FIRE!-safety

A fire extinguisher saved a tractor, and possibly the garage on Sunday. I had lifted the back of a race mower in the air, to weld a extension on the bumper. Earlier I had done the same thing, but pinched off the fuel line first. This time I forgot. The gas leaked out of the carburetor, and on to the floor, and I didn't see it.

I was welding away, and heard something. Finished the weld, and found the front of the tractor in flames, and spreading quickly. First thought was to lower the hoist and push it out, but then I remembered I had an extinguisher. Took maybe 2 seconds to put it out, and it was beginning to roar. Only seconds from burning through the fuel line. It would have took at least 30 seconds or more to lower the tractor.

Thank god my wife bought me the extinguisher, it saved the tractor for sure. It's a decent size powder style, and hangs above the work bench.

Damage to tractor is fuel lines, some wiring, piece of plastic throttle linkage, and cooked spark plug wires. Very lucky. Some repairs already started, and engine runs.

thats y i ran a fuel shut off on my tractor i dontreally trust the needle valve and after a long day of driving i dont need the carb to flood over seeing my exhaust runs right under the carb cause i got a side dump exhaust i was thinking of buying the small $20 fire extinguisher and mounting it on my rack.

I was thinking of buying one for my tractor(just a small one that I could tie onto the back or something). It would almost never get used on the trail but Its always handy incase something does happen.

this is the one ill prob get http://www.walmart.com/ip/Kidde-Auto-Fire-Extinguisher/17181997 small and light plus in case of rool over and ur gas spills out wouldnt be good excpesially if you couldnt tip ur tractor back over in time

Yea, in the movies every crash results in a fire! If that was true, I wouldn't have anything left. Never thought of putting one on the tractor itself.

be sure to clean off the extinguisher residue. That stuff is corrosive and will rust anything it touches.
The burnt areas without paint will also flash rust very fast

Definitely keep an extinguisher handy in your work area, especially so when grinding or welding. I set fire to a go kart engine recently. The carb was leaking fuel (new problem, didn't know about it). It was raining so I did'nt notice that it was wet with fuel, and I had a bad cold so I couldn't smell it. I went to zap on a muffler support bracket, and lit the whole mess. Took me 2 seconds to grab the extinguisher an hose that puppy off. Damage was minimal- coulda been a lot worse, including bodily harm.

In addition to having one, know how to use it. I know it sounds stupid, but- during a fire is a terrible time to have to learn how to use one. Remember, P.A.S.S.

P- Pull safety pin out
A- Aim. Stand a few feet back, aiming the nozzle or hose at the base of the flame
S- Squeeze handle
S- Sweep- Move the stream slightly side to side, blanketing the fuel source.

Also- Never "test" a dry chemical (powder) extinguisher. The powder gets into the valve seal, and it will slowly leak off the pressure. By the time you actually need it, it'll be useless.

(FWIW- I have a lot of experience with extinguishers, having professionally sold, serviced, inspected and recharged them for several years)

I think it time to get a fire extingushir for my garage befour i set my garage on fire.

I keep several in the garage and several more in the house. The OL insists on it, she also gets them inspected reqularly.

I have a 5gal bucket and a 4gal water sprayer I keep in the garage. Too cheap to buy a rechargeable fire extinguisher.

The problem with water is exactly why it's not legal anymore. Water does a terrible job of putting out flammable liquids (oil, gas, solvents, etc) and has a tendency to just spread the fuel around.

I can tell you that powered put out the fire instantly.

Doc Sprocket wrote:

The problem with water is exactly why it's not legal anymore. Water does a terrible job of putting out flammable liquids (oil, gas, solvents, etc) and has a tendency to just spread the fuel around.

I have a really heavy canvas? dropcloth that I could use as a fire blanket if need be as well I suppose. My grandfather left it here when we did painting in the house so I just use it for whatever.

I just bought a ABC fire extinguisher for my garage, but I never really worry about having to use it. More or less peace of mind.

Ill be buyin a fire ectingusher here soon for my garage.

Do it. They're not all that expensive, and are good insurance.

Doc Sprocket wrote:

Do it. They're not all that expensive, and are good insurance.

Yeah they can save the garage from burning down.

Absolutely. More importantly, they greatly increase the chances of saving yours, and others lives.

(Related- I work for the insurance industry, and am well familiar with the horrible potential of fire. Too cheap to spring for an extinguisher is a seriously lame excuse. It doesn't take us altogether that long to burn more money than that in our hobbies)

I caught a mower on fire and the extinguisher ddidn't work but a 5 gal bucket of water came to the rescue

Just a friendly reminder of an old thread.  My dad's mower just caught fire this year due to the leaky carb over the muffler on his vtwin.  (brilliant idea btw on the manufacturers)  My dad didn't have an extinguisher, but he was quick thinking and was able to put it out with dirt.  Luckily he only lost the coils and plastic covers.  

Doc's quote is still the process today.  We learn it every year here at work.  Only other thing I can add is not to panic and use the P.A.S.S.

P.S. I do have an extinguisher in my garage.

Doc Sprocket wrote:

In addition to having one, know how to use it. I know it sounds stupid, but- during a fire is a terrible time to have to learn how to use one. Remember, P.A.S.S.

P- Pull safety pin out
A- Aim. Stand a few feet back, aiming the nozzle or hose at the base of the flame
S- Squeeze handle
S- Sweep- Move the stream slightly side to side, blanketing the fuel source.

Nothing fun ever happens to me....like my tractor catching on fire or blowing up. Oh well, less to fix I guess. But yeah gasoline and papers around, sometimes your welding and you don't think about it or don't think it's going to catch.

I've caught myself on fire a few times lol. The one time I had MUTT catch, it was out before I stopped the tractor. I just disconnected everything from the battery, and the charge circuit plug, pull started her and drove home. Luckily I have my fuel tank in the back, don't really have to worry about it. I keep a bucket of water in the garage, I only really use it for quenching stuff lol. But it's there if I ever need it. I just haven't convinced dad to get a fire extinguisher yet. I'd love to have one on my tractor, if I could find a spot for it

Yah, I've caught too much on fire doing what I do. I caught one time on video recently. You can see exactly how it happened. This is the reason why in the video, the table is out in the open, in the middle of the driveway for the video. Happens in the middle of the video at time- 6:15. If you watch the whole beginning of the video up to the fire, you can see when I made the mistake.

Good thing you take precautions ahead of time!  

This is a good thread to probably revive from time-to-time as a reminder of fire safety.