Almost got out of business for good yesterday

[rock]

Had a near disaster yesterday. Good friend gives me a bunch of new cotton rags all cut up in nice even squares. I went to my "good" rag box which sits on my stove/oven I use for sleeving and added the new rags to the old ones. I recieved a call from another friend that was having issues with a new to him boat. I told him to come over as I had a few extra minutes and we could take a look. It was 11:35 am and I was getting ready to leave for lunch. He pulls in and we start to look at motor out in the drive. After finding out this was something he had just purchased and him informing me there was a buzzer going off I suggested we move the boat into the shop and check water pump, gear lube, and compression. As he was backng into the garage I noticed an unusual amount of dust in the air and a faint smell of paper burning. I didn't really think about it much as I live out in the country and someone is always burning something however after a minute or so I started thinking maybe I was the one burning something. I told my friend I thought something was on fire and we started the search. It only took a few seconds before he shouted out that he had found the fire. Turns out I had accidently turned on a burner on the stove while placing rags in box. Now this stove has been sitting in my shop for the past 6 or 7 years and the box of rags has been there for quite a while. The burner had just barely clicked onto the lowest setting. This is an electric stove so it took a while for the box to catch fire but by the time I discovered it it was getting ready to rock and roll. I lifted the box and it more or less exploded into flames once the air hit the bottom of the box. I was able to carry it outside and the only thing lost was the box and about half my rags. At first I was so pissed at myself for being so stupid. Then came the embarassment knowing I had just about ruined all I have built over the past 25 years or so that I have been here. Then finally the relief that even as ugly as it could have been everything worked out ok.
Had it not been for a friend with a broken boat I would have went into town for lunch. Inside the building was 2 Harleys, 5 boats, 4 tractors, the wifes fibreglass Jeep, and her golf cart. The building is 10,000 square feet and it houses my boat shop, machine shop, metal fab shop, cabinet shop and my house. About half the materials for the new cabin, my steel inventory and cabinet shop inventory, plus all the equipment in each shop. There are probably 25 large machines and hundreds of hand tools. There are litterally thousands of boat parts including motors, props, and gear cases. Completed work waiting for delivery and a Chevy cutaway van of a customers with less than 25 miles on it. And like a moron I almost turned it into a 10,000 square foot pile of crap. Thank you lord for bailing my dunb ass out again.
Now for the irony. I manufacture fire prevention service equipment for a living. Wouldn't that have been an awesome headline in the paper. Be carefull in your shops guys. It don't take much to make for a really bad day.
Rock

[specboatops]

Thank God it turned out all right....man that could have really gone the wrong way Randy.

[Eggsuckindog]

DAMN - that was close - way too close

[lightchop]

i believe in Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny. :)

[Robby321]

I'm paranoid of a fire in my shop. Everything worked decades for could be gone in a (pun intended) flash. I have a good (bad) habit of every time I walk out back to the house, seems I always go back out and take a second look around, make sure everything is off, and if been welding, back a few more times. Rather safe than sorry.

Heres a weird on for ya. Neighbor was taking care of her elderly mom. She put a damp towel in the microwave to warm it up. Walked away. Had the timer set for a few minutes, and forgot about it. So, they smell smoke, can't find anything, called the FD, coming somewhere by the fridge (micro on counter next it), Move the fridge, not it, thought in the wall somewhere. Just before the axe came out, they move the micro, and wham, thats it! Towel was in it smouldering away! Weird stuff can sure happen!

[M. HARDEE]

Good to hear a happy ending!!!! Friend of mine just lost his shop with four custom harleys, bunch of parts, machine shop eqt ,tools, and three boats. Two of boats were friends he was helping with some mods . Had some insurance --but not nearly enough to cover what was lost . Mitch

[Robby321]

Good to hear a happy ending!!!! Friend of mine just lost his shop with four custom harleys, bunch of parts, machine shop eqt ,tools, and three boats. Two of boats were friends he was helping with some mods . Had some insurance --but not nearly enough to cover what was lost . Mitch

Got that right. BUT, money will never cover what could happen. I have a small shop, attached house, boats in front, side sheds hold many more old motors..(OB's), and more bikes. In my shop, is pretty well loaded, lathe, mill, welders, and a zillion bucks in "tooling", after 5 decades collecting. Plus the old "toys", mine..are not replaceable with money. I'll put it this way. If it every happened, it would simple be house/shop, burned to the ground. And probably everything else around me, as many big tress around me. Go up easy, and as rural, now way in hell, a tanker would ever put it out. It would be a stand back, watch. Then I would simple walk away, sell the lot/land...but I hope it never happens.

[Robby321]

Heres two pix, my shop, 1/2 side, bike parking, and what COULD happen second pic. And if the second...?...NOTHING to salvage...seen many fires, aftermath...zip left to work with...

