-> I keep most of my solvents in a metal shed in an open part of my
-> yard- not in my garage. Then I fill very small containers of
-> solvents to keep in the garage for everyday uses. ...'twill be one
-> big fire if the shed ever goes though. fred zampa
My shop has two sets of welding bottles, a 10 gallon parts washer
filled with kerosene, a honing tank with 15 gallons of Diesel fuel, a
rod hone with 2 gallons of honing oil, and a valve grinder with half a
gallon of grinding oil. The rod heater has a 20 pound propane bottle.
During the winter there is also a kerosene heater with an 11 gallon
tank.
Motor oil, brake fluid, gear oil, and other flammables are in a metal
cabinet. I have small amounts of assembly lube and a considerable
quantity of spray paint on open shelves.
Extra kerosene, propane bottles, lawnmower gas, and suchlike go into a
separate shed, which is a lot closer to the shop than I like, but given
the property line I can't move it any further away.
Given the largish amounts of flammables I am careful to make sure all
containers are covered or closed when welding or grinding. Used grease
rags go into a bucket of soapy water. I use lots of paper towels; the
wastebaskets are small and the city picks up garbage twice a week.
Still, they're wooden buildings, and paranoia has made me investigate
fire suppression systems. WW Grainger and McMaster-Carr have the spray
heads for overhead sprinklers. The main problem is freezing if I'm not
out there in the winter time. I've considered heat tape, or just
pressurizing the water lines with argon from the MIG welder to push the
water below the frost line. Cobbling the whole thing up with plastic
pipe and sprayers from Grainger would cost about $200, surely a good
return on investment. I'm still waiting for round tuits.
A homemade sprinkler system like above can work just fine. Plenty of
design data is available. Commercial sprinklers are hideously expensive
because they're certified by various organizations. This certification
is required to get reduced insurance rates from the underwriters. It
turns out only a very few underwriters even care if your house has a
sprinkler system, nobody cares about outbuildings, so it doesn't matter
if it's certified or not.
==dave.williams@chaos.lrk.ar.us======================================
I've got a secret / I've been hiding / under my skin / | Who are you?
my heart is human / my blood is boiling / my brain IBM | who, who?
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