Welding on parts washer tank

450dualsport · Sun Jul 06, 2014 3:14 pm

I need to weld a new bung in to the bottom of my parts washer. If it is all cleaned out and the lid is open, would there be any sort of explosion hazard? The parts washer just contained regular cleaning solvent.

Thanks.

Sun Jul 06, 2014 3:50 pm

450dualsport wrote:I need to weld a new bung in to the bottom of my parts washer. If it is all cleaned out and the lid is open, would there be any sort of explosion hazard? The parts washer just contained regular cleaning solvent.

Thanks.

If it's clean, detached from the holding tank, and the lid is open, you have nothing to worry about. I assure you, the parts washer is not porous enough to hold dangerous quantities of flammables.

Steve S

GreinTime · Sun Jul 06, 2014 3:51 pm

Just don't clean it with more cleaning solvent

450dualsport · Sun Jul 06, 2014 4:00 pm

Thanks. I feel better now!

It is one of those cheap 20 gallon washers with the flip up lid. It is clean and upside down on my welding table with the lid open. If you see a mushroom cloud over Canada, that will be me.

noddybrian · Sun Jul 06, 2014 5:27 pm

Mostly if it has a large opening & a solvent that will dry off it's not a problem done with basic precautions - the ones that have caught me out are things with heavy oils like gear oil or 2stroke residue - small amounts of those in a hard to clean over looked area are capable of creating vapor when welding heat is near - then it gets to flash point & bang - enclosed things like exhaust pipes etc are favorite - when in doubt invert a CO2 cylinder & give the thing a nice quick blast of " snow " - as the CO2 warms up it will keep expanding maintaining an inert atmosphere - it's my go to method for fuel tanks - all the time you see a trace of " fog " coming out of an opening your golden.

450dualsport · Sun Jul 06, 2014 8:07 pm

I got it all welded up and I'm still here!

Interesting tip about the CO2. Thanks for sharing that.

olcarguy · Mon Jul 07, 2014 9:43 pm

Job shop I used to work at we had an almost steady job repairing fuel tanks on the city buses. As long as the filler neck was open not a problem, once in a while you got a smoke ring blowing out with a little puff but nothing serious, I believe they ran furnace oil as fuel. Drained out as much liquid as would flow out, propped up on bench in a comfortable and welded down hand mig. good quick cash job.