FIRE WARNING

[Maxie]

A few months ago my plant nearly burnt down, just a matter of luck that it didn't.
This week Barths place nearly went up in flames, also luck that it want worse.
The dust mixed with cotton and glue that we get in our plants, on the ceiling, clinging to everything burns very easily and very fast.
Two of us have been lucky.    Take this threat seriously.      Clean up fast, tomorrow might be too late.

[jsheridan]

I had a floor and the press covered in tack lint go up in flames once when a pellon hit the quartz flash bulb, caught and the ember fell to the floor.

[Frog]

Another warning to those in unfinished garages and sheds: sheetrock does work as a barrier to the paper and dry2x4's just aching to become kindling.

[jantexinks]

Here are a couple of other fire warnings to be aware of;

Flash units - they are hot!  Don't leave them on un-attended (you'd be surprised!)  Also I have heard of some inks spontaneously combusting under flash units.

Dirty rags - If you use any type of solvents to clean, be very careful.  This really isn't the case anymore, but for some garage/home based shops it could be.

Always have adequate fire protection ready!!!

[ABuffington]

There is perhaps nothing worse than seeing a fire from your production office and running in what seems slow motion to a growing fire.  We've all been 'Seconds from Disaster", keep your fire insurance up as well.  I am sure all of us can smell the rubber heating up on a pallet underneath a flash from hundreds of yards away.  After the near disaster in the sample dept (worker left a paint removal gun on that we used as a flash since the black body had stopped working) and he never saw the flames behind him feet away. I threw away the paint removing gun and installed fire extinguishers within steps of every press/oven/ignition source.  Cheap protection.  It takes seconds to lose a shop.  I was only twenty feet away from sample dept and by the time I got to it the flames were reaching a suspended ceiling with tons of dust woolies just above it.  Had it made it through the ceiling it would have been a real fire drill.

[Sbrem]

Our 105 year old mill building has had two fires over the 24+ years here, both enough to exit the building but not any real damage. One night, a part timer got a pair of sweatpants caught in the dryer, they caught fire real quick, but we dragged them out, threw them in a bucket and got them to the sink. This place would go up big time if it had enough of a start...

Steve

[Prōdigium]

I worked in a shop a very long time ago when a can of spray tack fell onto the belt of a gas dryer, it exploded inside with the power of a grenade blowing panels off the dryer and sending every person in the shop running for cover. Everyone knew it was a really bad habit to keep the cans on the edge of the dryer feed, but it was so convenient....The very next day the owner of the business took out every can of spray tack in the shop and a few days later a bulk spray system was installed.

There are a hundred ways to have a disaster in a printing shop, most of them are easy to prevent.

[mk162]

we only use spray tack when we print fleece...which coincidentally is the same time we have the dryer gates up high so a can would fit.

There is a shop here where a fired employee put a can in the dryer on their way out the door...classy.

[celtic]

I had a conveyor dryer that had a sudden electrical issue and started on fire.
Got it out right away, but scared the cr*p outta me!

[rmonks]

I have a 4 year old grandson who comes in and out of my shop. He is in the habit of flipping switches on and turning knobs he came in my shop a few months ago and turned the heat control up on my flash unit an I had shirts scorching like crazy. Needless to say we had a little talk and I am taking a few precautions on my own, I put a big bright sign up by my door with a check list, which includes turn off breakers to flash units. He now likes to lock me out of the shop. We're working on that issue now. SO! if you have kids, or Grand Kids visiting your shop watch the little fingers . 

[Sbrem]

I have a 4 year old grandson who comes in and out of my shop. He is in the habit of flipping switches on and turning knobs he came in my shop a few months ago and turned the heat control up on my flash unit an I had shirts scorching like crazy. Needless to say we had a little talk and I am taking a few precautions on my own, I put a big bright sign up by my door with a check list, which includes turn off breakers to flash units. He now likes to lock me out of the shop. We're working on that issue now. SO! if you have kids, or Grand Kids visiting your shop watch the little fingers .

Do not tell your insurance company about that, I'm pretty sure they have some serious rules about kids being around machinery. Of course, you have found a couple of other reasons...

Steve

[jvanick]

I have a 4 year old grandson who comes in and out of my shop. He is in the habit of flipping switches on and turning knobs he came in my shop a few months ago and turned the heat control up on my flash unit an I had shirts scorching like crazy. Needless to say we had a little talk and I am taking a few precautions on my own, I put a big bright sign up by my door with a check list, which includes turn off breakers to flash units. He now likes to lock me out of the shop. We're working on that issue now. SO! if you have kids, or Grand Kids visiting your shop watch the little fingers .

Do not tell your insurance company about that, I'm pretty sure they have some serious rules about kids being around machinery. Of course, you have found a couple of other reasons...

Steve

I am not good with kids to begin with, but kids in a print shop area is a serious no-no.. just think of ink transfer, and everything else...

off limits for sure for me.

[Dottonedan]

And shop dogs and cats. Lol, little boogers get into everything and will find a nice box of whites to sit in.

[Screen Dan]

20 years ago, a few years before I got here, a can of screen opener fell into the dryer.  It sat in one place for a while.  One of the printers happened to notice it glowing red and yelled "GET DOWN!"  seconds before it exploded.  It shot flames out of both ends of the dryer.  The can came flying out of the dryer and hit a folders hand, breaking it.  The flames that shot out the ends ignited the tack/lint combo that covered everything...the flames raced up all of the wires to the ceiling in seconds.

...or so legend has it.

New protocol:  Never put any chemical resting on top of the dryer.  Ever.  Also, clean the wires that go up to the ceiling, and clean the ceiling periodically.

Since then the worst that has happened has been fringes on sleeveless denim shirts catching fire under the first flasher and popping every single screen on the way to the unload station.  This, unfortunately, has happened a number of times.

[bimmridder]

I think that's why at least one manufacturer I know of doesn't make flat side rails on the dryer. Shaped more like this ^ than this _. You can't set a can on it and thus it can't fall on the belt and disappear.