My son was working for a trucking company. His supervisor told him to weld a crack on a fuel tank from one of the trucks. The diesel tank was "empty" with the cap off for a couple of days. My son told him that wasn't enough. The supervisor told him to get to it or find another job. My son packed up his equipment and left. The next day he was working someplace else. Three days later a news story broke about the supervisor had been severely injured while welding a diesel tank. He lingered in agony for two more days then died. It can happen when you don't take the right precautions.
Good you raised someone that can stand up for themself. That supervisor probably wouldn't have lost a wink of sleep had your kid gotten torched. Certainly the company execs didn't.
I answered and said, "If I have found favor in thy sight, O Lord, show this also to thy servant: whether after death, as soon as every one of us yields up his soul, we shall be kept in rest until those times come when thou wilt renew the creation, or whether we shall be tormented at once?" 76 He answered me and said, "I will show you that also, but do not be associated with those who have shown scorn, nor number yourself among those who are tormented. 77 For you have a treasure of works laid up with the Most High; but it will not be shown to you until the last times. 78 Now, concerning death, the teaching is: When the decisive decree has gone forth from the Most High that a man shall die, as the spirit leaves the body to return again to him who gave it, first of all it adores the glory of the Most High. 79 And if it is one of those who have shown scorn and have not kept the way of the Most High, and who have despised his law, and who have hated those who fear the Most High -- 80 such spirits shall not enter into habitations, but shall immediately wander about in torments, ever grieving and sad, in seven ways. 81 The first way, because they have scorned the law of the Most High. 82 The second way, because they cannot now make a good repentance that they may live. 83 The third way, they shall see the reward laid up for those who have trusted the covenants of the Most High. 84 The fourth way, they shall consider the torment laid up for themselves in the last days. 85 The fifth way, they shall see how the habitations of the others are guarded by angels in profound quiet. 86 The sixth way, they shall see how some of them will pass over into torments. 87 The seventh way, which is worse than all the ways that have been mentioned, because they shall utterly waste away in confusion and be consumed with shame, and shall wither with fear at seeing the glory of the Most High before whom they sinned while they were alive, and before whom they are to be judged in the last times. 88 "Now this is the order of those who have kept the ways of the Most High, when they shall be separated from their mortal body. 89 During the time that they lived in it, they laboriously served the Most High, and withstood danger every hour, that they might keep the law of the Lawgiver perfectly. 90 Therefore this is the teaching concerning them: 91 First of all, they shall see with great joy the glory of him who receives them, for they shall have rest in seven orders. 92 The first order, because they have striven with great effort to overcome the evil thought which was formed with them, that it might not lead them astray from life into death. 93 The second order, because they see the perplexity in which the souls of the unrighteous wander, and the punishment that awaits them. 94 The third order, they see the witness which he who formed them bears concerning them, that while they were alive they kept the law which was given them in trust. 95 The fourth order, they understand the rest which they now enjoy, being gathered into their chambers and guarded by angels in profound quiet, and the glory which awaits them in the last days. 96 The fifth order, they rejoice that they have now escaped what is corruptible, and shall inherit what is to come; and besides they see the straits and toil from which they have been delivered, and the spacious liberty which they are to receive and enjoy in immortality. 97 The sixth order, when it is shown to them how their face is to shine like the sun, and how they are to be made like the light of the stars, being incorruptible from then on. 98 The seventh order, which is greater than all that have been mentioned, because they shall rejoice with boldness, and shall be confident without confusion, and shall be glad without fear, for they hasten to behold the face of him whom they served in life and from whom they are to receive their reward when glorified. 99 This is the order of the souls of the righteous, as henceforth is announced; and the aforesaid are the ways of torment which those who would not give heed shall suffer hereafter." 100 I answered and said, "Will time therefore be given to the souls, after they have been separated from the bodies, to see what you have described to me?" 101 He said to me, "They shall have freedom for seven days, so that during these seven days they may see the things of which you have been told, and afterwards they shall be gathered in their habitations." 102 I answered and said, "If I have found favor in thy sight, show further to me, thy servant, whether on the day of judgment the righteous will be able to intercede for the unrighteous or to entreat the Most High for them, 103 fathers for sons or sons for parents, brothers for brothers, relatives for their kinsmen, or friends for those who are most dear." 104 He answered me and said, "Since you have found favor in my sight, I will show you this also. The day of judgment is decisive and displays to all the seal of truth. Just as now a father does not send his son, or a son his father, or a master his servant, or a friend his dearest friend, to be ill or sleep or eat or be healed in his stead, 105 so no one shall ever pray for another on that day, neither shall any one lay a burden on another; for then every one shall bear his own righteousness and unrighteousness." 2 Esdras 2:31 ,,,''''
Yeah, the best way to weld a fuel tank is to drain it, fill with water and drain again, and then the most important part, put the welder away and buy another fuel tank.
I can imagine how tempting it is, if your tank is stuffed ... But after this vid and the tale from @Grantos1ea , like, er.. Nahhhh .. No tanks! 4 months ago
It can be done safely, fuel tanks get welded every day but need to know what your doing and do everything to the book, no room in that job for slap-dash Harry. They're either filled with water or inert gas (like nitrogen) after thorough cleaning. Gas monitors can tell you if a flammable atmosphere is inside a tank but not cheap.
Cautionary tale about perils of DIY welding, I lost of friend back in the ‘70s. His pride and joy was a Triumph and he did all the maintenance. The last job he attempted, was a bit of welding, to repair some rusted under floor panelling. He’d removed the petrol tank and had it leaning up against a wall. Clamped the outlet and shoved a cloth bung in the filler end. Had the car up on ramps and axle stands. He’d meant to do the work in daylight but when it came to having enough time, it was a cold winter evening. So he closed the doors and got to work, taking care not to have his incandescent inspection lamp touching anything that might be a problem. His father had an early shift the next day, so had gone to bed early. He knew his son would be ok, having done quite a bit of welding before and he was a careful worker. His father who’d been dosing, awoke to a thunderous noise, as all the windows blew in. He remembers seeing a large fireball, rising from where the garage roof had been. He ran and leapt down stairs, up through the garden and dodging popping paint & thinner canisters, that appeared through holes in the once sturdy brick walls, he made his way into the lane. The garage doors had blown out and ripped off the hinges. The car had been lifted clear off its temporary supports and partially landed on the body below. The father sustained third degree burns, across his upper chest, arms, neck, face and parts of his back. He also sustained 1st & 2nd degree burns to his upper legs and feet. He didn’t remember how he extracted what was left of his son’s body from within the carnage, only that he did. The fire brigade reckoned, it was probably a spark that initially ignited petrol vapour from the tank. Due to the extent and severity of the my friend’s injuries, it couldn’t be decided exactly how he died. It could have been vapour inhalation or the initial blast or the car landing on him or being burnt like a candle. I suppose what ultimately killed him, was shock, from any one of the aforementioned possibilities. His father was still in hospital on the day of the funeral. He lived less than 20yrs. more, a broken shell of his former self. Thirty years later, my friend’s sister would sob at the mention of his name.
1. I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, and the effect it had on you, his sister and his father. 2. You are a riveting, but also empathetic, story-teller.
I knew heavy equipment mechanic who worked in a multi-bay garage. While he was sitting on an old wooden milk crate doing a stick-weld repair, he suddenly got lifted off the ground. He flipped off his helmet expecting to discover who had just kicked his make-shift seat, but there was nobody there. Confused, he lowered his welding mask and struck another arc. Within another second or two, he got lifted off his seat again. He threw off is helmet once again expecting to catch some practical joker kicking his seat, but there was no one near him. Then he noticed another mechanic at the other end of the garage emptying the remaining contents of a fuel tank into the floor drain which ran under the concrete floor, and connected with another drain directly under the milk crate that my friend was sitting on. Every time my friend's welding spark made its way into the floor drain it caused a little gasoline vapor explosion that lifted him into the air!
I have been teaching my daughter to weld in my garage, we have a pre-weld check list that we go through before the welder is turned on. The first item on the list is to place ALL aerosol cans and any flammable materials in an outside fire resistant cabinet. The second is to turn on the extractor fan while the rest of the clean up continues. Occasionally the clean up takes longer than the welding. As a mechanic, I got into this habit (obsession) after watching a coworker/friend destroy half of the shop and both of his arms because "good enough" , was just not good enough. The only thing you should be in a hurry to do is making it safe, it is part of the process, not extra work. Thank you for the awesome content.
Another one that occasionally gets people on the news is doing a weld repair or modification on an air compressor tank. These welds are critical and it does not matter how good you are--you have every opportunity to screw it up. One day you'll be in the shop and the tank will explode. Even if it's contained in its own space, it can blow right through 4x2 stud walls and get ya.
The, Umm, glorious 200 liter shop compressor. They go off like a bomb. Happened to the local wrecking yard. The end basically popped off and sent the compressor and the concrete slab (Old footstep It looked like) right through the shop walls and knocked over 2 stacks of cars that were piled 3 cars high. It sure tickled the ears and browned the pants.
@@TheHungrySlug all 200 litre shop compressor. are bomb, it just they haven gone off yet, (same as the old steam engine boilers, when they go they they ready go, stud wall, it like to go brick wall, and scrannel, going all ways will not be good for your heath too. ? including bit wall, and anything in the way, etc,
The other thing with that is that if the compressor is an oiled one (like most of them), oil/oil residue may well be in that tank when someone applies a welder to it and once again we're back to high flammable liquids in a pressure vessel when the heat comes on.
@@dh2032 "all 200 litre shop compressor. are bomb, it just they haven gone off yet, (same as the old steam engine boilers," those to things really aren't the same.
sir. i first want to thank you for making me aware of all these welding hazards. i'm a new stick welder, who only intends to do small jobs. but as you have pointed out even a small job and a small lack of caution can make you dead. i read the safety book that came with the stick welder and it mentions none of your cautionary notes. your videos have given me a new sense of awareness that i will stick to for life. i'll share your video with other welders that i know. a great big thanks. ‼
35 years of welding stuff, professionally trained and the son of a retired boily. Id often thought about welding stainless but i was always told it was a specialised process so never bothered. No one ever mentioned poisonous gases, so thanks for that👍
It's no more specialised than all the other processes imo gal welding is at the top of the class for special, stainless is enjoyable to weld just ventilate the area an keep breaths to a minimum 👍. Gal poisoning knocks you around a fair bit more but without the dull headache
@@rens1489 i just mentioned what i was told and the reasons I didn’t weld it. Dad used a TIG at work but I’ve never had one or a real need to buy one. As for gal, i have welded gal pipe but i ground it off first and did my best to avoid the fumes. I also do my best to avoid it altogether. I got a lung full of something at tech once and didn’t like it, so i never went back for seconds.
@@winzracingNZ dad was a boily for almost 40 years, says he never wore a glove on his right hand. He never said why but I’m betting it’s something to do with control. He now has lymphoma but it’s unknown if this is connected in anyway.
@@python27au You can never say that cancer is because of that. But risk definitely rises when exposed to uv radiation for example. I don't get why you wouldn't use gloves.
