Almost burned down my van

Nomad74

Nomad74

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On a job this morning. My oldest came with me to help. I’m busy cleaning in the house and my son runs in and says “Daddy, the van is smoking!”

I immediately drop my wand and run out. Sure enough, smoke was bellowing out the back of the van. I immediately shut down the 870 and then took a deep breath and jumped in the back to see what was going on.

I discovered that somehow a superzorb bonnet fell into the back of the tm and came to rest on the exhaust manifold. I pulled it out and the edge was on fire. I was probably seconds away from losing everything. Glad my son was with me today.
1350ABD3-8F7A-4184-AB30-97A24DE559C6.jpeg
 
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Lee Stockwell

Lee Stockwell

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I had a similar cotton pad burn to a crisp on an exposed HX almost 20 years ago. Fortunately there was nothing else flammable nearby, because the fire was out before we noticed it.
 
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Jim Pemberton

Jim Pemberton

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Nomad74 said:
On a job this morning. My oldest came with me to help. I’m busy cleaning in the house and my so. Rins in and says “Daddy, the van is smoking!”

I immediately drop my wand and run out. Sure enough, smoke was bellowing out the back of the van. I immediately shut down the 870 and then took a deep breath and jumped in the back to see what was going on.

I discovered that somehow a superzorb bonnet fell into the back of the tm and came to rest on the exhaust manifold. I pulled it out and the edge was on fire. I was probably seconds away from losing everything. Glad my son was with me today.
View attachment 100790
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I’m glad you and your son are ok. The machine and truck too...but they are secondary.

Van and truck mount fires were more common in the past when more truck mounts used secondary fuels and dry solvent cleaners and deodorizers were more often carried in vans.

Fire extinguishers are a good to keep in the truck.
 
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Mark Saiger

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Nomad74 said:
On a job this morning. My oldest came with me to help. I’m busy cleaning in the house and my so. Rins in and says “Daddy, the van is smoking!”

I immediately drop my wand and run out. Sure enough, smoke was bellowing out the back of the van. I immediately shut down the 870 and then took a deep breath and jumped in the back to see what was going on.

I discovered that somehow a superzorb bonnet fell into the back of the tm and came to rest on the exhaust manifold. I pulled it out and the edge was on fire. I was probably seconds away from losing everything. Glad my son was with me today.
View attachment 100790
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Guys sucked up a rag while cleaning out the tank...

We got lucky! 20200706_162059.jpg20200706_164607.jpg
 
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Fat Mike

Fat Mike

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The first thing I thought Of when I read the title was “again!”

You still have that other Tm?
 
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Old Coastie

Old Coastie

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Wow, Damon. And by the way, I suggest you invert your dry chemical extinguisher and shake it until you can feel the powder slosh inside, like a liquid. Whack it with a rubber mallet if necessary.

i used to do this to every dry chem extinguisher on my ships, every month. You have to prevent the chemical from compacting, or it will not blow out the nozzle. Worse, a little might blow out and the extinguisher fizzles out. Do it today.
 
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Fat Mike

Fat Mike

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Old Coastie said:
Wow, Damon. And by the way, I suggest you invert your dry chemical extinguisher and shake it until you can feel the powder slosh inside, like a liquid. Whack it with a rubber mallet if necessary.

i used to do this to every dry chem extinguisher on my ships, every month. You have to prevent the chemical from compacting, or it will not blow out the nozzle. Worse, a little might blow out and the extinguisher fizzles out. Do it today.
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That’s good to know. Scary to think mine at the shop would fizzle
 
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Fat Mike

Fat Mike

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Justin Stockwell said:
View attachment 100805Expensive mistake. My 870 almost went up in smoke.
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I had a battery blow up on my once. I knew to not hit the posts and I wasn’t. All I did was twist the terminal on a friends car and they probably been beating on the thing and guess the post was loose and exploded on me. Thank God I was injured but it was loud like a shotgun blast
 
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Steve Lawrence

Steve Lawrence

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Nomad74 said:
On a job this morning. My oldest came with me to help. I’m busy cleaning in the house and my son runs in and says “Daddy, the van is smoking!”

I immediately drop my wand and run out. Sure enough, smoke was bellowing out the back of the van. I immediately shut down the 870 and then took a deep breath and jumped in the back to see what was going on.

I discovered that somehow a superzorb bonnet fell into the back of the tm and came to rest on the exhaust manifold. I pulled it out and the edge was on fire. I was probably seconds away from losing everything. Glad my son was with me today.
View attachment 100790
Click to expand...
Glad your son was with you, too. I almost burnt a van up a long time ago when I had a propane heater for portable equipment. Left it on when it was not in use. Yikes!
 
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Steve Lawrence

Steve Lawrence

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Hey Damon, is there a way to prevent that from happening again? (Perhaps a cage or something so your exhaust manifold can't burn something up as easily.)
 
Nomad74

Nomad74

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Steve Lawrence said:
Hey Damon, is there a way to prevent that from happening again? (Perhaps a cage or something so your exhaust manifold can't burn something up as easily.)
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IT was a 1 in a million thing. I think I may have thrown a pad on top of my machine and while driving around it slid down. I just need to never put anything up there again.
 
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