Oil soaked rags catch fire

[MJM]

Just a warning to others I oiled up my IPE wood porch last night using about 2 gallons of IPE oil.
This is the second time I have done this since the porch was new last years. Well after you oil it you then wipe away the excess I just tossed the oil soaked rags into the garbage can luckily outside.
The wife called me today to say the garbage can was smoking. She called the FD and they put it out. They said this was the third call they have had this spring for rag fires using the same brand of IPE Oil and that last year one house burnt to the ground because of it.
I am one lucky person today.

I did not know that oily rags with high VOC material on them can spontaneously catch fire. I should have read the can that says "store oily rags in a water filled metal container when done"
Next time I will or at least let me air dry in the open.

 

[titanpat57]

Just a warning to others I oiled up my IPE wood porch last night using about 2 gallons of IPE oil.
This is the second time I have done this since the porch was new last years. Well after you oil it you then wipe away the excess I just tossed the oil soaked rags into the garbage can luckily outside.
The wife called me today to say the garbage can was smoking. She called the FD and they put it out. They said this was the third call they have had this spring for rag fires using the same brand of IPE Oil and that last year one house burnt to the ground because of it.
I am one lucky person today.

I did not know that oily rags with high VOC material on them can spontaneously catch fire. I should have read the can that says "store oily rags in a water filled metal container when done"
Next time I will or at least let me air dry in the open.

The same thing can happen with linseed oil products as well....very low flash point.

We were outside staining trim on a spring day, and the sponge we were using to stain the trim, burst into flames after it smoldered in sun for about 30 seconds.

Anytime we applied stain after that...all rags (we application or wiping)went into a bucket of water..period

 

[Michael Hanson]

This happens far too often. If you have not done it in awhile vacuum out your dryer vent hose or replace it. Ours was black inside and about to catch on fire. Mike

 

[PAToyota]

Yep - very common with "thin" oils.

 

[JohnVee]

An old timer beat the paranoia into me years ago about this. I'll keep the rags in water until the next trash day makes it the city's problem.

--john

 

[e9999]

or use a purpose built metal can with a lid as they are supposed to have in shops etc

 

[PAToyota]

Years ago, my shop teacher had a demonstration the first week of class - oily rags in a small metal bucket at the start of class and by the end of class they were smoldering. I was told that on several occasions the demonstration actually caught fire.

Actually seeing it happen is not something you forget. If you just hear about it, you're sort of "Yeah, sure, I guess it happens sometimes..." Seeing it and you realize that it WILL happen.

 

[e9999]

I would think this is not just any oil. Presumably has to be some sort of exothermic reaction while drying. So, stuff like linseed etc that hardens yes. Engine oil etc probably much less likely.

 

[ToyotaDon]

I would think this is not just any oil. Presumably has to be some sort of exothermic reaction while drying. So, stuff like linseed etc that hardens yes. Engine oil etc probably much less likely.

Any oily rags are capable of spontaneous combustion. Grass clippings can do the same thing.

I like the idea of demonstrating this in shop class. I may have to use that with my class.

 

[john_eckels]

Same thing happened to my neighbors truck. He finishes decks for a living. He is usually very careful and rinses the rags, but this one time he was in a hurry and threw the rags in the back of his truck. I always put my oily rags in a glass jar fill with water and put the lid on.

 

[e9999]

Any oily rags are capable of spontaneous combustion. Grass clippings can do the same thing.

snip.

what evidence do you base this statement on?

Yes, microbial action in mulch and compost piles can result in high temperatures. Is that the same process as hardening oils and relevant to the OP? I doubt it.

 

[PAToyota]

It does depend on the oil. I had said "thin" oils. From a bit of research, I see others using the term "drying" oils to convey what I was attempting to say. You used the term "hardening" oil. In any case, a volatile oil that is going to dry - as opposed to a petroleum or fatty oil. These "drying" oils dry by oxidation - which produces heat.

If provided with the right combination of enough oxygen supply, enough insulation to contain the drying heat, and a suitable rate of heat generation you'll get spontaneous combustion. An oily rag spread out on a surface is not going to spontaneously combust because the rate of heat generation is less than what is dispersed to the surrounding environment. A bunch of rags stuffed into a paint can is less likely to combust because of lack of oxygen. A loose pile of rags that allows oxygen to flow through the pile but is dense enough to contain the heat produced by drying is most likely to actually ignite.

Typically the oily rag can you'd find in an automotive or machine shop is to prevent the oily rags from coming in contact with a combustion source - flame, ember, spark, etc - rather than for prevention of spontaneous combustion.

 

[FishTacos]

My brother's restaurant burned down 2 years ago. A batch of kitchen rags that had gone through the laundry at the end of the night were left in a laundry basket not quite completely dry. The combo of vegetable oil, pork fat, detergent, and other laundry chemicals created an exothermic reaction. It completely gutted a 100 year old building with 23 apartments on the top 3 floors.

ANY oily rags go in a sealed container with water. Period. Worst thing you can do, short of putting a match to them, is put them in a pile in an open container.

 

[CruisinGA]

Our neighbor at the lake had his house burn down after the drop clothes he used while staining his decks caught fire. He folded up the drop clothes, stored them under the house and left. The house was completely engulfed in flames before he was halfway home (2 hr drive).