I Am starting this thread because i would like to know of any scarey stuff others have experienced so as to promote some basic policy of OH&S.
Boiling Meth & Hot weather
At our last reaction meet of the Melbourne club i had a frightening experience i had not seen before and it frightened the **** out of us.
I was outside the shed in the open air where we always mix up our methoxide with one other club member who was measuring out the KOH as i poured it into the meth.
It was a fuckin' hot day, about 43c, and we were in the direct sunlight during the recent melbourne heatwave and most of victoria was on fire. That day I think emergency services were fighting on five different bushfire fronts in the state of Victoria.
I added the first 800grams of KOH into a 25lt plastic container of meth, and did usual spin shake, and as usual the plakky container swelled up and bloated, so i released a little pressure and continued. I then added the next 800grams or so of KOH, and repeated the process, but this time the plakky drum bloated like it was going to explode. I released the lid and suddenly the lid blew off and the whole container of methoxide erupted like a volcano emptying half a 25lt container as vapour. We couldn't stop it, and there was nothing we could do but watch the meth boiling violently.
Luckily one of our members inside the shed, an experienced firery who works for the MFB, jumped into action and exstinguished everything in the shed that resembled a naked flame, (gas burners etc) and shut down all exposed electric motors.
Excuse my language but it was fuckin' frightening.
We laugh about it now but we could have set inner city Melbourne alight.
So the moral to the story is on a hot day add your KOH very slowly and in small doses, and try to find a little shade, but keep it outdoors.
Cheers, Darren.
Please add to this thread any other experiences which can add to our OH&S policy.
Boiling Meth & Hot weather
At our last reaction meet of the Melbourne club i had a frightening experience i had not seen before and it frightened the **** out of us.
I was outside the shed in the open air where we always mix up our methoxide with one other club member who was measuring out the KOH as i poured it into the meth.
It was a fuckin' hot day, about 43c, and we were in the direct sunlight during the recent melbourne heatwave and most of victoria was on fire. That day I think emergency services were fighting on five different bushfire fronts in the state of Victoria.
I added the first 800grams of KOH into a 25lt plastic container of meth, and did usual spin shake, and as usual the plakky container swelled up and bloated, so i released a little pressure and continued. I then added the next 800grams or so of KOH, and repeated the process, but this time the plakky drum bloated like it was going to explode. I released the lid and suddenly the lid blew off and the whole container of methoxide erupted like a volcano emptying half a 25lt container as vapour. We couldn't stop it, and there was nothing we could do but watch the meth boiling violently.
Luckily one of our members inside the shed, an experienced firery who works for the MFB, jumped into action and exstinguished everything in the shed that resembled a naked flame, (gas burners etc) and shut down all exposed electric motors.
Excuse my language but it was fuckin' frightening.
We laugh about it now but we could have set inner city Melbourne alight.
So the moral to the story is on a hot day add your KOH very slowly and in small doses, and try to find a little shade, but keep it outdoors.
Cheers, Darren.
Please add to this thread any other experiences which can add to our OH&S policy.
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