Gas tank explosion--WARNING EXPLICIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CherokeeUST]

These guys are going in to reline a tank and it does not work out.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IenCSI9CHUc

[rmurray]

Aren't you supposed to use one of those explosive meters before getting in a space like that?

[dieselengine9]

Can't tell a whole lot about the location but based on the time and date stamp on the video wouldn't this be somewhere outside the US?

[CherokeeUST]

I don't have any idea. The word camera looks English.

[ZMiller]

Prevention from the looks and size of the flare would have been to drop a lit match or two in the tank before anyone started working on it.

[Kennyl]

Prevention from the looks and size of the flare would have been to drop a lit match or two in the tank before anyone started working on it.

That's basically what he did by lowering the light into a tank that was not properly evacuated and tested for vapors.

[whittingtonm]

Zane, I understand that back in the mid-1990s, when a lot of old, single-wall steel tanks were being removed, at least one tank pulling contractor used to do that. Supposedly he would remove the top cover from the tank, and then toss the match in. He called it "woofing" the tank to loosen up the backfill, since the tank usually collapsed somewhat. But I never saw it done, and he might have been joshing.

I haven't heard from him or of him in years. He might have "woofed" himself away. Probably a real good chance of that. If he did, it's too bad it was before the internet, because he could be eligible for a Darwin award today.

Tanks that have not been properly inerted and ignition sources don't mix!

[gdtaylor]

we so need a like button on this forum

[ZMiller]

I have "Woofed" a tank or two. Once or twice by accident and then a number of times for the fun of it. It is a bunch of fun to over pressurize an empty tank full of just hydrocarbon vapor to say 10 or 15 psi and then from a distance pop the fill cap off. Talk about a screaming jet engine flair. Even better on a really hot day or at night.

[CherokeeUST]

I have "Woofed" a tank or two. Once or twice by accident and then a number of times for the fun of it. It is a bunch of fun to over pressurize an empty tank full of just hydrocarbon vapor to say 10 or 15 psi and then from a distance pop the fill cap off. Talk about a screaming jet engine flair. Even better on a really hot day or at night.

No videos?

This is like the story I've heard of the contractor who would take the tanks out to his field after removing them. Seal up all the bungs but one, put a blasting cap in that one and let his buddies use it for target practice. First, I want an invite to that, second I want to see a video of it.