As a novice welder my new favorite thing to be scared shitless off is steel wool. Great for cleaning and abrading surfaces and great for a stage in polishing work, but it WILL BURN - Steel wool, especially rusty old steel wool burns low and quiet and you might not notice it's even burning until a door opens and a puff of wind blows it into something more flammable. It's sneaky and quiet and will ignite from welding sparks and grinder sparks. I've done it twice and now as a basic start-of-the-day ritual I walk the work area interested only in random bits of steel wool, paper towel and or solvent rags and make sure they are all sent far far away from the center of my arc. Great series, I'm glad we're all that much more afraid. Safe sparks everyone.
Terrific video series John. I have to admit I did not know about some of the toxic gasses you have brought to our attention. On the subject of removing flammable items from anywhere even remotely close to where you are welding, it brought to mind one item that 99 percent of people would probably not even give a 2nd thought to. The good old bag of STEEL WOOL. My father found this the hard way many years ago when he lit up a pile of it in a cupboard in his shed. Sparks from an angle grinder found their way through some vent slots in the doors, & the Steel Wool readily & rapidly turned into a fireball. It proved quite difficult to extinguish as well. Fire extinguisher just spread it around with the pressure, and a garden hose had to deployed to flood the cupboard.
Pure lint from the dryer can be dangerous as eph, too. I collect it for fire starting purposes, but keep it double-bagged in ziplocks, on the presumption that I am keeping air away from it. When I put a wad into the bag, I compress it down AFAP just to get all the air out of it, then put the second baggy over it and compress that down, too. I suppose that might not be enough, but the compressed bag stays compressed, so I presume the air inside is as minimal as possible, so even if it did spontaneously ignite by self-heat generation, that it would quickly snuff itself before melting both layers of baggie.
@@nickbrutanna9973 If you wanted to go the extra mile, wrap it in a few layers of aluminium foil, first. That way, all flame would be contained even if the bag were to melt.
@@nickbrutanna9973 dryer lint spontaneously igniting seems difficult to imagine, though I'm told it's accumulation can become quite the fire hazard. The litany of toxic gases from intentionally induced high temperatures and extreme caution against errant sparks snagging obscured catalysts are cautions worth echoing.
John i saw a mate of mine sucking the rust from a fuel tank by using a vacuum cleaner it was almost funny when vacuum turned into a jet engine that started from the sparks from the AC brush motor in the cleaner.
Same issue with using common work or home fans to EXTRACT gases, etc. from a home or shop. The electric motors are not rated explosion-proof, so brushes arcing and such create the Spark of Immolation as the flammable vapors ignite. Even if the fan is "upwind" of the work area some thought should be given to this potential hazard.
I am 71 yrs.old now and retired,as a teenager I worked on a roustabout crew in the "Oil Patch" and always managed to get to help the welder(because no one else wanted to)on site,I liked it! Later took a welding course in a local Jr.College. Never got around to being a full time welder,became a Glazier instead. Then went to work for a fracturing/acidizing company,they taught me how to drive a truck and the rest is history. Like the song says,"I've been everywhere man!"
I was a professional welder (in another life) and bought a hobby machine for home projects. I only weld outside with SMAW, because I like my garage and don't want to burn it down or fill it with smoke from the electrodes (it is attached to the house). However, I will often use the GTAW process inside, as it doesn't send sparks or smoke everywhere and it isn't very tolerant to breezes in the great outdoors. Still need to keep anything flammable as far away from the welding and have an extinguisher handy because sh*t can happen. Another good tip for welding on automobiles is to disconnect the battery and put the ground on a clean spot as close to the work as possible. Having to replace an EMC or bearing that got arced can spoil your whole day.
John, RE fuel tank repairs, as someone who has been a vehicle technician for more than 50 years (now retired with all significant bits still attached) the companies I worked for had one golden rule about fuel tank repairs… DON’T, if they were damaged or leaking the only fix is to remove the tank and replace it with a new one. We were specifically told not to attempt to repair it. I have talked to people who do this for a living and the preparation needed to safely weld them is extensive and comprehensive, not something that your average home welder would even begin to understand.
As a handyman welder I’m at the point where my work doesn’t fall to pieces anymore, but I didn’t know there were more than 5 ways to die from welding. So maybe I’ll have to revisit the safety aspect of my welding.
Follow up! This is becoming like the final destination movie series- can't wait for the episode where we learn not to weld while in the wading pool, not to weld the propane tank onto the BBQ for greater mobility & not to weld while on a roller coaster... thanks a lot tho you are def saving lives with these vids & humorous as well!
There is a saying, it’s applied to many vocations, but here it is for this one: There are OLD welders. There are BOLD welders. But there are no OLD, BOLD welders. Great advice in this part two video, thanks. Take care all.
Another excellent video - A few years ago I threw out & replaced all my old brazing rods when I found out they contained cadmium, so it's not just welding that can cause problems, even soldering has similar fume risks. It's also worth noting that for home welders, that while the welder may have a face shield, it's a good idea to create an exclusion zone to prevent anyone else from wandering in to the area and copping a dose of weld flash in the eyes....
Dear Mr. Cadogan, Saturday the 9th of July 24 I joined the club! I bought be a stick weld for 48.95€, finally I shall not try all the possibilities of waking up dead (what a nice phrase). Mate, I´m having a blast/fun like a tornado on a camping ground. All the noises, all the amps- five things happen at once, I´m hooked. Right thru the hole arm. I don´t care if it looks shit- I made it, it´s my shitty weld and I love every milimeter. We all started out somewhere and at first I train ignition. Burn a few sticks, get to know my tool. Then I dig thru my shitpiles for some to cut and uncut, make all the mistakes upfront so I´m good later. What I miss tho: my dad had a welding transformer and the feel was unique. The stinger vibrated, letting me know who´s boss here. Now I have an inverter- that´s way smoother, not so scary, no vibration. And the stinger is light, feels nice- I wanted this for years. I promise I won´t unalive myself or wake up dead, my two cats still need their Daddy. I could build them something fancy... Have a good Day, kind regards from the middle of Europe. I like Australia because You are metric and (so far I´ve seen) are all very nice people. I´d like to come to AusArmor Fest sometime.
Never weld whilst wearing trainers. I remember doing a funny little dance on my drive, after some balls of red-hot slag decided to go on a tour inside my footwear.
@@AutoExpertJC I once saw a young apprentice try to blow some dust from his overalls using the Oxygen from the Oxy/Accetaline torch... the Fireball he turned into ran quite quickly outside and rolled in the nearest puddle of water he could find (It rains a lot in Wales!).. He was ok after... but a little Singed.! lol!
Most of my welding has been done in the field for tanks of any kind i fire the service truck get the appropriate hose hook to the exhaust place the other end in the tank wait at least 5 minutes then weld wait at least 5 minutes remove the hose and finish job no oxygen no fire in 60 years of doing it that way i have never had a problem i did when when i was young try to kill myself cutting galvanized material lucky for me an old timer caught what i was doing and saved my stupid ass
There are some great 2 pack expoxy products for fuel tanks, I used some compound and stuck it on a still full fuel tank which I thought had small hole looked like someone had put a Geologists pick through it, stuck that concotion on and it sealed it straight away and did so for the next 5 years until I sold the old bus, Fuck trying to blow yourself up.
An empty fuel tank is more explosive than a full tank or half full tank. We used to fill them with water and leave them neck upwards open and full of water for a day. Then fill them with the exhausts gas from a running car. For extra safety welding through the gap of an ajar fire door with the tank on one side and you on the other.
I am in an LPG emergency response team. We decommission cylinders by flaring excess gas in a hot air balloon burner and then fill with water. I believe if someone manages to fill a cylinder with water, full full, all the way to the top, empty it out, then still manage to blow themselves up, then they have done something horrific in their past to deserve to be that unlucky because karma is really out for them at that point.
@@winzracingNZ If they have LPG in them they have pressure. If you open the valve and no gas comes out then there is little to no gas in there. Keep in mind LPG is heavier than air so if your going to let gas out be mindful of that, it can travel along the ground and find ignition sources. If you suspect there is gas in there but the valve is broken so you cannot get the gas out then that it outside my knowledge, they get shipped off, don't know what happens to them after that. We do not shoot them here, but I would imagine if its 45kg or smaller and your at least 500 meters away shooting from behind cover in the middle of nowhere you would be "reasonably" safe, regardless of whether the gas ignites or not, but take that last statement with a grain of salt, its basically a guess on my part, as I say, I have never shot one.
I read of a case where someone was making a barbeque from a 45ngallon drum the had once contained diesel, they had washed it out and pressure washed it as well but when they started to cut it open it exploded severely injuring them. The report said that enough diesel had remained in the seam to vaporise and ignite. Another case I read about was two men were mig welding at the bottom of a large pit when someone up top noticed them slumped over he went down and also promptly passed out, when the fire brigade got there two were dead and the other ended up in hospital with brain damage.
Attempting a confined space rescue without safety gear will claim more victims. Pits, tanks, trenches, even some confined small rooms create a deadly risk to the hasty rescuer.
@markh.6687 Apparently, storage rooms on ships where the anchor chain is stored is also dangerous. The chain rusts due to being wet with seawater, using up all the oxygen.
@@suttoncoldfield9318 There was an incident in the US where an OUTDOOR area became a confined space due to several buildings and a weather condition combining to injure workers overcome by fumes. I'd have to search for it, but it was related to a steel mill if memory serves.
PS In 1997 I had a fuel tank leak repaired on my alpha, Romeo GTV whatever it was long story short I took it to NatRad radiators they degreased it washed about six times still could smell fuel so they ordered 1 kg of dry ice pellets, put the dry ice pellets in the tank, rolled them around and tipped it upside down so after washing the Dry ice was in there freezing at one end of the tank while they welded the seam up on the opposite corner, and they had no issue, but it wasn’t cheap to get done…… They told me at the time that was their standard process
@@weldmachine well that’s because it was in the procedure to rinse out the tank until you can’t smell the fuel any more but the reality is you can always get the smell of a tinge of fuel and it took them six times to get the smell right down also using degreaser Rinse tank out until you can’t smell fuel any more, then weld up the hole using dry ice pellets inside the tank. That’s the procedure duuuuuuuude
@@weldmachine I don’t think it’s that complicated. They just didn’t want the whole thing to go bang so they kept degreasing it and washing it until they couldn’t smell any fuel any more and even then you can always smell a tiny bit. The standard process is degrease the tank till you can’t smell the fuel and then use the dry ice. I don’t see what the big deal is. I think it’s a bloody good procedure
I'm not a car guy, or a welder at all, but you've got a lot of obvious charisma it was really easy to enjoy listening. Sure you don't need a stranger to tell you that but it's nice!
A friend welded his fuel tank. Soon as the flame came near the hole the tank made a boomp noise and went from rectangular to oval 😮. He had filled it with water, almost full 😅
Welding in my garage earlier this morning...I am the one (of many) who welds surrounded by flammables. I will be rectifying that after I finish watching this episode...empty the bins would be a decent start I guess!!
Cadmium plating has been banned in general use for a lot of years now, but people still get caught out. People have been killed by gas cutting out old cadmium plated rivets in confined spaces for instance.
I 💯 wgree about the fire! I worked in the shipyard industry for 20 years and the welders can manage to start things of fire all the time. Even when you think it's too far away or can't burn the very high temperature involved in welding can manage to start many things that normally would not burn.