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[rock]

I have many fire extinguishes in place. At leats 10 30 lb. ABCs and as many 20 and 10 lb units. I carry a 5 lb unit in my truck and a chrome Halon in the Allison. Very well insured but as Robby said, there are things money will not replace and in my situation there are too many things to remember. I take a video tour every 4 or 5 years and keep the video off site.
Several years ago we had a similar situation. I was hearing a firecracker type sound intermittenly and started to search. I traced it to an area in the wall up near the ceiling. There was no access so I cut a hole in the sheetrock and amazingly I hit almost the exact spot. It is under a valley in the roof that had a small drip coming in. Most of the elctric in this building is in conduit but the initial wiring was in Romex and it was, at that time, still hot. Turns out a mouse had eaten thru the insulation and the drip was landing directly in the opening. It would fill then short, hence the firecracker sounds, and repeat the process. Another bizarre situation that coulda turned ugly.
Rock

[beer30]

Glad everything turned out OK:). Live and learn situation:thumbsup:. Chuck

[Michael Martin]

wow you were lucky!!!

[Forkin' Crazy]

Wow, that was close!!! Maybe you should disable the burners on the stove? ;)

I hopped on to my tractor early one morning after it had been sitting all weekend. I got about half way across the field and smelled something and then the engine died. There was a damn mocking bird nest right on top of the exhaust side of the turbo. I grabbed parts of the burning nest (burned the **** out of me too) and put the rest out with my water jug. Had to pull the air cleaner out because it was on fire too! :eek: That is why the engine died. Luckily it only burned a couple wires and the line for the starting fluid.

Since then I have eradicated all mocking birds hanging out around my shop. ;)

[Riverman]

We have the same setup at work a kitchen stove that we use for curing small prepreg parts. We took off all of the elements and covered the top with a steel plate with a hole in it where the vent is.

[mirage243]

Damn dude, close call, glad it turned out ok. I'm paranoid about fires in my shop.

[rock]

Wow, that was close!!! Maybe you should disable the burners on the stove? ;)

I did remove the knobs which I should have been sharp enough to do way before this happened. I like Jeff's idea and will be cutting a piece of tin today. It is amazing that safety issues like this can exist for as long as they do in some instances wihtout a problem but after the fact you wonder how you could have been so dumb.
Rock

[specboatops]

i believe in Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny. :)
Ok I've seen you post this before, but not sure what you're getting at, I'm simple....explain ??

[Forkin' Crazy]

Ok I've seen you post this before, but not sure what you're getting at, I'm simple....explain ??

I am sure it was your reference to the Almighty. He is probably "light" on grey matter as well. ;)

[Snuckley]

Haven't used stove in 7 yrs ----- unplug it !!! Add smoke detectors, even if they false alarm with 2 strokes running. you sleep in an adjacent area.... oh and unplug the friggin stove...... give that customer a gift ...thanks for sharing your story..I am going over to my extra barn that has an electric stove plugged in and make sure the breaker is off, never used that stove in 11 yrs.... another good tip is keeping a "firefighting hose" at the ready and don't slack and not put it back at the ready if you use it. I live where it freezes, so I keep a 100 footer dry, nozzle in place year round.

[specboatops]

I am sure it was your reference to the Almighty.

To each his own I guess, hope the Easter Bunny thing works out for him then;)

[njj502]

Before ya go burning the place down lemmi come get the lil tunnel and a couple 260's!

Glad nothing bad happened buddy! Catch ya this afternoon

[Forkin' Crazy]

To each his own I guess, hope the Easter Bunny thing works out for him then;)

You could probably add the "tooth fairy" and Sasquatch to the mix as well! :D

[rock]

Mr. Snuckley I have no idea where you got the idea I hadn't used the stove in 7 years. It gets used everytime I sleeve a motor. It had been in use for 7 years with no incident but I can't argue it would not have happened had it been unplugged. I also agree that smoke detecters are awesome but not in an area where there is almost always something burning be it wood, steel, or oil. As far as giving the customer a gift, I just ordered 2 new pistons and will hopefully have the machine work done and motor assembled and back on his boat in time for his fishing trip Thursday for less than $800.

Santa and the Easter bunny.....really?

Rock

[Robby321]

Remember that fire in the motorcycle museum, England? This had to be tough to see the aftermath. And the dedication to get many back to showroom condition!


The Museum was severely damaged by fire on 16 September 2003 with the loss of 380 motorcycles. West Midlands Fire Service investigators concluded that a cigarette thrown away in a designated smoking area was responsible for igniting a pile of cardboard boxes. The fire spread inside the museum's dropped ceilings, which did not contain a detector system. It reached a large part of the building before one of the ceilings failed and the fire was discovered. Staff and people attending a conference helped to save more than 300 historic motorcycles but three of the five exhibition halls were completely burnt out. 120 firefighters were needed to put out the inferno which was visible for 15 miles (24 km). Many of the museum's rarest and irreplaceable exhibits were destroyed.[4] The cost of the fire was estimated at over £14 million.[5]

After fifteen months and a £20m rebuild which included installation of a £1.2 million sprinkler system, the museum was reopened on 1 December 2004. 150 of the motorcycles that had been destroyed in the fire were fully restored for the re-opening. Many of the fire damaged motorcycles were restored to showroom condition.[6]
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