From lflondon@mindspring.com Tue Sep 5 17:25:19 2000 Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 17:18:12 -0400 From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." To: lflondon@mindspring.com, london@metalab.unc.edu Subject: (fwd) Re: Q: toxic forge? On Tue, 5 Sep 2000 09:52:49 -0700, in rec.crafts.metalworking "Bob Powell" wrote: Re: propane inside. Nothing larger than a hand-held torch tank should be stored or really even used inside, but sometimes that's unrealistic. My personal choice for the jewelry bench is to keep a 5 gallon barbeque tank in the shop, but to make sure it always has 1 gallon or less in it, so it's unlikely to ever dump through the pressure relief valve. As for appliances, the rules go something like this. Any professional, which I am not, please feel free to correct this. Propane is heavier than air. Propane appliances should be installed so there is a direct downhill path to outdoors for any leaked unburnt gas. For example, a water heater in a garage, where any spill will run down and leak out past the door seal, is OK. If the heater is in a separate room, the room must have a louvered door, and it can't be entirely below grade. If it is below grade, then a vent hole should be drilled in the floor or in the wall at floor level, to let any leaked gas spill outside. Finally if the appliance is in a room, e.g. a garage, that has any kind of open flame or spark source, the appliance is supposed to be mounted at least 18" above the floor. If at all possible, the spark source e.g. a wood stove should also be mounted at least 18" above the floor. Bucky Goldstein wrote in message <8p24ml$4n9@nntpa.cb.lucent.com>... >Steve Smith wrote: > >> The problem is carbon monoxide. > > > >> I'm not talking through my hat; a friend of mine spent the >> night in a hyperbaric chamber from exactly this set of >> circumstances. > >Steve, thanks for mentioning this. I hadn't even thought of it. >A friend of mine was nearly killed by a bad exhaust system in his >car. It was scary when he told me the details. > >But with the forge, I was worried about having a propane tank >inside the shop. About that: back when I used to live aboard a >sailboat I refused to have propane aboard. It's heavier than air >and sinks into the bilge, where it waits for a spark to make it >go boom. I'm wondering, though, about having it in a house. >Houses are leaky, unlike boats, and I'm thinking that propane >prolly couldn't accumulate in a house the way it can in a boat. >But I still don't like the thought of having the tanks inside. > >This may be silly of me. I don't know what's usually done. >Anyone know? > >-- >Bucky Goldstein > > I lost a button hole. Lawrence F. London, Jr. Venaura Farm ICQ#27930345 lflondon@mindspring.com london@metalab.unc.edu http://metalab.unc.edu/ecolandtech Ecolandtech http://metalab.unc.edu/permaculture Permaculture http://metalab.unc.edu/intergarden/orgfarm AGINFO