Good points.I'm a hobbyist welder at 69. I got to the point where some of my projects require sticking metal together. I've been especially careful with curing oils around the woodshop. So the welding takes place outside. I don't smoke but the cigarette lighter was a great example of not suspecting the most simple of things. I keep all of my propane and gasoline tanks away from anything that can go boom. I used a propane torch to char wood on some of my projects and that stuff caused me to reconsider that process. Great video.
About 25 years ago I had about a 120 litre stainless steel under floor fuel tank in my boat. I removed the tank from the boat and emptied all the fuel. The issue I had with the tank was a slight weeping leak where one of the internal baffles was spot welded in place to the outer surface. It was only a minute leak but one thing you don't want in a boat is leaking fuel. After emptying the tank of fuel I left in the sun for a few days to allow as much fuel to evaporate as possible. I then flushed it with water about 6 times and emptied it.. I used the sniff test to test for any remaining fuel vapour. At the time I had a small gas MIG welder but was still not game enough to use it on the tank. I cleaned the area where the problem was with hydrochloric acid several times an d also sanded the area with wet/dry sandpaper ensuring the surface was spotless. I had a roll of silver solder (98% tin 2% silver). I also had a large old fashioned copper soldering iron which you could heat with a gas flame. I heated the iron with a gas torch well away from where I was working but it was not quite red hot. The silver solder stuck to the stainless surface very well and I extended the pool of molten solder about 2cm around the required repair. The repair worked well and the fuel tank never leaked again. I made sure I was well out in the open a safe distance from my house. There was simply no way I was ever going to use my MIG welder to repair that fuel tank even after thorough flushing with water after being left for several days. In case people are wondering the boat did not have an inboard motor but a 140hp Evinrude outboard.
The proper way to do it if welding would be to fill the tank with CO2 (or nitrogen) gas while doing the welding in a ventilated area to avoid accumulating the CO2. Displacing oxygen and fumes from the work.
A few months ago, a young lad at work (near us, not our company) was killed when working on a drum - I don't know if he was welding or cutting, but the drum exploded. Brisbane.
A Bomb originally referred to pressure vessels, usually somewhat spherical/cylindrical. It is why propane 5-gal canisters are also correctly known as propane bombs. It became associated with weapons because early gunpowder burned slowly, and so it was packed into metal shells that would hold the pressure for a moment as the powder burned and then give, spraying shrapnel. All modern tensile pressure vessels are correctly known as bombs. Drain those water collection points, can't see rust on the inside.
learnt my lesson when i was a young Pup. I used to smoke to look cool for Chicks, and I sent off a packet of matches in my shirt pocket, scared to shit out of me. It burnt a hole in the shirt. luckily enough I was sort of bent over so it didn`t burn me. just burnt some chest fur. and got a face full of fumes form the matches. fun times.
My grandfather was a welder. He died when my dad was 14. He had to replace a plug in a massive sized LGB. The guy on top didn't get the water on the plug fast enough. The guy on top went flying 200 feet. Up. The plug took off the back of my grandfather head. When I get the chance to weild. I love doing it. Yet. I am not very good because I don't weild much. Thanks for the safety tips.
I had a mishap, welding exhaust on my mother's car. The welding cables were not long enough! I used jumper cables and no gloves.. I was welding then stood up srait up and grounded my head to a muffler clamp! The zap threw my brain knocked me out for a couple of minutes! It hurt really bad! I had a really bad headache for while! lol
Hello from Florida and thanks for your videos. I just bought my first mig + flux-cored welding machine. It'll stay in the box until I have all the safety equipment and gear needed to safely practice. I'm missing the welding jacket currently. I also need a metal bench. I don't know crap about welding other than what I'm learning on TH-cam. I want to weld as a hobby and do some at home repairs and light fabrication. I already have a career as a medical professional so I'm in no rush to get hurt welding. Any advice?
This is fascinating stuff, considering that I work with a spot-welder. Some components I work with are indeed galvanized and if the coating is a bit thicker than normal (best Chinesium), the smoke can be quite stark. Of course we have extraction by each welder, but in practice things often keep smoking ever-so-slightly after they've been put down again, so... not much I can do about it except cut my throughput by about 25-50%. Stainless is a different matter - smoke isn't a problem, but hellish spark explosions can be a nuisance. Many work shirts and trousers shredded by aggregated spark damage. I've also never known anything with better invasive capability than a welding spark - I can be wearing clothes buttoned up to the neck and a spark might still get down inside and give me a little burn to the torso. On a different matter - angle grinders and your stern stipulation about holding the grinder with both hands. In practice - and I work with a grinder quite a lot (albeit only 60-grit discs) - I have no choice but to hold the product in one hand and the grinder in the other. Quite fiddly and fine work. It's a bit of a strange company - an external observer might think it's not really a business, but more like a cottage industry, a bunch of blokes tinkering in a shed and it just happens that the shed owners sell what we've put together - quite 19th Century. (This is in England, by the way, not Vietnam or Ghana).
Great vid JC!!! As a WHS Professional, I see countless incidents where people just turn off their 'Safety Brain' once they leave work and do similar (work) stuff in the garage or fat-cave at home!🤦
Thanks for sharing your experience and advice. I am a Machinist by trade and a beginner when it comes to welding. I have always been afraid of the deadly shock factor of welding. I was aware of the poisonous gases from welding zinc plated materials, but all your other topics were good to hear.
Not sure what the score is in Australia, but the brake cleaner/phosgene thing is a non issue in Europe as chlorinated brake cleaner (the old non flammable type - why its used by welders) has been banned for decades. We only have to worry about the fire issue as all our brake cleaner is flammable.
I want to thank you for these videos. I found the first one shortly after stupidly sparking a few things because I wasn't paying attention to what was touching the item that I had the welding ground clamp on. That near-miss, followed by your videos, has really rejuvenated by attention to safety.
Yeah Mate fire is always a problem around here in Queensland. so I always weld in bare feet with denim shorts (with the Frayed hems) so if any fire starts I feel it before it gets away.
Hi John as a boilermaker/ welder fabricating from mild steel through stainless from low grades to one of the highest grades available , aluminium . When helmets with filtered air intake where available I got one , actually wire 2 out , always refused to weld fuel tanks . A bad habit was with old stick welders , this happened at Tarong power station as it was a stick welded operation they lost a welder using a bad habit of tucking the rod under there arm pit shove the rod holder onto it , sweat , being earthed and live power bad combination shock directly through your heart , no coming back .
Really good videos you make about staying alive!! I have shared the heck out of them, starting with my Son, who is also a FireFighter/Paramedic. Then with my friends, and my wife, which made her worry even more about me! ;) Thanks a bunch, have learned a lot!
G’day John, been following you on TH-cam for around 12 months now and love your channel. I agree one hundred percent with your advice on welding only you should have presented the six ways to kill yourself when welding. In 1974 as an apprentice carpenter, we were welding up a steel post and rail fence for a client and my boss not wearing welding gloves went to change a rod in the stick welder we were using. Not noticing how wet the ground was, got an electric shock that stopped his heart. This happened because his boots were wet from walking around in the water and mud at the site, and was grounded well enough to allow enough of the 100amps the welder was adjusted to travel through him to the ground and stop his heart. Around fifteen years ago the same thing almost happened to a mate while leaning against his welding table while replacing a rod while not wearing gloves. I retired from carpentry in the early ninety’s and have worked for twenty years as registered nurse, mostly in ICU and emergency dept and have seen several cases of patients in hospital due to welding shock. Most of them already had heart conditions, but being shocked by welders or should I say carelessness is a real risk. Love your show, regards John Beattie.
When welding plated hardware I keep a gallon of muriatic acid (used for pool maintenance) and baking soda. A few seconds in the acid then into a baking soda bath and any zinc is gone. I use the leftover soda to neutralize any spills too.
I worked as a mechanic at a radiator shop back in the late 70's. We cleaned and repaired fuel tanks as well. This is way before aluminum/plastic radiators when radiators were copper/brass and could be taken apart, cleaned and repaired. It went like this-first punch a small hole in an upper corner of the fuel tank to allow more complete draining. Turn tank to position hole over drain pan and let it drain for an hour or, so to get all the fuel out. Next would be to put a couple of gallons of the hot caustic solution form the hot tank that was used for cleaning copper/brass radiators and slosh it around in the tank. Very nasty stuff. It would clean and help remove rust and crud. Really rusty tanks also got treated with muriatic acid. The next step for the fuel tank was to rinse with water. Stick a hose in it and let it run for a while. Yes, straight into the sewer- it was the 70's. After draining the water out, the tank was dried internally with a hot air blower. The final step before any soldering or, welding was done on the tank was to place it under the large water tank/repair table for radiators. That was a square tank about 4'x4' and 2' deep up on legs. It had a repair table over it that the radiators were placed on for repair and testing that could be raised and lowered into the tank. Repair radiator, pressurize with air and lower into the water to check for leaks. OK, back to the gas tank part. To ensure it was safe to solder/weld on place gas tank under table, turn face away and stick lit torch into fuel tank. No boom, good to go. Solder a penny over drain hole and repair if needed. I kind of remember asking the owner if he ever had one blow up and I think the answer was not. He had both eyes and all his fingers if that means anything.
Thanks for all the tips and info. It seems it would be a good idea to check for nearby hazards, plan accordingly and add ventilation. It doesn't take all that long to make a good plan before starting work.
The tank-welding and being on the news bit reminded me of a short, humorous story I need to covey... Here in Portland, Maine (US of A) the police chief gathered the local news for a demonstration of the dangers of fireworks in Y2K for our independence day celebrations. He intended to show us all what happens to a watermelon when subjected to the effects of what we call a block-buster (quarter-stick of dynamite). So, he used a BBQ tongs to place the block-buster on the watermelon after lighting the fuse. The quarter-stick of dynamite immediately rolled off the melon, and our "hero" tried to place it back on the melon with his HAND - NO GLOVES! If memory serves, he lost 2 or 3 fingers right in front of the news cameras for all to see on the evening news. Just goes to show, even a "trained professional" can get it very wrong, even when trying to portray what NOT TO DO. Just the same, thanks for teaching us DIYers the right way to AVOID being on the news unlike one of "Portland's finest!" Keep up the great work, John! If I see just one more of your wonderful videos, I'll HAVE to subscribe ;) (And....I did!)
My brother is a boilermaker/pipewelder. When he was still quite young, he was doing a repair inside of a tank. The tank was certified safe, evacuated, and ready to weld. He struck his arc and woke up 50 feet away on the other side of the shop. Turns out the tank was not quite as evacuated as someone thought. He walked away from it, but it ultimately, 35 years later, ended his career. As he aged, the damage to his inner ear got worse, as did the spinal injury. With balance issues, he could no longer work on a ladder or a scaffold. A pipe welder who can't do that, isn't much of a pipewelder.
I'll add one more John. Strap your gas bottle to your MIG welder properly. Same goes with OXY-ACETYLENE, too. Should a full G size bottle hit the floor and break off the cylinder reg whilst the valve is already open then the cylinder becomes an extremely efficient torpedo. I've seen it happen twice. Once with a bottle of argon and once with a bottle of oxygen. I will never forget how fast that oxygen bottle travelled up the workshop. If it had hit someone the injuries would have been life threatening.
