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Posted by David Sherman [216.18.131.209] on Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 04:43:16 :
In Reply to: Re: Could be the wrong oil? posted by Jerry in Idaho [64.139.238.43] on Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 23:53:49 :
He said it was PVC pipe, so a flow of dry air could definitely build up some static. A lot of people avoid using plastic sewer pipe in wood-shop dust collectors out of fear of sawdust explosions. Even metal ducts in dust collectors are often made with loose-fitting caps here and there that will blow out safely if the dust in the pipe explodes. Still, all we know for sure here is that he was painting and the air system exploded. He assumed it was from paint fumes, but we don't have any reason to conclude that. The pipe could have just failed due to age, fatigue, etc and blown out spectacularly just from air pressure, or oil mist could have exploded as I described. A chemist could tell us what the explosive concentration of, say, lacquer thinner or MEK in air would be, at 100 PSI pressure, and then what that would correspond to in the intake air at atmospheric pressure. Then maybe an anesthesiologist could tell us whether a person could be conscious while breathing that concentration of fumes. Since I'm not a chemist or an MD, I just think it seems unlikely that the fumes would get that strong in the room, especially up above the floor where the air compressor inlet is, without either the air in the room exploding or the man passing out.
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