especially when doing anything gasoline related.
i was fixing a few pinhole leaks in a gas tank i fabbed up. thought i blew out all the gas/fumes but i guess there was a tiny bit left over.

 

Wow. That definitely looks painful. Just a reminder to how dangerous our field of work is and the precautions we should be taking.

 

must be in a lot of pain right now if that just happened

 

Yikes!!! That looks like it must have hurt, and scared the bejesus out of you!
For any newbs looking at this, a few things to remember:

1. Air test any liquid tanks or pressurized containers before putting into service with soap and water, or immerse in a tub full of water(done with as little pressure as possible) use duct tape or something on one end as a safety. better to blow the duct tape off then explode the project)
2. If you must repair something like this, rinse with soap and water a few times, then purge with inert gas such as argon for at least 20mins at 10-30 CFH.

Be safe out there.

 

i'm sure it could have been much worse too! looks very uncomfortable. were you wearing a helmet at the time?

 

damn dude! thats why you always since them out with water a few times and still let them sit for a day or so before welding on it. Coulda been alot worse.

 

Damn eugene! That's some scary **** right there. I hope you get to a doctor.

 

im fine. it looks a lot worse than it is. had a friend doc look at it he said its slightly worse than sunburn, nothing dangerous. i put tons of aloe on the burns and the pain went away a few hrs after it happened. i will definately think many times before i do something like this again.

 

ouch.

 

Hiya,

I work for a radiator shop and we flush/repair fuel tanks multiple times every week..

We steam clean them with detergent and run water through them completely for a few hours, Then flame test them with an LPG flame..

When welding/grinding on a tank, ALWAYS keep as many open ports as you can.. I.e take the fuel gauge/pump and any other fittings off so it can breathe.. I can weld a tank completely full of diesel and not worry, petrol on the other hand..

I've never had a tank pop on me, but I *ALWAYS* flame test my tanks after they have been steam cleaned.

 

I just saw a youtube vid of some rednecks welding a gas tank still on the car...with gas still in it! They shot several blasts of CO2 from a fire extinguisher into the tank, and they got lucky with it not assploding in their faces too.

 

welding on gas tanks is always scary... I'd never even ask someone to do that for me.

A local guy nearly died last week when a tank blew up on him.. he's still in the hospital

 

I've welded/repaired probably over 50 petrol tanks with 0 issues..

If you prep it right, you will have 0 issues.

 

damn that sucks. doesnt look like more then surface damage though. you should make a full recovery. Im sure i dont need to tell you to be more careful next time haha. any pics of the project?

and dang your lucky it didnt hit your eye.. that woulda realllllyyyyy hurt

 

ya, heres a few crappy pics of the tank

 

lol even after reading this before, I still did something similar. I was in a rush to fix a weld on my engine stand, and it was oily. I sprayed it with carb cleaner, sanded it a bit, sprayed again...then tried welding it. I heard a hollow sound like when you're nearly at the top of filling a water jug, then felt heat on my hands...

Half the hairs on my right arm are gone No burns, but the weld wasn't that great. I just threw some more weld globs and mounted the motor. It wasn't really a structural weld, so no biggie.


BE CAREFUL!!!