Fire Prevention

[ebscreen]

So Brandt's recent experience has had me eyeballing everything in the shop with a renewed scrutiny.
I'm sure I'm not alone there.

The worst we've ever had was trying to stay ahead of the holes in jersey mesh with extra pallet paper,
having it flip up under the flash and touch a bulb, and subsequently popping the next screen.
Even just that was a little bit terrifying.

I remember on the old old board reading horror stories of folks watching as something similar happened,
but then spread to an electrical drop from the ceiling, covered in lint of course, and from there was an all out
disaster.

My question is, what are some of the obvious and not-so-obvious things we can do to prevent and/or mitigate
fires?

And for those of you who have been through the ordeal (a not insignificant portion of us I'm sure) what are some
of the things you learned from it? Both immediate and after the fact. (For example I've heard that the smallish
fire extinguishers suck when put to the test, a fact not learned until the crucial moment)

[Zelko-4-EVA]

turn off light fixtures when changing bulbs.  a small electricity arc can ignite the dry lint that accumulates around light fixtures.

set a lint removal schedule and stick to it.   ive used a long piece of conduit with tubing appropriate for compressed air inside, valve on one end and a nozzle on the other.  wear ear/eye/breathing protection  - knock down the lint around pipes, fixtures, etc. 

inspect electrical connections.  make sure all connections are properly torqued and are not blackened/discolored/heated.

inspect flashes for lint, internal wiring for discoloration.

inspect fans for proper operation - ive had a small fan on a flash quit working (gummed up from spray tack) and it started smoking.

make sure all your electrical panels are properly labeled so equipment can be cut from electricity in the event of an emergency 

[ebscreen]

turn off light fixtures when changing bulbs.  a small electricity arc can ignite the dry lint that accumulates around light fixtures.

set a lint removal schedule and stick to it.   ive used a long piece of conduit with tubing appropriate for compressed air inside, valve on one end and a nozzle on the other.  wear ear/eye/breathing protection  - knock down the lint around pipes, fixtures, etc. 

inspect electrical connections.  make sure all connections are properly torqued and are not blackened/discolored/heated.

inspect flashes for lint, internal wiring for discoloration.

inspect fans for proper operation - ive had a small fan on a flash quit working (gummed up from spray tack) and it started smoking.

make sure all your electrical panels are properly labeled so equipment can be cut from electricity in the event of an emergency

All excellent points. I would never have thought of the light fixture one, but makes perfect sense. I'm guilty
of having swapped bulbs with power on.

We've added HVAC filter material to all the small fan "filters" on all of our equipment. The wire mesh ones are good
for stopping small rocks but not much else.

The ol' shop-vac is getting a workout this week.

[Doug B]

make sure all your electrical panels are properly labeled so equipment can be cut from electricity in the event of an emergency

  ^^^ This. Once we had a fire in the warehouse from an electrical surge at an outside transformer
100 yards away. Couldn't get to the panel to shut everything off because it was on fire. I
went to an emergency cut-off at the other end of the building and we were able to extinguish
the flaming panel. I completely forgot about that little incident over 18 years ago.

[Maxie]

I had a shirt catch fire under the flash this year, by the time we saw it about 3 screens had caught fire.
Our building has fire alarms and sprinklers but I hung a small fire alarm above and close to the flash.
I also put all my heat presses on one line with a timer, every 2 hours they switch off unless someone resets it.
I hate being home and trying to remember if I switched the press off.    The fans for drying my screens are also on a timer.
My gas dryer has a tap for closing the main gas line and my screen washing area has a main water tap.
Whoever locks up has to sign a check list that they closed both these taps.

[Zelko-4-EVA]

make sure all your electrical panels are properly labeled so equipment can be cut from electricity in the event of an emergency

  ^^^ This. Once we had a fire in the warehouse from an electrical surge at an outside transformer
100 yards away. Couldn't get to the panel to shut everything off because it was on fire. I
went to an emergency cut-off at the other end of the building and we were able to extinguish
the flaming panel. I completely forgot about that little incident over 18 years ago.

I think its also OSHA/NEC required.  your written lockout tagout procedures should have breaker specific procedure.   when i wrote our lockout tagout procedures the "fill in the blank" forms i used required that i list which breaker had to be switched.

after we moved i had to relabel our breakers - i have 11 panels in this building.  half of the labels were 20 years old and incorrect.

