O2 CYLINDER EXPLOSION

O2 CYLINDER EXPLODES WHILE BEING REPAIRED (STILL PHOTOS)

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• MEDICAL
• GAS
• SAFETY
• RESPIRATORY

[notawebot]

I read about this in a safety notice, the cylinder valve stem broke off and the dead guy was trying remove the valve with 2250 PSI in the tank.

[wallysmi]

The Guy did not die

[sparkyy0007]

Hows this for a theory

Fresh aluminum when exposed to air or O2 almost instantly grows an oxide film. This is an oxidation reaction that produces heat.

The bottle had about 3000 psi trying to push out the valve. Attempting to remove the valve with 3000 or so lbs friction force on the threads exposes fresh aluminum which will then go through an exothermic reaction with the pure oxygen. Reaction rate doubles with every 10 c increase in temp which may have caused thermal runaway .

Just a theory.

[donnyp1966]

If the cylinder was defective, the maintenance worker should've called the gas supplier immediately. They could've disposed of the cylinder and no one would've gotten hurt.

[heyeveryoneimcool]

Metal.

[davec128]

Hence why these should not tampered with while onboard an aircraft.

[analyzingfunny]

@sparkyy0007 pretty good, but did you think about why the oil industry uses spark-free tools? In case they drop a wrench into an area that is dangerous, or the item they are working on. They a make an entire series of non-sparking tools.

[vejet]

@wallysmi You seem to know a lot about this incident. Where you a part of the investigation or did you know the individual involved? If so I just wanted to know how he is doing now. I would assume its extremely doubtful his arm was reattached. Did he sustain any other serious injuries? And what is his condition now?

[weWILLskate]

@300tunes your such a dick! But that was funny so you've been redeemed.

[sparkyy0007]

@MrPeanutBailey

Grease is forbidden for any O2 service.

If the aluminum burned, even at a relatively slow rate it still would have resulted in an explosion once the cylinder over pressured from the heat. Think thermite.

Aluminum is oxidized by oxygen in the rust.

In the tank environment, the oxygen is freely available, very hot due in part to ongoing compression and at high pressure, no thermal reduction necessary, the oxygen is right there to combine with the aluminum.

[doctormoose6]

One of my best friends works with this stuff everyday. That's pretty scary.