Barrels explode after being welded together - GIF

[Altair]

Barrels explode after being welded together.




Previously:

Factory fire sends barrel flying - GIF
Propane tank controlled explosion test - video
Throwing propane tanks on truck fail - GIF

[Scrounga]

Idiots, lucky they weren’t electrocuted as well because that generator was still running when it hit the water.

[VinnieL]

Should have poured out the gunpowder before welding them, or perhaps cleaned out whatever chemicals were in them....

[old kodger]

Idiots, lucky they weren’t electrocuted as well because that generator was still running when it hit the water.

Don't think that was a generator, more likely to be a portable welder, but yes the power lead was still connected, however, that is also likely to have simply blown the fuse off the wall

[neilbourjaily]

Interesting the slow expansion before the rapid expansion

[metric_taper]

My brother in law, a lawyer, represented a client that was cutting the top off a 55 gallon drum. The drum came from a scrap yard out in western North Dakota. The client was cutting the top off using an OA torch. The drum still had the bungs in place, was upright, and as he pierced the top with the torch, the drum launched like a rocket, as the bottom physically blew off. There still was an estimated 1/2 inch of the drums original flammable product. As the drum flew upward, it deposited this burning liquid on the idiot, causing 3rd degree burns, my BIL said he looked like Frankenstein. He did win the lawsuit, the manufacture of the drum did not comply with required labeling (a technicality, as it did have a flammable warning label), and the metal salvage yard was also held responsible. The scrap yard industry now has can opening style machinery before selling a used drum, as the intended purpose back when this occurred was a burn barrel. This was more then 30 years ago.

[hemmjo]

My brother in law, a lawyer, represented a client that was cutting the top off a 55 gallon drum. The drum came from a scrap yard out in western North Dakota. The client was cutting the top off using an OA torch. The drum still had the bungs in place, was upright, and as he pierced the top with the torch, the drum launched like a rocket, as the bottom physically blew off. There still was an estimated 1/2 inch of the drums original flammable product. As the drum flew upward, it deposited this burning liquid on the idiot, causing 3rd degree burns, my BIL said he looked like Frankenstein. He did win the lawsuit, the manufacture of the drum did not comply with required labeling (a technicality, as it did have a flammable warning label), and the metal salvage yard was also held responsible. The scrap yard industry now has can opening style machinery before selling a used drum, as the intended purpose back when this occurred was a burn barrel. This was more then 30 years ago.

And we all feel the side effects of these idiots. I was dropping off some scrap iron a couple months ago. There was a pile of totally awesome stuff laying there. Perfectly good I-beams, heavy leg (3/8" thick) aluminum angle, not huge pieces, but the exact kind of stuff you want in your "might need this someday" pile. I went to one of the guys and asked about it, was willing to pay for it. His response was "Can't sell anything, we can loose our insurance if we do".

[old kodger]

About time the insurance industry was told to sod off, and a sign on the gate of scrap yards to the effect that it is a condition of sale that the purchaser of scrap assume total responsibility for any outcome resulting from the manipulation of said scrap. After all, the vendors of other materials always state that no responsibility will be accepted for the use of their product, which is beyond their control.

[Frank S]

When I was a teenager working at the blacksmith shop we removed the heads from drums regularly and sold them as burn barrels. The blacksmith had made a for lack of a better term giant can opener. Actually little more than a long pipe handle with a hook and a curved blade that functioned like an Army P38 C rations opener.
And ax and a hammer will remove the head from a drum but can create sparks an OA torch is absolutely TABOO. I could remove the heads of about 15 to 20 drums in an hour with it

[Crusty]

A peripherally related comment: I bought a can opener of the type that cuts the can lid crimp ring from the side (instead of the lid itself) and I use it frequently to make shop storage containers since the separated lid still fits and seals onto the can. I've even been known to go to the grocery store looking for some food in a container that's about the right size that I need to later use once the food's gone.



If I have to torch cut into a barrel after emptying it, I always flood the barrel interior with Argon from my TIG torch first so if there's any flammable vapor remaining there's no oxygen in the barrel to support combustion.