shop safety

[MELOC]

ok, now let's take a moment to talk about shop safety...

i am posting this here instead of the shop forum because most of the shop folks probably know better and what i did could happen on any homestead.

my air compressor needed a new drain valve. i knew there was rust plugging up the works and the old valve had siezed. when i removed the old valve, after having checked the gauge for pressure and seeing it read zero or near to zero, i got a very small burst of air and then nothing. i pressumed the tank to now be empty of air. i looked in and saw some rust around the hole and grabbed a bit of wire to run around the interior lip of the hole to loosen any rust. i would then power on and blast the rust away.

when i inserted the wire, a powerful blast of air pressure blasted rust into my hand. my hand was peppered with red dots and a small piece of rust logged in one spot of my thumb. i never expected there to be so much pressure left in the tank. thankfully i had my head to the side and my eyes were not blasted. not expecting a blast, i could easily have had my face right in there.

i was a bit careless i guess, but in my defense, the pressure release only clears the tank to 20 lbs. of pressure and the drain hole was blocked. i also witnessed a small amount of air escape and then nothing so i thought the tank was empty.

next time i will...

wear saftey glasses

use an open air hose or device to remove all of the pressure

double check the gauge...tap the gauge...not trust the gauge

possibly wear gloves

continue to keep my face clear (instinct protected me on this one as i did not consciously have my face clear...force of habit i guess)

expect the unexpected

let's be careful out there!

[Beltane]

I'm glad you are okay!

Thanks for the great reminder. I always worry when DH is outside working on things alone.

[stars01]

Thank you! I just read this to my hub-we can never be too careful..

Paula

[rambler]

It's so easy to do something like that. Thanks for the reminder to think as we work with our tools.

--->Paul

[bubbba]

It only takes a split second for something really crappy to happen, luckily you got off with a little pain and a good lesson. Thanks for the heads up.

Peace

[MELOC]

and i know the dangers of compressed air. i knew a guy who inflated his forearm onetime. he was "cooling" a blister and the skin opened and inflated.