I spent the morning helping my neighbor pull all the sheet rock,appliances, toys, etc from his garage. He was lucky that when he set it on fire there was no real structural damage, only smoke damage. He did something I’ve heard warnings about all my life but really didn’t believe.
After doing some remodeling in the house he took some rags that were saturated with linseed oil and put them in a plastic bucket with some other debris. He put the bucket in the garage and went to bed. 4 hours later he wakes up to the sound of the smoke alarm. He thought because it was in the 20’s that night the rags would be safe until he could properly dispose of them. I’ve always heard oily rags could start a fire but never really believed it, but it does happen and a lot quicker than you might think.
Luckily his wife and kids were out of town, there would have been some serious panic if they had been around, and there would have been a pickup truck in the garage as well. His homebrew kegerator, 2 kegs and the CO2 bottle are all fine…
When I was in art-school we were warned repeatedly about this. If the rags are laid out flat and seperately they can dry. Worst thing one can do is the aforementioned wadding and then throwing it away.
I first learned about SC when I was in high school. Thankfully I’ve never experienced it probably because I heeded to the warning. At least everyone escaped without harm. That’s a tough learning lesson.
Greasy rags get tossed or stored outside.
My neighbor’s house burned down due to this… they were in a coffee can on the back porch…
It happens a lot more than people think and it can happen very quickly. I’ve had them start to get warm in a couple of hours. Always spread out the rags and lay or hang them flat, preferably outside and away from your house.
Paul
I’ve always hung them on a fence. more to get the smell away from the house than for safety. I’m going to experiment with a few oily rags in a bucket(way out in the yard) to see just how long it takes.
At the power plant where I worked we had oily rag disposal cans. They sealed airtight and were painted fire engine red. The safety guys would write you up (serious shit) if they came into a work area where you were working and the oily rags had not been stored/disposed of properly.