Spontaneous Combustion

[Bob C]

Many people (including me) seal their wood decks with either linseed oil, or "deck sealer". Read the fine print on the can, about disposal. They aren't kidding.

The deck sealer I buy, comes in typical metal "paint cans".  When I'm done, I use the empty can as the storage container. I put the rags in it, with water, and seal up the can with the lid.

Linseed oil is one of those that can fool people. Yeah, it kind of has that "it must be flammable" smell, but not like gasoline, or something else that has an obvious smell.

[Hillbillies]

I put the rags in it, with water, and seal up the can with the lid.

Whats your next step after soaking them Bob? 

I know this may be wrong.  But I take my linseed oily rag and hang it (spread out) for it to air dry for a few days.  Then I throw it away.

[Bob C]

Whats your next step after soaking them Bob? 

I also let things air dry, if I'm out there working and can keep an eye on it... but when I'm done  I put water in the can, squish the rags into it, so they're soaked. I then seal it with the metal lid, then throw it out.

[Stitches]

Where do you throw it out?  My husband is using some right now and once he's done, I need to know what to do with the rags and clothes he wore.

[cedar]

My deck wraps around the house and has two doors.  So I'm doing I half of the porch at a time. I'm using the deck sealant and putting it on with a covered roller brush on a telescoping handle.  There is almost no mess with this method, I didn't get a thing on my clothes.  In between sessions I put the small hand brush and the roller brush in a large ziplock and put them in the freezer.  That way they are safely stored till I finish the project.  I make sure the plastic pan (for the roller brush) is empty and safely in the shade all day.  I will keep the roller in the freezer until trash day, put some water in the bag and throw it out. 

If you haven't tried it, the freezer is great for ziplocked paint brushes that you might use again and don't want to clean or throw out.  My freezer has quite a collection 

[makgirl]

I think Rennman leaves the oily rags soaking in the metal can and treats them as "hazardous waste" and disposes them  as such.

Some friends of ours on Elm oiled their house this summer, soaked the rags in water and put them in a plastic container.  They had an emergency back east, left for a week and while they were gone, the plastic container sponatously combusted.  Luckily their fire fighter neighbor smelled the burning plastic right before it ignited and they put out the small fire that ensued.  The container was in the dirt, so it didn't spread.  Be careful folks!

[ChrisLynnet]

Geez, I didn't know that could happen! 

That's good to know, as my decks seriously need a makeover. I'm glad this discussion came up.

[Bob C]

Geez, I didn't know that could happen! 

This topic was created partly because the fire dept talked about the recent house fire at the MAC last night, and mentioned this as the probably cause. A fire from a recently oiled deck (with fumes spreading around) will spread very quickly.

[Nolena]

Over the summer, I stained a house and deck in Wrightwood. (Not mine, of course. Mine still needs to be done.  )
I spread the oily rags out on the bare dirt of the back yard each day, or hung them over a trash can well away from the house. The volatile materials evaporated over a period of days.
One day, someone else working on the house came and decided to clean up by putting all of the rags in the garage (where the water heater, with a pilot light, was located), and closing the garage door. I was working that day, and took the rags out and spread them out to dry. (and left the garage door open to disperse the fumes)
It's important.

[ForestGal]

We had a redwood deck installed in the back yard in 1983, and for years, would treat it with a mixture of linseed oil and turpentine.  We didn't do it every year, but we did treat it several times over the years.  I don't recall ever using rags, always brushes and rollers.  And I don't remember how we disposed of those brushes, probably let them dry and waited until trash morning to put them in the trash. 

Last summer (8/07) I had the deck redone, and extended.  The contractor used Choice Deck, which is like Trex, installed it over the existing redwood, because that deck was still very solid, and used new footings or whatever they are called, for the extension part.  This stuff never has to be treated.  The project wasn't cheap, but well worth it to me to not have to deal with treating the wood any more.

Do they still make turpentine?  At the Fire Safe Council meeting tonight (which was very interesting, BTW), this issue was discussed.  From what I gathered, now paint thinner is used instead of turpentine. 

[RennMan]

I think Rennman leaves the oily rags soaking in the metal can and treats them as "hazardous waste" and disposes them  as such.

Some friends of ours on Elm oiled their house this summer, soaked the rags in water and put them in a plastic container.  They had an emergency back east, left for a week and while they were gone, the plastic container sponatously combusted.  Luckily their fire fighter neighbor smelled the burning plastic right before it ignited and they put out the small fire that ensued.  The container was in the dirt, so it didn't spread.  Be careful folks!

Any kind of combustion needs three things, an ignition source, fuel, and oxygen. Take away any one of those things, no fire.

Spontaneous combustion doesn't need the ignition source, but if you take away the oxygen component (i.e. by soaking in water) it won't ignite.

Our decks and our friends' decks and home are stained/sealed with Penofin, which is a rosewood oil base.  Anything that has an oily base like Penofin, linseed oil, turpentine, etc will need to be disposed of correctly.

We soak the used rags in a metal or old crockery pail filled with water, then take the rags and seal them in a metal paint-type can for disposal (the can does have water in it when I seal it).

Spreading the rags out to dry is also a way of eliminating the hazard (after the oil evaporates), I'm just paranoid enough to not do it that way.

Peace

[clint]

Slight correction

The Fire triangle is Fuel, Air, Heat. Not ignition source. Spontaneous combustion creates it's own heat through oxidization.


And never use linseed oil before trying to light a Coleman stove

[RennMan]

Slight correction

The Fire triangle is Fuel, Air, Heat. Not ignition source. Spontaneous combustion creates it's own heat through oxidization.

And never use linseed oil before trying to light a Coleman stove

Ahh, I stand corrected.  After I posted my comment, I thought I was missing something...

And you are a funny guy   

[Nolena]

The fire triangle is no longer used.
It's now a fire tetrahedron:

fuel
air
heat
chemical chain reaction