Story from a metro Chicago steel mill. Oxygen bottles were disappearing, and nobody could figure out why. Security measures were stepped up, counts re-counted, etc. Still the bottles were disappearing. Until the day somebody watched guys putting the bottles on a piece of scrap i-beam and knocking the valves off with a sledgehammer. They were shooting the bottles into the lake, and almost hit a ship with one.
not to mention that if anything had been burning or sparking at all nearby, it would have likely started a fire, oxygen makes everything more flammable.
Thank you so much. I bought my first welding machine after watching umpteen vids about how to weld, but none of them told me how not to croak. It matters eh.😍😁🤭 PS I'd listen to you talk about anything bc you're funny and I'm hard of hearing and you are one of the few people I can hear without subtitles because you speak each word clearly and separately. You enunciate each word. Thank you VERY much.
Thanks for the warning, was going to have “a go” this week with my new stainless sticks and do a comparison with my other gasless mig wire. Neither have been tested as yet, not wanting to die or feel crook welding boat Ladder and the like, cheers fella
Many years ago I was in the NSW fire brigade and was called out to a house fire . The bloke had a leak in the fuel tank of his motorcycle, so he welded it up while it was still on the bike . We saved the house , garage was toast .
Just trying to get into welding and found your channel. You got a sub on the previous video on 5 ways to die simply by mentioning the Hilux. Just a heads up incase you were unaware a few years back Nord VPN had a data breach in their server center which I believe was in Germany. They then lied and tried to cover it up rather than admitting to the failure. Great info in the vids, thanks.
So I started tig welding in my aviation school and I never throught about the lighter thing, thank you for this video because I always have one in the pocket of my pants and today was the last time I had it during my class
Thanks for posting this. Ive not yet started welding but it's the next skill I want to learn. Doing it safely is at the top of my priority list so this was very helpful. I still have all my fingers too and much intend to keep it that way.
A good family friend of mine was a welder for 40 years, stainless Steel was his main contract work in many industries here in sheepshsgastan and around the Pacific region, sadly he became very ill with his spine and other illness, sadly he was bed ridden on the last time I spoke to his wife, sadly most of my mate's have died recently from industrial illnesses, I myself are struggling with illness and injuries, 14:09
Thanks for the info here, John! Always nice to know how to qualify for the Darwin Awards, although slow death by toxic fume ingestion won't count, will it?! Last century, I used to enjoy landing planes on dirt airstrips up the sides of mountains in New Guinea, so I had a certain mindset towards safety. In retirement, I'm enjoying reshaping steel in my man cave and learning about the differences between arc and MIG welders - blast the arc fumes away but use a helmet with air supply (PAPR) for MIG. When first I started using the oxytorch, I used to RTFM quite a few times before firing it up, shitting myself worrying about oxy/acetylene cylinders going kaboom. So I was quite relieved after cutting my first section of 10 mm plate steel, knowing there was nothing flammable in the workshop. With a hose, bucket of water and fire extinguisher just outside, I felt safe. Yeah, right! I looked down and saw the native Aussie grass plant near the entrance, burning furiously - a piece of molten metal had bounced off the concrete and torched it! (BTW, that plant grew back so well, I set fire to a coupla other grass plants. And now I always hose the floor before using the oxytorch.)
This reminds me of an incident I was involved with some years ago. We were installing a shingle roof on a new house. There was a steel I beam that supported part of the second story, which needed a triangle shaped section cut off to allow us to install the plywood substrate for the lower roof. Late summer, lots of dry, dead grass around the site. The steelwork contractor showed up and began to use a cutting torch to cut the I beam, while I was installing the shingles on another part of the roof. Soon, I smelled smoke, and looked down to see the grass on fire. I climbed down from the roof in a hurry, shouting 'Fire" while doing so, and had to use one of the asphalt roof shingles to beat down the flames, while the guy who had been using the torch grabbed buckets of water from a farm trough to put out the fire completely. It was a close call, the house could have gone up if the foil faced paper under the chipboard floor had caught alight.
I would add something regarding electricity. Avoid machines with worn current outlets. If there is short circuit between a welder housing and it's negative outlet (most cases) in case a workpiece clamp fells from construction -welding current will flow through mains cable. This is deadly because it will burn mains cable inner isolation and can put mains voltage on a welder housing.
I wonder if there has been research on the toxicity of angle grinding or flappy disk dust? Never seen a warning label on the disks apart from the recommended speed. In my little 8mx10m shed I have divided it into four areas, the welding/machining bay is at one end need the roller door and the flammable liquids are in the far end stored in a steel cupboard. I have 2 dry chemical extinguishers and a 20 lt water sprayer backpack extinguisher. Things learned in the trade with workshop safety should also be implemented at home.
Looking what those discs are made of and what we do with them... Fine glass fiber, metal and abrasive dust, it can't be good. You can see the stuff glittering in the sunlight. Wear at least mask, or better, respirator. Welders use ventilated masks while welding and grinding for a reason. Those angle grinders are dangerous on so many levels. Protect vision, hearing and breathing, don't burn yourself or something else, don't let it catch-snatch you, watch the sparks etc.
What about those small oxy-acetylene kits they are selling now? No warnings about using oil or grease on the threads of the oxygen tank? Changing oxygen tank with dirty, oily or greasy hands.
and thats the thing, safety and youtube are not exactly great buddies. this is why its so important to really check the credentials of the people offering advice in youtube. as a retired furniture maker i see so many weekend warrior woodworkers espousing on how to do different things with machinery that takes absolutely no prisoners. i listen to john because he does in fact know what he is talking about. i have been thinking of getting a small welder just to do a few little things like dollies for my larger machines. but i will only watch welding videos from professional welders. by the way i still have all my fingers too.
Rule Number 1, SAFETY, Rule Number 2 SAFETY, Rule Number 3 SAFETY. I remember back in 1992 when I was renovating my house, driving nails with a hammer, I was ridiculed for wearing earplugs......oh my how the times have changed.
Excellent video. I'd just add to be mindful or argon. It can and has filled a pit displacing the air leading to the death of a young man. I doubt anyone here can afford enough of it to do that but worth keeping in mind. Cadmium has been banned for metal protection for many decades, even themiliary stopped using it long ago. It can get into the body through the skin. It used to be used on jewelry.
I used to work at a company that made assembly lines for medical products. They did almost purely stainless tig welding with noting more than a basic welding hood. Glad I left that place...
I have heard that a bic lighter has the same energy as a stick of dynamite. But i was a combat engineer and have seen the effects of TNT, gelignite and PE, and because I’m that kind of curious, we put fire to a half full bic and it made quite a loud crack and i wouldn’t like to have been holding it at the time but I don’t think it was anywhere near as destructive as a high explosive. It was probably on par with a det which can take your fingers off if your not careful.
I had one go off on a welding bench, it was more of a flare up from the hole in the side of it than an explosion. It took me several minutes to figure out what caused the orange flash that reflected off the wall behind me and lit up the inside of my welding helmet.
A co worker had that happen while doing torch on waterproofing (outside of basement walls). He'd used the lighter to light the torch, then set it down on the wall's footing, that had been waterproofed a few minutes prior, and was still warm. A few minutes later, the lighter went POP!@@cunning-stunt
When I was deployed to Iraq we would light bic lighters on fire when we were bored by putting a few squirts of hand sanitizer over them, lighting that on fire, then getting back. None of them ever exploded, whichever part of the plastic melted out first would just shoot a stream of fire until it ran out of gas. That's pretty much it, but I definitely wouldn't want to have one on me if it went up in flames. Maybe it is possible for it to explode if it was burned or melted in a certain way though.
So right, John. I cut up an LP gas cylinder [9kg] to repurpose. I filled it with water and waited several days. I then commenced to cut it using an angle grinder with a cut off wheel. There were multiple flare ups/ explosions- not catastrophic but so disconcerting that I donned welding gloves and helmet. Lucky this was done outdoors. The porosity of the metal obviously contained gas that the water did not shift. Beware, my friends
Good video , 1 had 36 liter bottle. Had some kind of air-conditioning gas, I can't remember. Was also galvanised, I scraped the idea and didn't risk it. Smae with the steel drums I got , had oils.not sure what kinds of oils.didn't risk it,went the if you are not 100 % sure. Scrap the idea. Did fix a steel fuel tank one, 34 years ago. Empty leave for a month, fill with water and solder it up.power iron and flux core solder.
Here i am casually listening and mulling over a memory i had at work when the subject of fuel tank repair came up. I worked under a (semi-retired) superintendent (the kind that gets his hands dirty) sealing the cracks of a Delmag diesel tank while the rest of us were handling odds and ends while the operation was paused. I knew diesel takes more than a spark to ignite, but i also knew that even diesel FUMES from an emptied tank are still flammable... i tried to explain this to him. It took a minute, but enough fumes and pressure built up to ignite. Im glad i opened the cap before he started, i was hoping we could atleast flood the tank with water but none would have it. When behind on production, people take risks with little thought. Speak up and stand back.
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My son was working for a trucking company. His supervisor told him to weld a crack on a fuel tank from one of the trucks. The diesel tank was "empty" with the cap off for a couple of days. My son told him that wasn't enough. The supervisor told him to get to it or find another job. My son packed up his equipment and left. The next day he was working someplace else.
Three days later a news story broke about the supervisor had been severely injured while welding a diesel tank. He lingered in agony for two more days then died.
It can happen when you don't take the right precautions.
The major problem, bully bosses. Good on the young fella for standing his ground. Sad about the other bloke.
I'm SO glad your son is okay, that must be kind of scary to think about... close call...
Good you raised someone that can stand up for themself. That supervisor probably wouldn't have lost a wink of sleep had your kid gotten torched. Certainly the company execs didn't.
