Hi all,

Last night I decided to put some hours in at the shop, since we are backed up, and I can't work my normal hours. So I go in at about 6:30, and get busy fixing a few tractors. At about 9:30, I smell gasoline fumes, so I start looking for an open container of gas. I look around, and I see smoke coming out of a coffee can.

I rush over, and there is a rag in a can of gas, and the rag is really warm, and starting to smoke a little. At this point I nearly crap myself, and I opened the garage door and threw that rag outside onto the pavement.

I do believe that if I hadn't have gone into work, it would have combusted and I would be telling you about the fire that destroyed the shop instead of this.

Gotta admit, it shook me up a lil, but the boss sure is glad I was there, and so am I.

Make sure you dispose of this stuff PROPERLY.

Andrew

How was the rag getting so hot? Was there a heater next by, or was there some sort of chemical reaction?

It must have been a reaction with the rag, no heater nearby.

Spontaneous combustion is a reaction that consists of oxygen, a fuel, and something to burn, and those three elements are called the 'fire triangle'.

Evaporation causes oxidation (thank you chemistry) and that process creates latent heat to be released, and once it warms a little, it becomes self sustaining. Eventually this reaches flash point, and it goes up in flames. It was probably about a half hour from lighting up when I saw it, maybe less.

If the Firefighter 1 course I took at the community college serves me correctly, hay fires (common cause of barn fires) start the same way, only with moisture being the fuel.

Andrew

Gasolines flash point is at -45C..or close to it!...Right?..so if it was smoking I'd say it was lucky it never went off as you pulled it out of the container(assuming you did)

I'm curious as to how long it would have taken to go up in flames, you guessed it to be about 30 minutes before it possibly ignited.

Also wondering why someone would leave an open can of gas strewn about an automotive shop?

There must have been a chemical on the rag reacting with the gas...it would take quite sometime for a rag to heat up on its own through the evaporation process. Some degreasers(Oxidizers)are made with Sodium hydroxide, which violently reacts with gasoline..but that may have been instantaneous..

Is there a new guy working there cleaning parts??.....Needless to say...close call!

Yeah, there is a new guy there, although I don't know who is responsible for it. I had the week off, so it could have been there for days for all I know. There is also a great possibility of there being a degreaser, or other solvent on that rag as well, since it is a shop, but I don't know.

It was like the rag had been in the oven, very warm, but not burning. I probably am lucky it didn't go up in flames.

I also wonder why some one left an open can of gas in the shop, (it isnt automotive btw) but since we use coffee cans to drain gas, it doesnt surprise me that he forgot to empty his, and apparanly he had something he needed to clean with it. Usual policy is empty the cans before you punch out, and he now knows the importance of this rule, as does everyone else.