Safety with water tanks kills welder

[smithdoor]

Here is good reason to follow safety even if just water.
This time it kills the welder.
https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/ne...on-in-lemoore/

Dave

[scsmith42]

Damn!

[Louie1961]

Must have been methane in the tank that came out of the well with the water. You could see the flames as the tank went airborn.

[BD1]

Dam, that's sad. Filled water and it still blew.
I wonder what the circumstances were. All tank work we do is still consider a confined space.
We always have readings taken before we do anything.
It will be interesting to see what they find out.


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[idacal]

1.5 million gallon tank went 70' into the air there was a lot of gas in that thing you would think with all the water quality testing that public systems are required to have they would have caught that.

[CAVEMANN]

Dam, that's sad. Filled water and it still blew.
I wonder what the circumstances were. All tank work we do is still consider a confined space.
We always have readings taken before we do anything.
It will be interesting to see what they find out.


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That's the way we were, plus a person outside to monitor everything and ready in case anything happens.

[John T]

This time it kills the welder.

The interesting thing is,
He was NOT a welder/weldor

He was a union carpenter.

Hmmm ….

[BD1]

The interesting thing is,
He was NOT a welder/weldor

He was a union carpenter.

Hmmm ….

The interesting thing is,
He was NOT a welder/weldor

He was a union carpenter.

Hmmm ….

Article did say the contractor started welding then the tank blew. Maybe a carpenter that could weld ?? That could the reason to blew.
The contractor could have been unqualified.
That would explain it.


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[smithdoor]

I agree
Even your own water tank and hot water can have expolsey gas.

If tank was full it would be ok or vent with air (after venting i use CO2 to remove most of oxygen too need to calculator the amount of gas need)

But City using unlicensed Welder too.
A buss box does not make any qualify to do welding.

Dave

Article did say the contractor started welding then the tank blew. Maybe a carpenter that could weld ?? That could the reason to blew.
The contractor could have been unqualified.
That would explain it.


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[kize]

I agree
Even your own water tank and hot water can have expolsey gas.

If tank was full it would be ok or vent with air (after venting i use CO2 to remove most of oxygen too need to calculator the amount of gas need)

But City using unlicensed Welder too.
A buss box does not make any qualify to do welding.

Dave

Bottom line is- someone was not following confined space requirements ( constant gas monitoring). Its a shame as gas monitors are quite affordable these days- compared to the legal finger pointing and end cost outcome.

[BD1]

We are all trained in confined space where I was working. We even had our own equipment and meters.
I talked with my owner and suggested to hired a dedicated confined space team. We do the work, but they setup and monitor conditions and tell us when it's safe. He agreed, especially since equipment and monitoring devices need to be certified and recalibrated.
This way we know they have up to date devices.
The group we use are paramedics and firemen.
So they are well trained . You can't Outvavk price on safety.


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[kize]

We are all trained in confined space where I was working. We even had our own equipment and meters.
I talked with my owner and suggested to hired a dedicated confined space team. We do the work, but they setup and monitor conditions and tell us when it's safe. He agreed, especially since equipment and monitoring devices need to be certified and recalibrated.
This way we know they have up to date devices.
The group we use are paramedics and firemen.
So they are well trained . You can't Outvavk price on safety.


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Yep. This is my 24th year in the fire service. That gas monitor is my friend.

[danielplace]

Crazy

[smithdoor]

Safety is filling tank full water to top of tank or putting inert gas inside.
I know how weld on tanks but I will never welded on tanks.
Just one mistake is your last mistake in tank welding.

If weld close to a gas tank I fill clear full of water. Just in case of a mistake.

Dave

Crazy

[orezok]

Not welding but a similar experience about 30 years ago when I was building condos. Our lender went broke right as we were doing final inspections on 30 unit condo project. Because the lender was in bankruptcy we were not able to finish the project for almost a year till they went through bankruptcy proceedings and were able to get another lender to take over so that we could actually sell them and transfer ownership. We went back into the units to see what the exact status was.

We started powering up units and checking status of appliances. Someone turned on a dishwasher and after about a minute it exploded. We originally thought that somehow the gas line and a water line got crossed. The fire department responded and determined that the water heater was partially full of water plus probably some organic material and dirt. Over the year the water started producing methane from the organic material and when the methane met a spark from the dishwasher motor…BOOM.

It blew the door completely off the dishwasher and expanded the tub to the point where we had to cut up the dishwasher to get it out.

Fortunately, no one was hurt and no fire ensued.

Lifes strange mysteries.

[kennystone]

Thanks for the video, unfortunately very often experience is the enemy of safety.

[Fast Leroy]

I missed the part where it said he was welding inside the tank? If he was welding on the outside he would not have done a confined space entry.