I answered and said, "If I have found favor in thy sight, O Lord, show this also to thy servant: whether after death, as soon as every one of us yields up his soul, we shall be kept in rest until those times come when thou wilt renew the creation, or whether we shall be tormented at once?" 76 He answered me and said, "I will show you that also, but do not be associated with those who have shown scorn, nor number yourself among those who are tormented. 77 For you have a treasure of works laid up with the Most High; but it will not be shown to you until the last times. 78 Now, concerning death, the teaching is: When the decisive decree has gone forth from the Most High that a man shall die, as the spirit leaves the body to return again to him who gave it, first of all it adores the glory of the Most High. 79 And if it is one of those who have shown scorn and have not kept the way of the Most High, and who have despised his law, and who have hated those who fear the Most High -- 80 such spirits shall not enter into habitations, but shall immediately wander about in torments, ever grieving and sad, in seven ways. 81 The first way, because they have scorned the law of the Most High. 82 The second way, because they cannot now make a good repentance that they may live. 83 The third way, they shall see the reward laid up for those who have trusted the covenants of the Most High. 84 The fourth way, they shall consider the torment laid up for themselves in the last days. 85 The fifth way, they shall see how the habitations of the others are guarded by angels in profound quiet. 86 The sixth way, they shall see how some of them will pass over into torments. 87 The seventh way, which is worse than all the ways that have been mentioned, because they shall utterly waste away in confusion and be consumed with shame, and shall wither with fear at seeing the glory of the Most High before whom they sinned while they were alive, and before whom they are to be judged in the last times. 88 "Now this is the order of those who have kept the ways of the Most High, when they shall be separated from their mortal body. 89 During the time that they lived in it, they laboriously served the Most High, and withstood danger every hour, that they might keep the law of the Lawgiver perfectly. 90 Therefore this is the teaching concerning them: 91 First of all, they shall see with great joy the glory of him who receives them, for they shall have rest in seven orders. 92 The first order, because they have striven with great effort to overcome the evil thought which was formed with them, that it might not lead them astray from life into death. 93 The second order, because they see the perplexity in which the souls of the unrighteous wander, and the punishment that awaits them. 94 The third order, they see the witness which he who formed them bears concerning them, that while they were alive they kept the law which was given them in trust. 95 The fourth order, they understand the rest which they now enjoy, being gathered into their chambers and guarded by angels in profound quiet, and the glory which awaits them in the last days. 96 The fifth order, they rejoice that they have now escaped what is corruptible, and shall inherit what is to come; and besides they see the straits and toil from which they have been delivered, and the spacious liberty which they are to receive and enjoy in immortality. 97 The sixth order, when it is shown to them how their face is to shine like the sun, and how they are to be made like the light of the stars, being incorruptible from then on. 98 The seventh order, which is greater than all that have been mentioned, because they shall rejoice with boldness, and shall be confident without confusion, and shall be glad without fear, for they hasten to behold the face of him whom they served in life and from whom they are to receive their reward when glorified. 99 This is the order of the souls of the righteous, as henceforth is announced; and the aforesaid are the ways of torment which those who would not give heed shall suffer hereafter." 100 I answered and said, "Will time therefore be given to the souls, after they have been separated from the bodies, to see what you have described to me?" 101 He said to me, "They shall have freedom for seven days, so that during these seven days they may see the things of which you have been told, and afterwards they shall be gathered in their habitations." 102 I answered and said, "If I have found favor in thy sight, show further to me, thy servant, whether on the day of judgment the righteous will be able to intercede for the unrighteous or to entreat the Most High for them, 103 fathers for sons or sons for parents, brothers for brothers, relatives for their kinsmen, or friends for those who are most dear." 104 He answered me and said, "Since you have found favor in my sight, I will show you this also. The day of judgment is decisive and displays to all the seal of truth. Just as now a father does not send his son, or a son his father, or a master his servant, or a friend his dearest friend, to be ill or sleep or eat or be healed in his stead, 105 so no one shall ever pray for another on that day, neither shall any one lay a burden on another; for then every one shall bear his own righteousness and unrighteousness." 2 Esdras 2:31
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@@likeasparrowinthewildernes8333 I'm sorry, but do you honestly think somebody is going to read all that?
Yeah, the best way to weld a fuel tank is to drain it, fill with water and drain again, and then the most important part, put the welder away and buy another fuel tank.
I can imagine how tempting it is, if your tank is stuffed ... But after this vid and the tale from @Grantos1ea , like, er.. Nahhhh .. No tanks!
4 months ago
It can be done safely, fuel tanks get welded every day but need to know what your doing and do everything to the book, no room in that job for slap-dash Harry.
They're either filled with water or inert gas (like nitrogen) after thorough cleaning. Gas monitors can tell you if a flammable atmosphere is inside a tank but not cheap.
I just pump car exhaust into a tank while welding. I have used water, too, to minimize fumes.
BTW I used oxy/acetylene.
That’s shaking hands with danger
Diesel tanks if full of Diesel can be welded.
Cautionary tale about perils of DIY welding, I lost of friend back in the ‘70s. His pride and joy was a Triumph and he did all the maintenance. The last job he attempted, was a bit of welding, to repair some rusted under floor panelling.
He’d removed the petrol tank and had it leaning up against a wall. Clamped the outlet and shoved a cloth bung in the filler end. Had the car up on ramps and axle stands. He’d meant to do the work in daylight but when it came to having enough time, it was a cold winter evening. So he closed the doors and got to work, taking care not to have his incandescent inspection lamp touching anything that might be a problem.
His father had an early shift the next day, so had gone to bed early. He knew his son would be ok, having done quite a bit of welding before and he was a careful worker.
His father who’d been dosing, awoke to a thunderous noise, as all the windows blew in. He remembers seeing a large fireball, rising from where the garage roof had been. He ran and leapt down stairs, up through the garden and dodging popping paint & thinner canisters, that appeared through holes in the once sturdy brick walls, he made his way into the lane. The garage doors had blown out and ripped off the hinges. The car had been lifted clear off its temporary supports and partially landed on the body below.
The father sustained third degree burns, across his upper chest, arms, neck, face and parts of his back. He also sustained 1st & 2nd degree burns to his upper legs and feet. He didn’t remember how he extracted what was left of his son’s body from within the carnage, only that he did.
The fire brigade reckoned, it was probably a spark that initially ignited petrol vapour from the tank. Due to the extent and severity of the my friend’s injuries, it couldn’t be decided exactly how he died. It could have been vapour inhalation or the initial blast or the car landing on him or being burnt like a candle. I suppose what ultimately killed him, was shock, from any one of the aforementioned possibilities.
His father was still in hospital on the day of the funeral. He lived less than 20yrs. more, a broken shell of his former self. Thirty years later, my friend’s sister would sob at the mention of his name.
Hopefully the shockwave made him instantly unconscious, it sounds like it almost certainly did. The tragedy of loss of a young life lasts generations.
1. I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, and the effect it had on you, his sister and his father.
2. You are a riveting, but also empathetic, story-teller.
I knew heavy equipment mechanic who worked in a multi-bay garage. While he was sitting on an old wooden milk crate doing a stick-weld repair, he suddenly got lifted off the ground. He flipped off his helmet expecting to discover who had just kicked his make-shift seat, but there was nobody there. Confused, he lowered his welding mask and struck another arc. Within another second or two, he got lifted off his seat again. He threw off is helmet once again expecting to catch some practical joker kicking his seat, but there was no one near him. Then he noticed another mechanic at the other end of the garage emptying the remaining contents of a fuel tank into the floor drain which ran under the concrete floor, and connected with another drain directly under the milk crate that my friend was sitting on. Every time my friend's welding spark made its way into the floor drain it caused a little gasoline vapor explosion that lifted him into the air!
I have been teaching my daughter to weld in my garage, we have a pre-weld check list that we go through before the welder is turned on. The first item on the list is to place ALL aerosol cans and any flammable materials in an outside fire resistant cabinet. The second is to turn on the extractor fan while the rest of the clean up continues. Occasionally the clean up takes longer than the welding. As a mechanic, I got into this habit (obsession) after watching a coworker/friend destroy half of the shop and both of his arms because "good enough" , was just not good enough. The only thing you should be in a hurry to do is making it safe, it is part of the process, not extra work. Thank you for the awesome content.
good dad. Teaching your daughter whatever skills she wants to learn as well as the safety thing.
I wish you could share your checklist ( would be helpful for a lot pf rookies like me ;-) )
Greetings from Paris 🇨🇵
Another one that occasionally gets people on the news is doing a weld repair or modification on an air compressor tank. These welds are critical and it does not matter how good you are--you have every opportunity to screw it up. One day you'll be in the shop and the tank will explode. Even if it's contained in its own space, it can blow right through 4x2 stud walls and get ya.
The, Umm, glorious 200 liter shop compressor. They go off like a bomb. Happened to the local wrecking yard.
The end basically popped off and sent the compressor and the concrete slab (Old footstep It looked like) right through the shop walls and knocked over 2 stacks of cars that were piled 3 cars high.
It sure tickled the ears and browned the pants.
@@TheHungrySlug all 200 litre shop compressor. are bomb, it just they haven gone off yet, (same as the old steam engine boilers, when they go they they ready go, stud wall, it like to go brick wall, and scrannel, going all ways will not be good for your heath too. ? including bit wall, and anything in the way, etc,
The other thing with that is that if the compressor is an oiled one (like most of them), oil/oil residue may well be in that tank when someone applies a welder to it and once again we're back to high flammable liquids in a pressure vessel when the heat comes on.
@@dh2032 "all 200 litre shop compressor. are bomb, it just they haven gone off yet, (same as the old steam engine boilers," those to things really aren't the same.
@@bestjunky Going to have to press doubt on that. It burst your skin open under jeans from the shockwave and you are still here to talk about it?
sir. i first want to thank you for making me aware of all these welding hazards. i'm a new stick welder, who only intends to do small jobs. but as you have pointed out even a small job and a small lack of caution can make you dead.
i read the safety book that came with the stick welder and it mentions none of your cautionary notes. your videos have given me a new sense of awareness that i will stick to for life. i'll share your video with other welders that i know. a great big thanks. ‼
Heij Mate, I´m in the same boat. Making blue light is very fun but we´d do even better in not unaliving ourselves. Good day, wish You all the best.
35 years of welding stuff, professionally trained and the son of a retired boily. Id often thought about welding stainless but i was always told it was a specialised process so never bothered.
No one ever mentioned poisonous gases, so thanks for that👍
It's no more specialised than all the other processes imo gal welding is at the top of the class for special, stainless is enjoyable to weld just ventilate the area an keep breaths to a minimum 👍. Gal poisoning knocks you around a fair bit more but without the dull headache
@@rens1489 i just mentioned what i was told and the reasons I didn’t weld it. Dad used a TIG at work but I’ve never had one or a real need to buy one. As for gal, i have welded gal pipe but i ground it off first and did my best to avoid the fumes. I also do my best to avoid it altogether. I got a lung full of something at tech once and didn’t like it, so i never went back for seconds.
@@winzracingNZ dad was a boily for almost 40 years, says he never wore a glove on his right hand. He never said why but I’m betting it’s something to do with control. He now has lymphoma but it’s unknown if this is connected in anyway.
@@python27au You can never say that cancer is because of that. But risk definitely rises when exposed to uv radiation for example. I don't get why you wouldn't use gloves.
@@asdqwe4468 better control i guess🫤
As a novice welder my new favorite thing to be scared shitless off is steel wool. Great for cleaning and abrading surfaces and great for a stage in polishing work, but it WILL BURN - Steel wool, especially rusty old steel wool burns low and quiet and you might not notice it's even burning until a door opens and a puff of wind blows it into something more flammable. It's sneaky and quiet and will ignite from welding sparks and grinder sparks. I've done it twice and now as a basic start-of-the-day ritual I walk the work area interested only in random bits of steel wool, paper towel and or solvent rags and make sure they are all sent far far away from the center of my arc.
Great series, I'm glad we're all that much more afraid. Safe sparks everyone.
Ever touch a 9V battery to the steel wool? I have no real idea what the ~24V >100 amp from a welder would do, but I predict bad thing.
@@k53847 Oh yes, Bad Thing.🤣
Terrific video series John. I have to admit I did not know about some of the toxic gasses you have brought to our attention. On the subject of removing flammable items from anywhere even remotely close to where you are welding, it brought to mind one item that 99 percent of people would probably not even give a 2nd thought to. The good old bag of STEEL WOOL. My father found this the hard way many years ago when he lit up a pile of it in a cupboard in his shed. Sparks from an angle grinder found their way through some vent slots in the doors, & the Steel Wool readily & rapidly turned into a fireball. It proved quite difficult to extinguish as well. Fire extinguisher just spread it around with the pressure, and a garden hose had to deployed to flood the cupboard.
Used steel wool as a firestarter back in the scouts when I was a boy. Good point 👍
Use bronze wool instead.
