So a 34,000 gallon tank will either fail and dump all of it’s chemical on the parking lot, or it will explode in a massive fireball
Knowing that there are crews right at the base of the tank, and at least one news helicopter flying very close to it.
Any thoughts on the IQ levels of those people? Or they are suicidal and found a way?
Any thoughts on the IQ levels of those people? Or they are suicidal and found a way?
They will do anything to get a “like”
I remember once when I worked in the bay area, we had a block and a school evacuated… Oops, we had a sulfuric acid tank run away (exothermic) once it hit boiling it really started to vapor and you could feel your skin start burning, we had full face respirators and tyvek suits but it just slowed it down, we ended up buying ice from a few different stores and put a few hundred bags in the tank
The contents is a common monomer, I looked it up, close to gasoline in flammability.
Methyl Methacrylate
Lower 1.7%; Upper 8.2% (by volume)
Flammability
Class IB Flammable Liquid: Fl.P. below 73 °F and BP at or above 100 °F.
I remember when working in a stamping plant during lunch break someone got on the PA and called Maintenance, Straightener on press 9 is on fire.
Knowing that even a fully engulfed metal straightener with no flammable liquids in it wouldn’t be a danger from more than 6 feet away we all got up from the maintenance building and started running into the plant. One new maintenance guy was having lunch in the plant cafeteria and we ran into him running out of the building.
We grabbed him, turned him around and told him the fire was in that direction and lets get going.
PS - only the motor inside the straightener was burning, and there weren’t any flames.
PSS - New guy didn’t make the cut.
We had a surface belt grinder, the belt was about 60" across and it had a vacuum system for the dust, we were cutting and polishing stainless steel
I got call over because they saw smoke outside the stack from the vacuum, I looked up and saw the duct work glowing, never new that stainless steel dust could burn, it was VERY hot flame and hard to put out
Had a robot welder enclosure with a bag filter in the exhaust hood (no others I’ve ever seen had a filter)
A part got welded to the fixture and someone was grinding it with a hand grinder, shooting sparks up into the oily filter and caught it in fire.
Pulled the filter out with a chain and hosed it down= nothing. Filled a metal tub with water while it burned and dumped the filter in, even putting a weight on it to keep it submerged and it still burned underwater until it was done burning. No, we weren’t welding lithium parts.
Another fun one.
The stamping plant got a second plant to put spot welders in, and set a couple of them right near the main switchgear of the building.
Turns out the plant used to stamp Masonite panels for making car door panels.
Every buss bar inside the switchgear was covered with over 1" of Masonite dust from all the years of stamping. Which also turned out the switchgear was not sealed.
Masonite dust it seems is highly flammable when bombarded with constant weld flash. Live 480 = no water, just brush off the burning dust with Fiberglas brooms and put it out when it’s on the floor.
I’m guessing people have seen what was described as a tank implosion in Longview Washington by now. That’s the town I grew up in, much of my family is still there. I’ve been to that plant a few times. My grandmother retired from there, I have cousins that work there, we have equipment there. I’m reminded that you can do everything you’re supposed to be doing to be safe, some things are just out of your hands. I don’t think anyone has been identified yet.
Those of you who work on systems like this, I’m curious about this kind of failure. Anyone willing to speculate on how it failed? Not sure if some sort of vent failure not allowing air into the tank while pumping liquid out caused it to collapse?
The tank cooling system failed (for unknown as yet reasons) and methyl methacrylate is exothermic. FYI - generates heat during normal use and storage and needs cooled (for all those wondering)
Honestly what dust ISN’T flammable? it seems like pretty much any sort of fine powdery substance can combust
I have now, just looked it up (it’s only 830am here), hell it even made the local NZ News.
Even powdered copper is flammable.
Set up an electroplating system that used copper powder dissolved in solution and the copper had Highly Flammable warning labels on the containers.
So sorry to hear this.
Ever notice things happen in groups?
Months ago warehouses started burning down across the country, now no more fires and chemical tanks now seem to be taking over.
Reminds me of years back Michigan outlawed double tankers hauling fuel and other flammables because they were flipping all over the state and exploding.
Then as soon as the law was past (and NOT in effect yet, that took 90 days) they stopped crashing and we had Greyhound bus drivers crashing all over the state the next day.
Pass laws about bus drivers hours and they stopped before those laws went into effect and (I forget what now) then something else started crashing all over the state right after that. [I think it might have been cars crashing into construction zone workers all over]
These are two totally different issues, the southern CA was methacrylate, the Longview was the implosion, there are several reason that the implosion could of happened, I worked in the paper for 8 years and they use a lot of nasty stuff but most of the time its heat that would cause it, the last one I was part of it was a heating jacket that cause it, it should of heated slow but it ended up putting steam into the system because of a bad valve, it was a small vat and was maybe .5 SS and bent that tank inward about 10 inches, lucky it was just resin and nothing but a mess when all said and done
Feel for the folks there, all they wanted was a paycheck
Myth busters did a few shows on dust explosion and they did one on implosion of a railcar, that sure was a good TV show, I think I have seen everyone by now
Yeah, I missed he was asking about the second tank
Yah thats we are here for… keep each other straight 
We had a tank implode at the chemical plant I worked at. It was caused by rapid cooling, the vent could not keep up. I’m guessing the same think happened here, vent could not keep up. These large storage tanks are not rated for any type of vacuum. There is usually something called a conservation vent, mounted on top. Designed to keep vapors inside, and open and close as needed. The settings are usually 2-3 inch ounces.
We also imploded a tanker rail car, same thing, lack of air/venting. Worker steam cleaned the inside of the tanker, sealed it up, a few hours later as the temp. dropped, imploded.
This was a good show, I think yours had issues
