What are your (possibly) irrational fears?

[wdfifteen]

I was cleaning the wood stove this morning and MrsWD wanted to help. The stove was dead cold. I went out with a pail of ashes and came back to see - to my horror - that she was cleaning it out with the vacuum cleaner.
Back in the early 70s I was in college, working at a place that sold wood stoves, chain saws, etc.
With the gasoline crisis and the spike in natural gas prices every yahoo in the county was buying chain saws and wood stoves. It was like turning 12 year olds loose with Uzis. I won't go into the stupid chain saw tricks I saw, but a guy i really liked cleaned his "cold" stove with a vacuum cleaner and then put it away in the closet. Burned his house down.
Ever since, i have treated dead cold fires like unloaded guns - they tend to kill people.
I made her let me keep the vacuum outside over night.
She thinks I'm nuts ( so we're even).

[sc_rufctr]

I'm the same way about fire or any liquid that can burn. I've had a POL cabinet for more than three decades. Any liquid that can burn is not kept in my garage or house. They all goes into the POL cabinet which is located in the back corner of my yard. (POL = Petrol & oily liquids)

[look 171]

We have a central dust collection hooked up to almost all the equip. at the wood shop. Sometimes, we sand metal which creates some serious sparks. If the central vacuum is on (its usually on if the shop is being used) that spark will ignite the fine sawdust. That's worst then gasoline, the whole place will go up in flames.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Any liquid that can burn is not kept in my garage or house. They all goes into the POL cabinet which is located in the back corner of my yard. (POL = Petrol & oily liquids)

Does that include the flammable liquid's in your drinks cabinet??

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

Does that include the flammable liquid's in your drinks cabinet??

He never lets them sit long enough for it to be a problem.

[Evans, Marv]

Your fear of fire in that situation isn't unfounded. I'm the same way with potential fire risks. Practicing the "better safe than sorry" routine is better than the alternative.

[GH85Carrera]

To my knowledge I have no irrational fears or phobias. Normal intelligence is used to keep me from picking up snakes or spiders, but I don’t fear them at all.
I have always admired Mike Rowe, of Dirty Jobs. He crawled into tight spaces, high towers, dangerous places and did it with great humor and skill. He can’t have any phobias at all.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I was cleaning the wood stove this morning and MrsWD wanted to help. The stove was dead cold. I went out with a pail of ashes and came back to see - to my horror - that she was cleaning it out with the vacuum cleaner.
Back in the early 70s I was in college, working at a place that sold wood stoves, chain saws, etc.
With the gasoline crisis and the spike in natural gas prices every yahoo in the county was buying chain saws and wood stoves. It was like turning 12 year olds loose with Uzis. I won't go into the stupid chain saw tricks I saw, but a guy i really liked cleaned his "cold" stove with a vacuum cleaner and then put it away in the closet. Burned his house down.
Ever since, i have treated dead cold fires like unloaded guns - they tend to kill people.
I made her let me keep the vacuum outside over night.
She thinks I'm nuts ( so we're even).

I wouldn't call that irrational fear, I'd call that rational thinking. So many fires are started by carelessness on the part of folks with oily rags, welding sparks and the not so obvious.

They are not thinking. Thanks for the reminder.

[MBAtarga]

Zeke already said it - but oil rags - specifically those with wood oil based finishes - are a disaster waiting to happen.

I always spread them out over a non-combustible item - a metal rack or something similar - to prevent heat buildup and fire.

[LakeCleElum]

Back to the question: - REGISTERED MAIL

[onewhippedpuppy]

Heights. Freaking hate heights. Which never worked out well when I did construction, doing siding and roofs doesn't jive well with hating heights. But then oddly enough I love flying, so figure that one out.

[Seahawk]

Confined spaces. I need a defined exit I control, light and room to move.

I hate Porta Potties.

[David]

Three tine forks

[911 Rod]

I would have freaked out on her. I always had a metal ash can that was kept on the ground a foot away from the house.

I always worried about the wood stove. As nice as it was, I'm glad I don't have one anymore.

[masraum]

The OP isn't really an irrational fear, although he may be more fixated on it than most, but for good reason.

I know that there are folks that are afraid of bridges or high places because they are afraid of throwing themselves off despite not being suicidal. I think I've heard one of my family talking about the same weird fear.

Even as a kid, I was afraid to get into a fist fight because I was afraid that I'd kill the other person even though I am not a violent person and I have no secret desire to kill anyone and didn't torture animals (other than the odd ant via magnifying glass).

[onewhippedpuppy]

Back to the original topic, I have one of these for my pellet stove. All metal, no dust, supposedly won't catch fire but I definitely won't be testing that theory.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I was cleaning the wood stove this morning and MrsWD wanted to help. The stove was dead cold. I went out with a pail of ashes and came back to see - to my horror - that she was cleaning it out with the vacuum cleaner.
Back in the early 70s I was in college, working at a place that sold wood stoves, chain saws, etc.
With the gasoline crisis and the spike in natural gas prices every yahoo in the county was buying chain saws and wood stoves. It was like turning 12 year olds loose with Uzis. I won't go into the stupid chain saw tricks I saw, but a guy i really liked cleaned his "cold" stove with a vacuum cleaner and then put it away in the closet. Burned his house down.
Ever since, i have treated dead cold fires like unloaded guns - they tend to kill people.
I made her let me keep the vacuum outside over night.
She thinks I'm nuts ( so we're even).

I agree with Zeke. Logical. At our last house we had a fireplace. It had a handy metal door outside in the back yard that accessed the backside of the fireplace. It was easy to empty the ashes outside and avoid the dust cloud inside.

One of the times I emptied the "cold" ashes into a 5 gallon plastic bucket to throw into the trash later. I set the bucket on the concrete patio corner to deal with later. When I came out later to deal with it, the side of the bucket was melted and burning. I bought a metal ash can the next day. My only damage was to an old 5 gallon bucket, but I learned a lesson.

[tabs]

I have a phobia of WWWOOOORRRRKKK!!!

[jcommin]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Confined spaces. I need a defined exit I control, light and room to move.

I hate Porta Potties.

Me too. I was at the Wisconsin Dells many, many years ago with my family attending a water park. My youngest and I went on a water slide. He goes first and when I saw him cleared from the tube, I started my slide. There was a section of the track that was enclosed and dark. I wigged out and stopped my decent by using my hands and legs pressing against the tube. I realized this was dangerous because there could be another person coming right behind me - I took a deep breath and let go and finished the ride. I have never been on a water slide since that incident. I don't go in automatic car washes where I need to sit in the car either.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

50ft up breathing air looking down I don't like, 50ft down without air underwater looking up doesn't bother me