WD 40 caution

[hondo122]

Long story. Today I was putting a can of WD 40 away in the MH and couldn't find the cap, it got me to thinking. In the 90s' I was the super on the AC Ceasars Casino expansion. One day while walking through the site I heard this loud explosion. Everyone was running around looking for what happened, well it turns out a sheetmetal worker on the fourth floor had forgotten the key to his gang box. He asked the ironworker who was cutting some steel with a torch if he would cut the padlock off. The next thing they know they are unconcious laying on the floor. The lid to the toolbox landing on the ground four floors down without hitting anyone. It turned out that the sheetmetal worker had placed a can of WD 40 without a cap in the box and placed something on top of it. The can emptied overnight, HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE VAPOR. Just though I'd pass this along as we've all lost the cap off of spray cans, the result can be disasterous. The two guys just lost their eyebrows and mustaches.

[hondo122]

Long story. Today I was putting a can of WD 40 away in the MH and couldn't find the cap, it got me to thinking. In the 90s' I was the super on the AC Ceasars Casino expansion. One day while walking through the site I heard this loud explosion. Everyone was running around looking for what happened, well it turns out a sheetmetal worker on the fourth floor had forgotten the key to his gang box. He asked the ironworker who was cutting some steel with a torch if he would cut the padlock off. The next thing they know they are unconcious laying on the floor. The lid to the toolbox landing on the ground four floors down without hitting anyone. It turned out that the sheetmetal worker had placed a can of WD 40 without a cap in the box and placed something on top of it. The can emptied overnight, HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE VAPOR. Just though I'd pass this along as we've all lost the cap off of spray cans, the result can be disasterous. The two guys just lost their eyebrows and mustaches.

[wagonmaster2]

Wow, the things that can happen. Thanks for the heads up, I've always got cans of spray lubricants in compartments without the caps on.
Wagonmaster2

[Ray,IN]

Yes the carrier in WD40 in highly flammable. I once used WD40 to dry off the spark plug wires on a truck. I attempted to start the truck without waiting for WD40 to dry completely, A faulty plug wire sparked and caught the entire engine on fire. Man those dry chemical extinguishers create a real mess to clean off.

[Ol'Joe]

I can attest to the explosive power of WD-40 too. I use it as the propellent in my potato gun at the lake. A 1 second spray into the firing chamber and a single spark from a barbeque ignitor and the spud will go well over 100 yards. When on Lake Norman, NC remeber to DUCK!

[full-timer]

Yeah,a little WD-40,hair spary or lighter fluid in a potato gun. I've got potatoes planted all over the moutains in West Virginia.

Joe

[charliez]

You had air tight job boxes? Musta cost a fortune. I've never seen an air tight job box before.

[SeeTheUSA]

Most fuel tanks are not air tight and residual fumes almost always present an explosion hazard--- perhaps a job box with residual fumes could, too.

[hondo122]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by charliez:
You had air tight job boxes? Musta cost a fortune. I've never seen an air tight job box before. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Don't know if it was airtight but it sure as **** blew up. If their heads had been over the box when it went off they would both be dead now. It ripped the welds on the piano hinge out and the welded on hasp off.

[charliez]

I would bet it was more likely that the can of WD40 was right up against where the torch was being used, and it was still full, and the intense heat set it off.

[jcarew]

WD 40 can be used as starting fluid if you do not have the ether based stuff, It is very volatile.

[NeilV]

It really dosn't matter if it was WD40 or hairspray. Many spray cans have propane inside them as the propellant and will explode if exposed to high heat or flames. This worker could have had a can of neon paint to mark his tools with his color, hairspray to combat hat head when leaving the jobsite or even a can of some kind of cheese-wiz that could have potentially gone off with a bang when heated with a torch or exposed to sparks/open flame. A good pair of bolt/cable cutters is usually a better choice for opening padlocks on job boxes.

[hondo122]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by charliez:
I would bet it was more likely that the can of WD40 was right up against where the torch was being used, and it was still full, and the intense heat set it off. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
The empty can was in the gang box, it didn't explode, the vapor in the box exploded. The torch didn't heat the box, the ironworker was cutting the lock on a hasp. Neil you're right it could have happened with many different vapors.