[GraphicDisorder]

Excellent suggestions. I will add one.

Don't rent any part of your space to anyone, for any reason. Not worth it. LOL

[3Deep]

I know all about lint never had anything in the shop catch fire, but years ago I had our clothes dryer at home catch fire from lint and man did that thing blaze up fast, all we could do was close the door and smother it out..... in the end lost clothes and the dryer.  I will say if you got small fire extinguishers like we do have more than one and have them in places you can get at them fast.

[T Shirt Farmer]

 i have 11 panels in this building.  half of the labels were 20 years old and incorrect.

 gives me shivers just thinking about chasing down and labeling that many services

[tonypep]

For lint removal check out the Flexilla product line.....................best air tools ever! Also for screen room water removal etc. Can't go wrong there

[CBCB]

Wasn’t Brandt back up and running in a matter of days? I think a good lesson here is to check your insurance. ??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Frog]

turn off light fixtures when changing bulbs.  a small electricity arc can ignite the dry lint that accumulates around light fixtures.

set a lint removal schedule and stick to it.   ive used a long piece of conduit with tubing appropriate for compressed air inside, valve on one end and a nozzle on the other.  wear ear/eye/breathing protection  - knock down the lint around pipes, fixtures, etc. 

inspect electrical connections.  make sure all connections are properly torqued and are not blackened/discolored/heated.

inspect flashes for lint, internal wiring for discoloration.

inspect fans for proper operation - ive had a small fan on a flash quit working (gummed up from spray tack) and it started smoking.

make sure all your electrical panels are properly labeled so equipment can be cut from electricity in the event of an emergency

All excellent points. I would never have thought of the light fixture one, but makes perfect sense. I'm guilty
of having swapped bulbs with power on.

We've added HVAC filter material to all the small fan "filters" on all of our equipment. The wire mesh ones are good
for stopping small rocks but not much else.

The ol' shop-vac is getting a workout this week.

Hah! Reminds me of dirt bikes in the early '60's, with air cleaners that were little else than louvered cans filled with metal scrub pad material. The joke was that they were good for rocks and low flying birds.

Furnace filters on box fans can collect a lot of otherwise troublesome airborne lint as well.

[GraphicDisorder]

Wasn’t Brandt back up and running in a matter of days? I think a good lesson here is to check your insurance. ??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We had power and full use of space in 24hrs. However we had no blanks we could print because all damaged by smoke. I highly suggest being on your A game with insurance. Also having money in reserve where you can start moves without waiting on insurance money is also key to little downtime. We were offered a advanced to get rolling but I had already started things rolling by then. Blanks reordered, breakers ordered, etc. So we are just keeping them informed on whats spent and why and check will be cut later.

[jsheridan]

Put it on your calander..

From Christmas to New Years.. clean and maintenance  week!

Clean from the ceilings down. Rent a skylit if you need to, change all the bulbs while up there, get that leak in the corner fixed you’ve been meaning to get. Vacuum the lint from everything.

M&R dryer owners.. split those heat Chambers and vacuum out the air knives, clean the blowers, change the exhaust belts, replace your old V shaped zipper dryer belt.

Get in and under the presses, follow the yearly schedule for maintenance.

Check your extinguishers and get them tested and up to date if not already.

Take that week to get ship shape and ready for the new year because just when you think you’ll have a minute to fix something.. it’s suddenly thanksgiving. 

[mk162]

Wasn’t Brandt back up and running in a matter of days? I think a good lesson here is to check your insurance. ??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We had power and full use of space in 24hrs. However we had no blanks we could print because all damaged by smoke. I highly suggest being on your A game with insurance. Also having money in reserve where you can start moves without waiting on insurance money is also key to little downtime. We were offered a advanced to get rolling but I had already started things rolling by then. Blanks reordered, breakers ordered, etc. So we are just keeping them informed on whats spent and why and check will be cut later.

Brandt is right, it's also leverage with the insurance company...we had a tree crush our van a few years back.  The adjuster wanted to settle it so we "could get a replacement van quickly."   I had a replacement van in the driveway later that day, before the tree was even gone.  He knew I had all the time in the world to go back and forth on how much they were giving us for the destroyed one.  I ended up getting about 20% more than if I was desperate and taken the first offer.