very cruel form of flypaper, I understand) A treated lengthy corridor, dried in time for the lesson change, caused havoc. The usual suspects were hauled in.Trying to keep an innocent, yet surprised and slightly puzzled expression as episodic explosions continued to echo from the cordoned-off corridor as interrogation proceeded proved too difficult for me as my brief smile was spotted to escape... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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