Pure lint from the dryer can be dangerous as eph, too. I collect it for fire starting purposes, but keep it double-bagged in ziplocks, on the presumption that I am keeping air away from it. When I put a wad into the bag, I compress it down AFAP just to get all the air out of it, then put the second baggy over it and compress that down, too.
I suppose that might not be enough, but the compressed bag stays compressed, so I presume the air inside is as minimal as possible, so even if it did spontaneously ignite by self-heat generation, that it would quickly snuff itself before melting both layers of baggie.
@@nickbrutanna9973 If you wanted to go the extra mile, wrap it in a few layers of aluminium foil, first. That way, all flame would be contained even if the bag were to melt.
@@nickbrutanna9973 dryer lint spontaneously igniting seems difficult to imagine, though I'm told it's accumulation can become quite the fire hazard. The litany of toxic gases from intentionally induced high temperatures and extreme caution against errant sparks snagging obscured catalysts are cautions worth echoing.
John i saw a mate of mine sucking the rust from a fuel tank by using a vacuum cleaner it was almost funny when vacuum turned into a jet engine that started from the sparks from the AC brush motor in the cleaner.
Same issue with using common work or home fans to EXTRACT gases, etc. from a home or shop. The electric motors are not rated explosion-proof, so brushes arcing and such create the Spark of Immolation as the flammable vapors ignite. Even if the fan is "upwind" of the work area some thought should be given to this potential hazard.
I am 71 yrs.old now and retired,as a teenager I worked on a roustabout crew in the "Oil Patch" and always managed to get to help the welder(because no one else wanted to)on site,I liked it! Later took a welding course in a local Jr.College. Never got around to being a full time welder,became a Glazier instead. Then went to work for a fracturing/acidizing company,they taught me how to drive a truck and the rest is history. Like the song says,"I've been everywhere man!"
You will certainly save lives & prevent illnesses by posting this video John. Great Video,
I was a professional welder (in another life) and bought a hobby machine for home projects. I only weld outside with SMAW, because I like my garage and don't want to burn it down or fill it with smoke from the electrodes (it is attached to the house). However, I will often use the GTAW process inside, as it doesn't send sparks or smoke everywhere and it isn't very tolerant to breezes in the great outdoors. Still need to keep anything flammable as far away from the welding and have an extinguisher handy because sh*t can happen. Another good tip for welding on automobiles is to disconnect the battery and put the ground on a clean spot as close to the work as possible. Having to replace an EMC or bearing that got arced can spoil your whole day.
John, RE fuel tank repairs, as someone who has been a vehicle technician for more than 50 years (now retired with all significant bits still attached) the companies I worked for had one golden rule about fuel tank repairs… DON’T, if they were damaged or leaking the only fix is to remove the tank and replace it with a new one. We were specifically told not to attempt to repair it. I have talked to people who do this for a living and the preparation needed to safely weld them is extensive and comprehensive, not something that your average home welder would even begin to understand.
The comedic timing here is absolutely impeccable
Thank you for reminding me to pick up a welding mat. I needed to do some welding indoors and you probably saved me from burning my house down.
I wrote out the first 5 tips, and these on one list. This will go on my welding cart as a check list before welding. THANK YOU!
As a handyman welder I’m at the point where my work doesn’t fall to pieces anymore, but I didn’t know there were more than 5 ways to die from welding. So maybe I’ll have to revisit the safety aspect of my welding.
Follow up!
This is becoming like the final destination movie series- can't wait for the episode where we learn not to weld while in the wading pool, not to weld the propane tank onto the BBQ for greater mobility & not to weld while on a roller coaster... thanks a lot tho you are def saving lives with these vids & humorous as well!
There is a saying, it’s applied to many vocations, but here it is for this one: There are OLD welders. There are BOLD welders. But there are no OLD, BOLD welders. Great advice in this part two video, thanks. Take care all.
Another excellent video - A few years ago I threw out & replaced all my old brazing rods when I found out they contained cadmium, so it's not just welding that can cause problems, even soldering has similar fume risks. It's also worth noting that for home welders, that while the welder may have a face shield, it's a good idea to create an exclusion zone to prevent anyone else from wandering in to the area and copping a dose of weld flash in the eyes....
Dear Mr. Cadogan, Saturday the 9th of July 24 I joined the club! I bought be a stick weld for 48.95€, finally I shall not try all the possibilities of waking up dead (what a nice phrase).
Mate, I´m having a blast/fun like a tornado on a camping ground. All the noises, all the amps- five things happen at once, I´m hooked. Right thru the hole arm.
I don´t care if it looks shit- I made it, it´s my shitty weld and I love every milimeter. We all started out somewhere and at first I train ignition.
Burn a few sticks, get to know my tool. Then I dig thru my shitpiles for some to cut and uncut, make all the mistakes upfront so I´m good later.
What I miss tho: my dad had a welding transformer and the feel was unique. The stinger vibrated, letting me know who´s boss here.
Now I have an inverter- that´s way smoother, not so scary, no vibration. And the stinger is light, feels nice- I wanted this for years.
I promise I won´t unalive myself or wake up dead, my two cats still need their Daddy. I could build them something fancy...
Have a good Day, kind regards from the middle of Europe. I like Australia because You are metric and (so far I´ve seen) are all very nice people. I´d like to come to AusArmor Fest sometime.
Never weld whilst wearing trainers. I remember doing a funny little dance on my drive, after some balls of red-hot slag decided to go on a tour inside my footwear.
Good tip. I said so in a vid earlier this week. (Unlikely to kill you, however...)
@@AutoExpertJC I once saw a young apprentice try to blow some dust from his overalls using the Oxygen from the Oxy/Accetaline torch...
the Fireball he turned into ran quite quickly outside and rolled in the nearest puddle of water he could find (It rains a lot in Wales!)..
He was ok after... but a little Singed.! lol!
Most of my welding has been done in the field for tanks of any kind i fire the service truck get the appropriate hose hook to the exhaust place the other end in the tank wait at least 5 minutes then weld wait at least 5 minutes remove the hose and finish job no oxygen no fire in 60 years of doing it that way i have never had a problem i did when when i was young try to kill myself cutting galvanized material lucky for me an old timer caught what i was doing and saved my stupid ass
That's a good technique too.
There are some great 2 pack expoxy products for fuel tanks, I used some compound and stuck it on a still full fuel tank which I thought had small hole looked like someone had put a Geologists pick through it, stuck that concotion on and it sealed it straight away and did so for the next 5 years until I sold the old bus, Fuck trying to blow yourself up.
An empty fuel tank is more explosive than a full tank or half full tank. We used to fill them with water and leave them neck upwards open and full of water for a day. Then fill them with the exhausts gas from a running car. For extra safety welding through the gap of an ajar fire door with the tank on one side and you on the other.
I am in an LPG emergency response team. We decommission cylinders by flaring excess gas in a hot air balloon burner and then fill with water. I believe if someone manages to fill a cylinder with water, full full, all the way to the top, empty it out, then still manage to blow themselves up, then they have done something horrific in their past to deserve to be that unlucky because karma is really out for them at that point.
Maybe they were trying to build a carbide lamp
@@CatrikDidnt know what that was had to google it. Could be plausible. I wont be building one!
That works for lpg but water won't ensure oil fuels are all gone
@@dzonz4274 - cut while full of water - that guarantees fewer lingering fumes... - or flare the suckers right off. (disambiguation - not recommended)
@@winzracingNZ If they have LPG in them they have pressure. If you open the valve and no gas comes out then there is little to no gas in there. Keep in mind LPG is heavier than air so if your going to let gas out be mindful of that, it can travel along the ground and find ignition sources. If you suspect there is gas in there but the valve is broken so you cannot get the gas out then that it outside my knowledge, they get shipped off, don't know what happens to them after that. We do not shoot them here, but I would imagine if its 45kg or smaller and your at least 500 meters away shooting from behind cover in the middle of nowhere you would be "reasonably" safe, regardless of whether the gas ignites or not, but take that last statement with a grain of salt, its basically a guess on my part, as I say, I have never shot one.
I am so glad and thankful for you taking the action on these videos about welding dangers and how to avoid them!
Thanks a lot from Brazil.
You're saving lives, mate! Relevant, critically important information. Clearly, you care about the well-being of others. Thank you
I read of a case where someone was making a barbeque from a 45ngallon drum the had once contained diesel, they had washed it out and pressure washed it as well but when they started to cut it open it exploded severely injuring them. The report said that enough diesel had remained in the seam to vaporise and ignite. Another case I read about was two men were mig welding at the bottom of a large pit when someone up top noticed them slumped over he went down and also promptly passed out, when the fire brigade got there two were dead and the other ended up in hospital with brain damage.
Attempting a confined space rescue without safety gear will claim more victims. Pits, tanks, trenches, even some confined small rooms create a deadly risk to the hasty rescuer.
@markh.6687 Apparently, storage rooms on ships where the anchor chain is stored is also dangerous. The chain rusts due to being wet with seawater, using up all the oxygen.
@@suttoncoldfield9318 There was an incident in the US where an OUTDOOR area became a confined space due to several buildings and a weather condition combining to injure workers overcome by fumes. I'd have to search for it, but it was related to a steel mill if memory serves.
PS
In 1997 I had a fuel tank leak repaired on my alpha, Romeo GTV whatever it was long story short I took it to NatRad radiators they degreased it washed about six times still could smell fuel
so they ordered 1 kg of dry ice pellets, put the dry ice pellets in the tank, rolled them around and tipped it upside down so after washing the Dry ice was in there freezing at one end of the tank while they welded the seam up on the opposite corner, and they had no issue, but it wasn’t cheap to get done……
They told me at the time that was their standard process
Good technique - displace the air with CO2.
@@AutoExpertJC
yes I thought you’d like that….
Sounds a little Ironic how NatRad used the "Standard Process"
After degreasing the Fuel Tank SIX TIMES ???
@@weldmachine well that’s because it was in the procedure to rinse out the tank until you can’t smell the fuel any more but the reality is you can always get the smell of a tinge of fuel and it took them six times to get the smell right down also using degreaser
Rinse tank out until you can’t smell fuel any more, then weld up the hole using dry ice pellets inside the tank. That’s the procedure duuuuuuuude
@@weldmachine I don’t think it’s that complicated. They just didn’t want the whole thing to go bang so they kept degreasing it and washing it until they couldn’t smell any fuel any more and even then you can always smell a tiny bit. The standard process is degrease the tank till you can’t smell the fuel and then use the dry ice. I don’t see what the big deal is. I think it’s a bloody good procedure
I'm not a car guy, or a welder at all, but you've got a lot of obvious charisma it was really easy to enjoy listening. Sure you don't need a stranger to tell you that but it's nice!
A friend welded his fuel tank. Soon as the flame came near the hole the tank made a boomp noise and went from rectangular to oval 😮. He had filled it with water, almost full 😅
Welding in my garage earlier this morning...I am the one (of many) who welds surrounded by flammables. I will be rectifying that after I finish watching this episode...empty the bins would be a decent start I guess!!
Cadmium plating has been banned in general use for a lot of years now, but people still get caught out. People have been killed by gas cutting out old cadmium plated rivets in confined spaces for instance.
Thanks for the additional five safety measures to use when welding.
Valuable advice.
