Oily rag disposal, caused a fire:(
 

I had a scary experience last night. I applied Penofin Verde to our deck yesterday. Yes, I know how to properly dispose of rags, but I was in a hurry, distracted, busy feeding a complaining kid, etc.... I took the heavily soaked rags I had used to sop up the extra product, threw them in a plastic bag on the porch, and forgot about them.

About 10 hours later, around midnight last night, I start to smell something funny. At first I though it was a electrical short. Nope. The rags had spontaneously combusted, and a fire was flickering to life. I quickly kicked the heavily smoking pile off the porch, and got a hose. It was surprisingly difficult to stop the fire. The wad of rags was thick with oil, and burning from the inside out. I ended up throwing them in 5 gallon bucket and filling it up.

I caught it quickly, but that story could have ended, very, very differently if I had not been in that area of the house, and caught it when I did.

I posted this to A) hope that publicly humiliating myself will remind me to not be so damn careless, and B) get across that those warning on products like evaporating oils are NO JOKE. They really can spontaneously catch.

I wasn't panicked at the time, but its been bugging me all day. Scared me.

Crap I bet that is what happened to the trash can in my house. I had used some Kilz on the walls and threw the roller in the trash in the kitchen. We do not live in the house yet so I didn't think anything of it. The next day when I came by the trash can was split up both sides.

Thanks for the warning.

I know how you are suppose to dispose of oil soaked rags. I soak it in water and hang it dry over something like a cloth line or on a tree branch without wadding it up in a ball. My thinking is that there a chance to cool before it has a chance to create heat. If has worked for me so far, what do you guys think?

I don't rinse them in water but I do stretch them out so they can dry.

I didn't know this could happen. Thanks for posting.

Yes, I don't know about the rinsing, but I do believe that I've read that the problem comes from them being in a pile or wadded up.

Several years ago, my wife had put boiled linseed oil on some cheap wooden shelves. She'd have several sheet that she worked on and when she was done, she piled the sheets up on a cheap folding table. I came home from work and went up stairs and asked her about the weird smell. The smell wasn't evident upstairs. I went back downstairs and tracked it down to the sheets that were stacked on the table in the finished garage. The smell and fumes caused my eyes to tear and burn and was really nasty to breath. I opened the side door and grabbed the sheets. They were REALLY hot and smouldering. The sheets were brown in the center. The table had a large black burn on the top, and the house reeked. I'm glad that I got home when I did. It could have been MUCH worse. We learned a valuable lesson that day.

Neither of us had any idea, and she hadn't read the warnings on the can.

Yes, lay the rags out flat or over the edge of the trash can until dry.
This is a must in my dads workshop. No excuses.

I usually just do what it says on the can, I typically put them in a bag, but then I fill the bag up with cold water. I've never had an problem disposing of them this way. But I got distracted.....

There was a fire on the Williamsburg Bridge while it was under construction, the main cables were being compacted, and a pail of linseed oil rags caught on fire, and ignited a workers shanty....

Fast forward to 1995.... The main cables on the Williamsburg Bridge are being rehabilitated...

The preservative chosen for the cables after cleaning and repair... Red Lead Paste, and Linseed Oil...

Again... a bunch of linseed oil soaked rags caught fire, and the footwalk that workers use to access the cables was damaged...

On the Ben Franklin Bridge in Philly...

My Mom refinishing something at our Vermont house... the open garbage pail catches on fire ....

Wash rinse, repeat..

Oily rags are dangerous...one reason you see those pails with lids that snap shut for oily rag disposal...

This too happened to me. After spending a long time building our Brazillian Redwood deck and then staining it, I thought i had cleaned up properly. I missed a pair of latex gloves that had somehow ended up inside out on the pile of scrap wood on the side of the house.

Best we can figure, they burst into flame around noon, and the pile of brazillion redwood burned / smoldered for about 4 hours before flaming up and catching the side of the house on fire. Fortunatly someone walking by saw the flames and ran to house. My wife was home and put it out with a hose, but the FD still showed up thinking it was an electrical fire and cut a nice big hole in the siding.

I have stained sense and am SUPER ANAL about how I clean up.

Bill

Thanks for posting. I was aware of the danger, but thought it took a fair amount of time. Never would have guessed it would happen so quickly.

I'm surprised it took 10 hours. It must of been cold that night. A balled up oil/ stain soaked rag will go off in about 6 to 8 hours in 80 degree weather.

What I do with ALL rags, oil soaked, oil wiped, stain soaked, stain wiped, ANYTHING.
Is just put them in a bucket of water and submerge them. After that they are ready to be put in the trash.
The water soaked rag will not catch fire.

In fact, after I put the water soaked rag in the trash. I pour a bucket of water in the trash as well.
Wet stuff won't light.
It's just a habit.

I have been on a job where a spontaneous fire burned down the garage. It is really easy to just wet stuff down. People that don't know, don't know.
Now you do.
Rags will catch fire!

I bury my solvent rags in a salt mine.

I think sand or CO2 would be a good idea to have handy for oily rag fires. At least with kitchen grease fires, water only makes things worse.

At least a foam or powder extinguisher....

My biggest concern is what happens after the water water soaked rag dries when thrown into the trash? This oil really doesn't dry, so will it go off again. The last thing I want is it goes off in a trash truck or something.

Don't forget to encase them in concrete. :D

Is it dangerous to throw those blue paper towels in the garage trash after wiping up oil from the garage floor?

After this incident I wouldn't take any chances. As a suggestion put them aside on a metal tray and leave them out in the open to dry before throwing them away.

Or use them to stoke up the "Barby" ;)

It's interesting that the old timers knew about this but us younger guys don't. (not me anyway)

My theory.... It's because we buy crap made in China and throw it away when it's worn out.
Our dads bought things that were made to be repaired or serviced... So they knew about oily rags and how to dispose of them properly.

:confused:

Whaaat? Do you piss on China just because you can on the net? What does oily rags have to do with them making crap compare to your dad's era? China make crap is because we in the western world buy them. So they continue to make them for us. Blame the western business that bring them into your/our countries. this is another thread for another time.

I am not sure what you consider old? I don't think I am that old but I had a lesson in my Jr high school Woodshop about properly dispose of oil soak rags. When I taught Shop classes I made sure my high school students learn about it so they wouldn't burn their house down. There are no more of these type of practical classes from our schools. Our youth will all be video game designers, bankers and accountants that wouldn't know what to do when their breaker trips in main panel in the back of their house.

In our shop, it get soak with water and goes into the metal can with a lid. Out in the field, read my post #3.

I really don't think it motor oil or WD40 will combust on its own, but Linseed oil, Watco oil, or Penofin and verious woos stain will. As it drys, it gives off heat therefore combustion occurs.