The "cleaning gas cans" thread reminded me of an experience I had as a young adult.
My father and I owned a business and we were renting a location in town to do business from. The location was the site of a former gas station which still had the 500 gallon underground gas storage tanks in place. The city rules required us to either remove the tanks or fill them with sand.
The top of the tank itself was about four feet below the surface of the ground. We dug down to the top of the tank adjacent to the protruding 4 inch diameter fill pipe. We only removed enough dirt to expose about a 2 foot by 3 foot area of the top of the tank. The plan was to fill the tank with water and then torch out a 24 inch opening in the top wall of the tank.
So here I am on my knees, down in this hole trying to torch a hole in the top of the tank. Problem was, the water inside the tank was sucking all the heat and I could not get the metal hot enough to cut it with the torch. A quick call to a local petroleum service and they advised us to drop the water level in the tank so that it was not in contact with the inside surface of the top tank. OK, no problem.
We stuck a 3 inch suction hose inside the 4 inch fill pipe and began to pump out some of the water. As the water level is dropping I get back down in the hole and light up my torch. I apply the flame to the outside of the tank and things begin to get warm. The metal is just beginning to get a nice cherry red when I hear a bit of popping and crackling quickly followed by a big whooshing noise.
I mean a really big whooshing noise. The ground is shaking, the exposed area of the tank is shaking, I'm shaking and I can see out of the corner of my eye, a ball of flame shooting from the tanks fill pipe. I mean it felt and looked like a jet engine just inches from my head.
The heat from my torch had created flammable fumes from all the residue inside the tank and it had reached a temperature at which it self ignited. The ensuing flame blew the 3 inch suction hose up out of the 4 inch fill pipe ( we were still pumping ) and shot hot flames skyward in a display rivaling the Fourth of July.
I felt lucky to be alive and climbed out of the hole. After a few minutes to compose myself, I once again grabbed the torch and climbed back down in the hole. I figured, "hey, the fumes are all gone now right?" So, I light the torch and begin to heat up the top of the tank once again. (Did I mention that I am a slow learner?)
The tank begins to crackle and pop much like it did before,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Thats when the light bulb comes on in my head "YA know, maybe just maybe this is not such a good idea" I shut the torch off and we, no I decided we needed to try plan "B".
Like the title of my thread says, How did I survive that?
My father and I owned a business and we were renting a location in town to do business from. The location was the site of a former gas station which still had the 500 gallon underground gas storage tanks in place. The city rules required us to either remove the tanks or fill them with sand.
The top of the tank itself was about four feet below the surface of the ground. We dug down to the top of the tank adjacent to the protruding 4 inch diameter fill pipe. We only removed enough dirt to expose about a 2 foot by 3 foot area of the top of the tank. The plan was to fill the tank with water and then torch out a 24 inch opening in the top wall of the tank.
So here I am on my knees, down in this hole trying to torch a hole in the top of the tank. Problem was, the water inside the tank was sucking all the heat and I could not get the metal hot enough to cut it with the torch. A quick call to a local petroleum service and they advised us to drop the water level in the tank so that it was not in contact with the inside surface of the top tank. OK, no problem.
We stuck a 3 inch suction hose inside the 4 inch fill pipe and began to pump out some of the water. As the water level is dropping I get back down in the hole and light up my torch. I apply the flame to the outside of the tank and things begin to get warm. The metal is just beginning to get a nice cherry red when I hear a bit of popping and crackling quickly followed by a big whooshing noise.
I mean a really big whooshing noise. The ground is shaking, the exposed area of the tank is shaking, I'm shaking and I can see out of the corner of my eye, a ball of flame shooting from the tanks fill pipe. I mean it felt and looked like a jet engine just inches from my head.
The heat from my torch had created flammable fumes from all the residue inside the tank and it had reached a temperature at which it self ignited. The ensuing flame blew the 3 inch suction hose up out of the 4 inch fill pipe ( we were still pumping ) and shot hot flames skyward in a display rivaling the Fourth of July.
I felt lucky to be alive and climbed out of the hole. After a few minutes to compose myself, I once again grabbed the torch and climbed back down in the hole. I figured, "hey, the fumes are all gone now right?" So, I light the torch and begin to heat up the top of the tank once again. (Did I mention that I am a slow learner?)
The tank begins to crackle and pop much like it did before,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Thats when the light bulb comes on in my head "YA know, maybe just maybe this is not such a good idea" I shut the torch off and we, no I decided we needed to try plan "B".
Like the title of my thread says, How did I survive that?