You'd think it was mostly common-sense but as they say, common sense isn't all that common.
I 💯 wgree about the fire! I worked in the shipyard industry for 20 years and the welders can manage to start things of fire all the time. Even when you think it's too far away or can't burn the very high temperature involved in welding can manage to start many things that normally would not burn.
My first job was in a ship building yard and the only thing the painters hated more than the rain was the welders XD Paint burns nicely.
Good points.I'm a hobbyist welder at 69. I got to the point where some of my projects require sticking metal together. I've been especially careful with curing oils around the woodshop. So the welding takes place outside. I don't smoke but the cigarette lighter was a great example of not suspecting the most simple of things. I keep all of my propane and gasoline tanks away from anything that can go boom. I used a propane torch to char wood on some of my projects and that stuff caused me to reconsider that process. Great video.
About 25 years ago I had about a 120 litre stainless steel under floor fuel tank in my boat. I removed the tank from the boat and emptied all the fuel. The issue I had with the tank was a slight weeping leak where one of the internal baffles was spot welded in place to the outer surface. It was only a minute leak but one thing you don't want in a boat is leaking fuel. After emptying the tank of fuel I left in the sun for a few days to allow as much fuel to evaporate as possible. I then flushed it with water about 6 times and emptied it.. I used the sniff test to test for any remaining fuel vapour. At the time I had a small gas MIG welder but was still not game enough to use it on the tank. I cleaned the area where the problem was with hydrochloric acid several times an d also sanded the area with wet/dry sandpaper ensuring the surface was spotless. I had a roll of silver solder (98% tin 2% silver). I also had a large old fashioned copper soldering iron which you could heat with a gas flame. I heated the iron with a gas torch well away from where I was working but it was not quite red hot. The silver solder stuck to the stainless surface very well and I extended the pool of molten solder about 2cm around the required repair. The repair worked well and the fuel tank never leaked again. I made sure I was well out in the open a safe distance from my house. There was simply no way I was ever going to use my MIG welder to repair that fuel tank even after thorough flushing with water after being left for several days. In case people are wondering the boat did not have an inboard motor but a 140hp Evinrude outboard.
The proper way to do it if welding would be to fill the tank with CO2 (or nitrogen) gas while doing the welding in a ventilated area to avoid accumulating the CO2. Displacing oxygen and fumes from the work.
A few months ago, a young lad at work (near us, not our company) was killed when working on a drum - I don't know if he was welding or cutting, but the drum exploded. Brisbane.
Love the way you explain early onset afterlife. 🙂
A Bomb originally referred to pressure vessels, usually somewhat spherical/cylindrical. It is why propane 5-gal canisters are also correctly known as propane bombs. It became associated with weapons because early gunpowder burned slowly, and so it was packed into metal shells that would hold the pressure for a moment as the powder burned and then give, spraying shrapnel.
All modern tensile pressure vessels are correctly known as bombs.
Drain those water collection points, can't see rust on the inside.
learnt my lesson when i was a young Pup. I used to smoke to look cool for Chicks, and I sent off a packet of matches in my shirt pocket, scared to shit out of me. It burnt a hole in the shirt. luckily enough I was sort of bent over so it didn`t burn me. just burnt some chest fur. and got a face full of fumes form the matches. fun times.
Yea, I think I will re-watch both these videos a few times, and maybe take notes. Thanks.
My grandfather was a welder. He died when my dad was 14. He had to replace a plug in a massive sized LGB. The guy on top didn't get the water on the plug fast enough. The guy on top went flying 200 feet. Up. The plug took off the back of my grandfather head. When I get the chance to weild. I love doing it. Yet. I am not very good because I don't weild much. Thanks for the safety tips.
I had a mishap, welding exhaust on my mother's car. The welding cables were not long enough! I used jumper cables and no gloves.. I was welding then stood up srait up and grounded my head to a muffler clamp! The zap threw my brain knocked me out for a couple of minutes! It hurt really bad! I had a really bad headache for while! lol
Hello from Florida and thanks for your videos. I just bought my first mig + flux-cored welding machine. It'll stay in the box until I have all the safety equipment and gear needed to safely practice. I'm missing the welding jacket currently. I also need a metal bench. I don't know crap about welding other than what I'm learning on TH-cam. I want to weld as a hobby and do some at home repairs and light fabrication. I already have a career as a medical professional so I'm in no rush to get hurt welding. Any advice?
This is fascinating stuff, considering that I work with a spot-welder. Some components I work with are indeed galvanized and if the coating is a bit thicker than normal (best Chinesium), the smoke can be quite stark. Of course we have extraction by each welder, but in practice things often keep smoking ever-so-slightly after they've been put down again, so... not much I can do about it except cut my throughput by about 25-50%. Stainless is a different matter - smoke isn't a problem, but hellish spark explosions can be a nuisance. Many work shirts and trousers shredded by aggregated spark damage. I've also never known anything with better invasive capability than a welding spark - I can be wearing clothes buttoned up to the neck and a spark might still get down inside and give me a little burn to the torso.
On a different matter - angle grinders and your stern stipulation about holding the grinder with both hands. In practice - and I work with a grinder quite a lot (albeit only 60-grit discs) - I have no choice but to hold the product in one hand and the grinder in the other. Quite fiddly and fine work. It's a bit of a strange company - an external observer might think it's not really a business, but more like a cottage industry, a bunch of blokes tinkering in a shed and it just happens that the shed owners sell what we've put together - quite 19th Century. (This is in England, by the way, not Vietnam or Ghana).
Great vid JC!!!
As a WHS Professional, I see countless incidents where people just turn off their 'Safety Brain' once they leave work and do similar (work) stuff in the garage or fat-cave at home!🤦
Thanks for sharing your experience and advice. I am a Machinist by trade and a beginner when it comes to welding. I have always been afraid of the deadly shock factor of welding. I was aware of the poisonous gases from welding zinc plated materials, but all your other topics were good to hear.
Not sure what the score is in Australia, but the brake cleaner/phosgene thing is a non issue in Europe as chlorinated brake cleaner (the old non flammable type - why its used by welders) has been banned for decades.
We only have to worry about the fire issue as all our brake cleaner is flammable.
Both types are available here in Australia. The same product line can include an option of chlorinated or not in common brands.
I want to thank you for these videos. I found the first one shortly after stupidly sparking a few things because I wasn't paying attention to what was touching the item that I had the welding ground clamp on. That near-miss, followed by your videos, has really rejuvenated by attention to safety.
Yeah Mate fire is always a problem around here in Queensland. so I always weld in bare feet with denim shorts (with the Frayed hems) so if any fire starts I feel it before it gets away.
Solid technique 🤜
Hi John as a boilermaker/ welder fabricating from mild steel through stainless from low grades to one of the highest grades available , aluminium .
When helmets with filtered air intake where available I got one , actually wire 2 out , always refused to weld fuel tanks .
A bad habit was with old stick welders , this happened at Tarong power station as it was a stick welded operation they lost a welder using a bad habit of tucking the rod under there arm pit shove the rod holder onto it , sweat , being earthed and live power bad combination shock directly through your heart , no coming back .
Really good videos you make about staying alive!! I have shared the heck out of them, starting with my Son, who is also a FireFighter/Paramedic. Then with my friends, and my wife, which made her worry even more about me! ;) Thanks a bunch, have learned a lot!
G’day John, been following you on TH-cam for around 12 months now and love your channel. I agree one hundred percent with your advice on welding only you should have presented the six ways to kill yourself when welding. In 1974 as an apprentice carpenter, we were welding up a steel post and rail fence for a client and my boss not wearing welding gloves went to change a rod in the stick welder we were using. Not noticing how wet the ground was, got an electric shock that stopped his heart. This happened because his boots were wet from walking around in the water and mud at the site, and was grounded well enough to allow enough of the 100amps the welder was adjusted to travel through him to the ground and stop his heart. Around fifteen years ago the same thing almost happened to a mate while leaning against his welding table while replacing a rod while not wearing gloves. I retired from carpentry in the early ninety’s and have worked for twenty years as registered nurse, mostly in ICU and emergency dept and have seen several cases of patients in hospital due to welding shock. Most of them already had heart conditions, but being shocked by welders or should I say carelessness is a real risk. Love your show, regards John Beattie.
When welding plated hardware I keep a gallon of muriatic acid (used for pool maintenance) and baking soda. A few seconds in the acid then into a baking soda bath and any zinc is gone. I use the leftover soda to neutralize any spills too.
Excellent presentation, in our early TAFE teaching days our OH&S covered these 5 topics, you could have been in one our classes. Ray.
I worked as a mechanic at a radiator shop back in the late 70's. We cleaned and repaired fuel tanks as well. This is way before aluminum/plastic radiators when radiators were copper/brass and could be taken apart, cleaned and repaired.
It went like this-first punch a small hole in an upper corner of the fuel tank to allow more complete draining. Turn tank to position hole over drain pan and let it drain for an hour or, so to get all the fuel out. Next would be to put a couple of gallons of the hot caustic solution form the hot tank that was used for cleaning copper/brass radiators and slosh it around in the tank. Very nasty stuff. It would clean and help remove rust and crud. Really rusty tanks also got treated with muriatic acid. The next step for the fuel tank was to rinse with water. Stick a hose in it and let it run for a while. Yes, straight into the sewer- it was the 70's. After draining the water out, the tank was dried internally with a hot air blower. The final step before any soldering or, welding was done on the tank was to place it under the large water tank/repair table for radiators. That was a square tank about 4'x4' and 2' deep up on legs. It had a repair table over it that the radiators were placed on for repair and testing that could be raised and lowered into the tank. Repair radiator, pressurize with air and lower into the water to check for leaks.
OK, back to the gas tank part. To ensure it was safe to solder/weld on place gas tank under table, turn face away and stick lit torch into fuel tank.
No boom, good to go. Solder a penny over drain hole and repair if needed. I kind of remember asking the owner if he ever had one blow up and I think the answer was not. He had both eyes and all his fingers if that means anything.
Thanks for all the tips and info. It seems it would be a good idea to check for nearby hazards, plan accordingly and add ventilation. It doesn't take all that long to make a good plan before starting work.
The tank-welding and being on the news bit reminded me of a short, humorous story I need to covey...
Here in Portland, Maine (US of A) the police chief gathered the local news for a demonstration of the dangers of fireworks in Y2K for our independence day celebrations. He intended to show us all what happens to a watermelon when subjected to the effects of what we call a block-buster (quarter-stick of dynamite). So, he used a BBQ tongs to place the block-buster on the watermelon after lighting the fuse. The quarter-stick of dynamite immediately rolled off the melon, and our "hero" tried to place it back on the melon with his HAND - NO GLOVES!
If memory serves, he lost 2 or 3 fingers right in front of the news cameras for all to see on the evening news. Just goes to show, even a "trained professional" can get it very wrong, even when trying to portray what NOT TO DO.
Just the same, thanks for teaching us DIYers the right way to AVOID being on the news unlike one of "Portland's finest!"
Keep up the great work, John! If I see just one more of your wonderful videos, I'll HAVE to subscribe ;)
(And....I did!)
