BOOM went my resivoir/ what happened

[madman]

Just got done conditioning my reactor. I left some room in the res. so I could add some concentrated koh solution. I added some and brought amps up to 7. Then I mixed some more with room temp distilled water, opened the cap, started to pour solution, and BOOM. No flame or spark present. Had a weak link pressure relief valve on the res. Split the heavy hdpe plastic on both sides which I got from US Plastics. I did not meas. the concentration I used but I would guess at 50% koh.


What the H??L happened?????????????????????????????????????????? ????????

No injury except to my pride. The funny part of it is I could hear my wife talking to herself( in the other room) debating what she was going to buy first with the life insurance $. When I finally said hey honey all is OK what she responded with I can not print here.

Seriously, did I cause this or what?

[BioFarmer93]

What is the relative humidity at your location and are you running the heater further drying out the air? Sounds to me like a static spark got you. I'm glad the only thing busted is your reservoir.:eek:

[madman]

What is the relative humidity at your location and are you running the heater further drying out the air? Sounds to me like a static spark got you. I'm glad the only thing busted is your reservoir.:eek:

Yes furnace running (ng forced air) which is in the basement. No humidifier so humidity is 0. Not exactly but it is dry. Also the container I used to pour into res was plastic. A buddy of mine also thoight it was static spark.

I think I will get one of those thing of majigs/ piece of copper that the guys use that make fireworks. Basicly you touch this plate? befor entering the building so to discharge any static charge built up on your body. I can put it a few feet behind me and touch it before handleing res, bubbler, cell.

Things were kinda slow today so a little excitement is always good. I got enough excitement today to last all week, make that a couple of weeks

How do you other guys deal with static. Hopefully people will read this and use it as a safty tool..TAKE PRECAUTIONS FOR STATIC ELECT. DISCHARGE.

HHO as a hobby or a job is like reloading ammo. It CAN be dangerous but is very safe if ALL the safty RULES are followed.

Maybe someone can start a thread about safty rules.

[madman]

Found a site about static safty for the fireworks industry. Searched for(fireworks manuf.static electric) Came up made how .com/ how fireworks are made. Besides touching a copper plate one should wear only 100% cotton clothing.

[danser75]

awesome a hobby I can do in my favorite pajamas. I love it!!!!!

[myoldyourgold]

Use a flash pot on both the reservoir and the bubbler so if you do have a static spark both the pressure and the flame exits saving the equipment. Here is how I make mine. It can be adjusted to release within a large range of pressures and is fully serviceable. Build these and test them with great care and at your own risk. The safest thing is just to not have any place where a large volume of HHO can collect. Keep everything topped up. I have 4 different versions of this but only this one photographed.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g215/yenom_1945/flashpot1.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g215/yenom_1945/flashpot2.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g215/yenom_1945/flashpot3.jpg

[madman]

Thanks,

I acually just got 2 flashpots from Mike at HHO CONECTIIONS but did not install them before the test. I did not think about the static thing and thought it was safe because I was not hooked up to a spark source like a car(backfire).

I am embarassed because I am always concerned about safty and try to be redundant or even tridundant about things.

I am going to add a second wet bubbler(with flashport) and add a little boric acid for 2 reasons. 1) the acid to neutralize(somewhat) the residual KOH on the outside of the bubbles and 2) the acid should create a blueish color when the gas is burned using a torch.

What do you think about my idea of a new thread about SAFTY. I think it would be good for beginers and experienced folks. Safty should be first and on everybodys mind at all times. You can never be TO safe and safty NEVER killed anybody much less hurt anybody.

[hhoconnection]

WOW, that's crazy! I guess I am just way too lax about this stuff. It does not make sense to me because when you take the lid off the reservoir I would think that the hHO would dissipate so fast that you could not light it if you wanted to. I have added electrolyte in the method you described probably a hundred times or more and NEVER had any issues. I can't believe it happened to you ESPECIALLY after all the concerns you have shown about it. And I 'm telling you on the phone "Oh don't worry about it, working with HHO is no big deal". Sorry Madman!