Rag safety

[natas2000]

I have a few rags with mainly cleaner and polish on them. I'm thinking about throwing them out and starting with rags just for certain uses.
I don't have any oil based stain but will soon. If I use a shop towel then soak it in water and then throw it away is that ok?
What about things like lube, polish, brake clean or thinner? Do they combust? If I soak them in water can they be thrown out?

 

[Busted Knucles]

Burn them before they self combust and sleep good.

 

[seber]

Most of the combustibles are impervious to water. Soaking them will serve no purpose. For things that dry out, I hang rags over a pipe outside to dry. Others go in the fire pit.

 

[Notgrownup]

I store them in a plastic screw top container. If o oxygen is present, they won’t combust. If you have a metal container it’s best but I have an empty plastic bucket of pool shock with a sealed threaded top. I don’t have many oily rags so the size suits me well.

 

[PCustoms]

I store them in a plastic screw top container. If o oxygen is present, they won’t combust. If you have a metal container it’s best but I have an empty plastic bucket of pool shock with a sealed threaded top. I don’t have many oily rags so the size suits me well.

How do you completely Purge the container of oxygen?

You may want to strongly reconsider the way you store these..

 

[Lou's Garage]

Once upon a time, on one of my fire inspections, I got dinged for not having a proper receptacle for used rags. I asked the inspector what I needed, his response was: "a metal can with a metal lid and keep the lid on." I still follow those instructions along with "airing out" material that will evaporate as already described.

Lou Manglass

 

[signcrafter]

I recently picked up 3 flammable rag bins off marketplace. But before this my process is to lay them out flat outside to dry out. Or if I'm staining large pieces and using a bunch of rags I will fill a 5 gallon bucket with water and throw them in there until I have time to lay them out to dry. I read this somewhere a long time ago being the best practice. I think the theory behind it is the water will slow down the chemicals heating up so much as they do their thing. This has worked for me for many years. The issue is the chemical reaction creating heat as it cures and when people bunch up a rag and leave it that heat builds up. Once that process is done I believe(could be wrong) that the rags are safe from spontaneous combustion.

 

[Sbusmech]

Once upon a time, on one of my fire inspections, I got dinged for not having a proper receptacle for used rags. I asked the inspector what I needed, his response was: "a metal can with a metal lid and keep the lid on." I still follow those instructions along with "airing out" material that will evaporate as already described.

Lou Manglass

This is the way.

 

[ALinCarolina]

Solvents alone like thinner and lubes won't spontaneously combust. Oil based products that cure by combining with oxygen are the dangerous ones. When using stains or wipe-on varnishes I just spread the rags out on the concrete until the next day or longer.

 

[ALinCarolina]

Look for the post by Ryan about making a campfire in the shop.

 

[Terra Nova]

Burn them before they self combust and sleep good.

^This is the way.

OR spread them out and leave them in the sun away from anything combustible. Once they are dry and stiff they can go in the regular trash.

I have been to a handful of house fires that were started with discarded oily rags. It still amazes me people don't know about this.

 

[driftpin]

Rags placed in a screw top bottle and placed in the sun can experience spontaneous combustion. I am a retired life safety inspector, paramedic and firefighter

 

[The Cobbler]

years ago at a place I was working at we were using some linseed oil. someone , unknowing of the dangers , left the rag on the lunchroom counter on Friday , Monday morning the rag had combusted and burned thru the laminate top , into the cutlery drawer below.
Spontaneous combustion is real and needs to be respected .

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

When I was in jr high a church in my neighborhood burned down due to a rag fire! The Boy Scouts were refinishing the benches with linseed oil. At the end of the day, they threw the rags in a bucket in the corner. The rags combusted that night and burned the place down. When it was rebuilt following the fire, the painters accidentally left a hose running over the weekend that ended up flooding the place! They had to re-drywall a significant portion of the building.

 

[Sumboodie]

I use blue paper towels for nasty stuff, like cleaning grease out of a hub and toss.
Rags for wiping tools down, hands, etc and they get tossed into an oily rags can and washed when there's enough to make a load.

 

[AldeanFan]

Rags go in the fire pit and toss in a match.
Once when it was late I put some rags in the fire pit and went to bed, in the morning all that was left was ash, glad I hadn’t left them on the workbench.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I toss mine in the wood stove. It'll burn sooner or later.

 

[Notgrownup]

How do you completely Purge the container of oxygen?

You may want to strongly reconsider the way you store these..

The container is sealed but after reading up on this I will discontinue using this method. Thanks for making me reconsider this safety issue.

 

[WWheeler]

Unless they are crusty with wood stain or the like or completely filled with grease (which I toss into the burn pile) most shop towels I keep them in a 6 gallon galvanized trash can with lid and I wash them and reuse them. When the can gets full I first give them a wash by hand with Dawn in a mop sink and then they go in our clothes washer & dryer.

 

[Steve_P]

99% of the time, I just use paper towels when cleaning nasty ****. But anything soaked with flammable liquids goes in a plastic bag outside and then into the trash. I don't store anything like this inside because of fire risk, and also, the smell. There are a million stories about shops burning down because of this, and I don't want to add to the statistics. I certainly don't put anything in the washing machine that's been soaked with something flammable. I'm cheap, but not that cheap.