A more extreme version of 'never grab for a falling tool'
It could be your soldering iron, and you might catch it (in a way you wont like much)
@@petegaslondon ....been there, done that, got the t-shirt and scars to prove it! ;)
Very enlightening. Never too old to learn. I'll be looking out for your next videos. Nuff said
My brother is a boilermaker/pipewelder. When he was still quite young, he was doing a repair inside of a tank. The tank was certified safe, evacuated, and ready to weld. He struck his arc and woke up 50 feet away on the other side of the shop. Turns out the tank was not quite as evacuated as someone thought. He walked away from it, but it ultimately, 35 years later, ended his career. As he aged, the damage to his inner ear got worse, as did the spinal injury. With balance issues, he could no longer work on a ladder or a scaffold. A pipe welder who can't do that, isn't much of a pipewelder.
I'll add one more John.
Strap your gas bottle to your MIG welder properly. Same goes with OXY-ACETYLENE, too.
Should a full G size bottle hit the floor and break off the cylinder reg whilst the valve is already open then the cylinder becomes an extremely efficient torpedo.
I've seen it happen twice. Once with a bottle of argon and once with a bottle of oxygen. I will never forget how fast that oxygen bottle travelled up the workshop. If it had hit someone the injuries would have been life threatening.
Story from a metro Chicago steel mill. Oxygen bottles were disappearing, and nobody could figure out why. Security measures were stepped up, counts re-counted, etc. Still the bottles were disappearing. Until the day somebody watched guys putting the bottles on a piece of scrap i-beam and knocking the valves off with a sledgehammer. They were shooting the bottles into the lake, and almost hit a ship with one.
not to mention that if anything had been burning or sparking at all nearby, it would have likely started a fire, oxygen makes everything more flammable.
Best series I've seen. Ever. Thank you.
Thank you so much. I bought my first welding machine after watching umpteen vids about how to weld, but none of them told me how not to croak. It matters eh.😍😁🤭 PS I'd listen to you talk about anything bc you're funny and I'm hard of hearing and you are one of the few people I can hear without subtitles because you speak each word clearly and separately. You enunciate each word. Thank you VERY much.
Thanks for the warning, was going to have “a go” this week with my new stainless sticks and do a comparison with my other gasless mig wire. Neither have been tested as yet, not wanting to die or feel crook welding boat Ladder and the like, cheers fella
Excellent! Thanks for keeping me vigilant. Weeks can go by before I need to do some more welding and knowledge unused likes to slip away.
Been lucky, welded for 42 years, gass , mig... No problem...... But I agree, learn and stay safe. ❤️🇬🇧❤️🇮🇱
Excellent stuff John - thanks again, from a Welding Newbie.
Many years ago I was in the NSW fire brigade and was called out to a house fire . The bloke had a leak in the fuel tank of his motorcycle, so he welded it up while it was still on the bike . We saved the house , garage was toast .
Just trying to get into welding and found your channel. You got a sub on the previous video on 5 ways to die simply by mentioning the Hilux. Just a heads up incase you were unaware a few years back Nord VPN had a data breach in their server center which I believe was in Germany. They then lied and tried to cover it up rather than admitting to the failure. Great info in the vids, thanks.
So I started tig welding in my aviation school and I never throught about the lighter thing, thank you for this video because I always have one in the pocket of my pants and today was the last time I had it during my class
“Ammerica!” Love this guy and the surprising facts!
Thanks for posting this. Ive not yet started welding but it's the next skill I want to learn. Doing it safely is at the top of my priority list so this was very helpful. I still have all my fingers too and much intend to keep it that way.
A good family friend of mine was a welder for 40 years, stainless Steel was his main contract work in many industries here in sheepshsgastan and around the Pacific region, sadly he became very ill with his spine and other illness, sadly he was bed ridden on the last time I spoke to his wife, sadly most of my mate's have died recently from industrial illnesses, I myself are struggling with illness and injuries, 14:09
Thanks for the info here, John! Always nice to know how to qualify for the Darwin Awards, although slow death by toxic fume ingestion won't count, will it?! Last century, I used to enjoy landing planes on dirt airstrips up the sides of mountains in New Guinea, so I had a certain mindset towards safety. In retirement, I'm enjoying reshaping steel in my man cave and learning about the differences between arc and MIG welders - blast the arc fumes away but use a helmet with air supply (PAPR) for MIG. When first I started using the oxytorch, I used to RTFM quite a few times before firing it up, shitting myself worrying about oxy/acetylene cylinders going kaboom. So I was quite relieved after cutting my first section of 10 mm plate steel, knowing there was nothing flammable in the workshop. With a hose, bucket of water and fire extinguisher just outside, I felt safe. Yeah, right! I looked down and saw the native Aussie grass plant near the entrance, burning furiously - a piece of molten metal had bounced off the concrete and torched it! (BTW, that plant grew back so well, I set fire to a coupla other grass plants. And now I always hose the floor before using the oxytorch.)
This reminds me of an incident I was involved with some years ago. We were installing a shingle roof on a new house. There was a steel I beam that supported part of the second story, which needed a triangle shaped section cut off to allow us to install the plywood substrate for the lower roof. Late summer, lots of dry, dead grass around the site. The steelwork contractor showed up and began to use a cutting torch to cut the I beam, while I was installing the shingles on another part of the roof. Soon, I smelled smoke, and looked down to see the grass on fire. I climbed down from the roof in a hurry, shouting 'Fire" while doing so, and had to use one of the asphalt roof shingles to beat down the flames, while the guy who had been using the torch grabbed buckets of water from a farm trough to put out the fire completely. It was a close call, the house could have gone up if the foil faced paper under the chipboard floor had caught alight.
Religiously systematic safety information given in a way which fits beer talk. Fantastic.
I would add something regarding electricity.
Avoid machines with worn current outlets. If there is short circuit between a welder housing and it's negative outlet (most cases) in case a workpiece clamp fells from construction -welding current will flow through mains cable. This is deadly because it will burn mains cable inner isolation and can put mains voltage on a welder housing.
I wonder if there has been research on the toxicity of angle grinding or flappy disk dust? Never seen a warning label on the disks apart from the recommended speed.
In my little 8mx10m shed I have divided it into four areas, the welding/machining bay is at one end need the roller door and the flammable liquids are in the far end stored in a steel cupboard. I have 2 dry chemical extinguishers and a 20 lt water sprayer backpack extinguisher. Things learned in the trade with workshop safety should also be implemented at home.
Looking what those discs are made of and what we do with them... Fine glass fiber, metal and abrasive dust, it can't be good. You can see the stuff glittering in the sunlight. Wear at least mask, or better, respirator. Welders use ventilated masks while welding and grinding for a reason.
Those angle grinders are dangerous on so many levels. Protect vision, hearing and breathing, don't burn yourself or something else, don't let it catch-snatch you, watch the sparks etc.
What about those small oxy-acetylene kits they are selling now?
No warnings about using oil or grease on the threads of the oxygen tank?
Changing oxygen tank with dirty, oily or greasy hands.
Love the videos! I went to trade school ass a kid for welding and am only just now using it for scrap metal art!
and thats the thing, safety and youtube are not exactly great buddies. this is why its so important to really check the credentials of the people offering advice in youtube. as a retired furniture maker i see so many weekend warrior woodworkers espousing on how to do different things with machinery that takes absolutely no prisoners. i listen to john because he does in fact know what he is talking about. i have been thinking of getting a small welder just to do a few little things like dollies for my larger machines. but i will only watch welding videos from professional welders. by the way i still have all my fingers too.
Rule Number 1, SAFETY, Rule Number 2 SAFETY, Rule Number 3 SAFETY. I remember back in 1992 when I was renovating my house, driving nails with a hammer, I was ridiculed for wearing earplugs......oh my how the times have changed.
Great advice, enjoyable delivery mate. A legend!
Wisdom from OZ- received loud and clear in California.
Excellent video. I'd just add to be mindful or argon. It can and has filled a pit displacing the air leading to the death of a young man. I doubt anyone here can afford enough of it to do that but worth keeping in mind.
Cadmium has been banned for metal protection for many decades, even themiliary stopped using it long ago. It can get into the body through the skin. It used to be used on jewelry.
I used to work at a company that made assembly lines for medical products. They did almost purely stainless tig welding with noting more than a basic welding hood. Glad I left that place...
This video was very important for me to watch
I have heard that a bic lighter has the same energy as a stick of dynamite. But i was a combat engineer and have seen the effects of TNT, gelignite and PE, and because I’m that kind of curious, we put fire to a half full bic and it made quite a loud crack and i wouldn’t like to have been holding it at the time but I don’t think it was anywhere near as destructive as a high explosive. It was probably on par with a det which can take your fingers off if your not careful.
Energy and power are not the same thing. High explosives are more powerful.
I had one go off on a welding bench, it was more of a flare up from the hole in the side of it than an explosion. It took me several minutes to figure out what caused the orange flash that reflected off the wall behind me and lit up the inside of my welding helmet.
@@ozmaniac101 getting them to act like a weapon against someone else and not sending you to the ER would be the trick.😉
A co worker had that happen while doing torch on waterproofing (outside of basement walls). He'd used the lighter to light the torch, then set it down on the wall's footing, that had been waterproofed a few minutes prior, and was still warm. A few minutes later, the lighter went POP!@@cunning-stunt
When I was deployed to Iraq we would light bic lighters on fire when we were bored by putting a few squirts of hand sanitizer over them, lighting that on fire, then getting back. None of them ever exploded, whichever part of the plastic melted out first would just shoot a stream of fire until it ran out of gas. That's pretty much it, but I definitely wouldn't want to have one on me if it went up in flames. Maybe it is possible for it to explode if it was burned or melted in a certain way though.
So right, John. I cut up an LP gas cylinder [9kg] to repurpose. I filled it with water and waited several days. I then commenced to cut it using an angle grinder with a cut off wheel. There were multiple flare ups/ explosions- not catastrophic but so disconcerting that I donned welding gloves and helmet. Lucky this was done outdoors. The porosity of the metal obviously contained gas that the water did not shift. Beware, my friends
Texas is right up there with spectacular welding initiated bush fires
EXCELLENT VIDEO!! I wouldn't have any idea of theses issues!!!
Yet another talk that should be compulsory vewing at welding school, great work Mr C.
We smokers carry zippo lighters in the steel industry . Most mills prohibit plastic lighters in the states.
Good video , 1 had 36 liter bottle. Had some kind of air-conditioning gas, I can't remember. Was also galvanised, I scraped the idea and didn't risk it. Smae with the steel drums I got , had oils.not sure what kinds of oils.didn't risk it,went the if you are not 100 % sure. Scrap the idea. Did fix a steel fuel tank one, 34 years ago. Empty leave for a month, fill with water and solder it up.power iron and flux core solder.
Great video mate, watched every second, priceless info, cheers.
Here i am casually listening and mulling over a memory i had at work when the subject of fuel tank repair came up.
I worked under a (semi-retired) superintendent (the kind that gets his hands dirty) sealing the cracks of a Delmag diesel tank while the rest of us were handling odds and ends while the operation was paused. I knew diesel takes more than a spark to ignite, but i also knew that even diesel FUMES from an emptied tank are still flammable... i tried to explain this to him. It took a minute, but enough fumes and pressure built up to ignite. Im glad i opened the cap before he started, i was hoping we could atleast flood the tank with water but none would have it.
When behind on production, people take risks with little thought. Speak up and stand back.