It Can Happen, Auto Ignition of Stain Rags

[Steve Harris Bonney Lake, WA]

Woke up the other morning at 3:00 am by the fire alarms blaring, inside the house fire alarms, I dont have one in the garage. The fire alarms inside the house went off with the amount of smoke coming through the garage door, there was a lot of smoke in the garage. When I opened the garage door, I was greeted with 5 foot flames coming from the garage floor. There was a pile of rags, other things from a plastic garbage can, the can had melted to the floor and was a pile of molten plastic producing black smoke. There was so much smoke that I was not sure I was going to be able to stay in there to fight the fire. I knew where my fire extinguisher was, a 10 lb bottle, I sprayed it at the fire, it lasted a short time and ran out, the fire was knocked down but not out, and was growing again. I hit the door opener and kicked the burning plastic outside, of course I had been woken up out of bed so no shoes, just a guy fighting a fire in my underwear, nice protective equipment. Now I have a giant blister on my foot. The fire was still going so I started filling up buckets of water in my sink to fight the fire, I am lucky to have a laundry sink in the garage, a few buckets and it was finally out.

I can tell you that was the closest I have came to burning the house down, I can see how it can happen. I am having a cover put over my deck and had been staining some boards, wiping off the excess stain with rags. I was not worried about the rags because I thought it was Linseed Oil that could auto ignite. Maybe the stain had a fair amount of Linseed Oil in it, it was a clear stain. Anyway, whatever it was, if you don't already know, be careful how you dispose of oily rags. It is one hell of a way to be woken up, I don't need to do that again.

I have been able to clean it up, I bought an ozone generator to help remove the smell, I thought it might be a gimmick, but it worked great. I ran it for 30 minutes, and that is all it took to remove the smell of fire and burnt plastic. I will have to paint the ceiling because it is a very dark color now, the lights no longer reflect anything, it is much darker in there. The back end of my lathe had some burn marks but some paint will fix that, and my miter saw cabinet almost caught fire, I was able to sand the damage and is good as new. I just ordered a smoke detector for the garage, it will alarm inside the house if there is smoke. I figure if I had a detector out there I could have fought the fire much sooner, and when it was much smaller. If you don't have a detector in the garage, you might think about putting one in, it could save a crucial amount of time, if a fire starts and you have to wait until enough smoke gets into the house to set off one of the house detectors.

I am feeling extremely lucky to have not lost the house, or at least the garage. If it had happened when I was not at home, I am sure it would have been lost. Sorry this was so long, but oily rags can be deadly.

[Mike Heidrick]

I don't even store stain rags folded or inside. Beauty of living in the country I guess. Mine are spread out on a dirt pile till dried.

Heck i want to put in a fire cabinet too to store my cans of finish in.

TG you are safe! Heal soon.

[Larry Frank]

Glad it turned out ok....you were lucky.

NEVER LEAVE FINISHING RAGS IN THE HOUSE. I constantly have to remind myself as it is easy to be lazy

You should consider getting an alarm for the garage. You can get a smoke alarm or temperature alarm. I have temperature alarms that alarm over a certain temperature or over a certain rate of rise. Mine are tied into a monitored alarm system.

[Steve Harris Bonney Lake, WA]

Thanks, I have an alarm ordered through Amazon, should be here in a couple of days. I also would not mind having a paint storage cabinet.

[Mike Cutler]

Wow, scary!! I'm glad everything worked out for the best. I bet ya' won't make that error again.

I hang my finish rags in a bush outside the shop to dry in the wind, and then still store them in a sealed metal container until trash day, and I still worry.

[Frederick Skelly]

Thanks for the reminder. VERY GLAD YOU ARE SAFE!
Fred

[Steve Eure]

I always hang my finishing rags outside on an old clothesline that was here when we bought our house 15 years ago. Never intended to take it down. Its handy when you have large items to dry. When the rags are dry, I won't even put them in the trash for fear of seeing or hearing of a refuse truck catching fire. I have a burn pile on my property where I dispose of scraps that have outlived their usefulness. I put the rags there and burn the pile when needed.
Thankfully, your story ended with little damage. Glad to hear that. Be careful.

[glenn bradley]

Always good to have the reminder. Just goes to show that no matter how many times we mention safety practices, it is not enough. I have a metal bucket with a lid that I fill with several inches of water. This bucket sets outside the shop when I am finishing. As I get done with a rag it goes in the bucket. Later on (sometimes days later) I will lay them out or drape them over a line to dry then toss them in the trash.

[Bill Dufour]

Glad you caught it in time. They make self closing foot opened oily rag trash cans. Any solvent, other then water, can spontaneously combust. So thinner, alcohol, gasoline, oil, etc.
Bill

https://www.amazon.com/Justrite-Galvanized-Steel-Waste-Safety/dp/B0076NILQE

[Joe Jensen]

Glad to hear you saved the house and shop, it's a great warning to all of us.

[Bill Dufour]

When I clean the ashes from my wood stove I put them in a small metal garbage can. I leave them there to cool off until the next time I need to clean the stove. By then they are several months cold and they go into the big plastic trash can .

[Lane Hardy]

Glad you caught it in time. They make self closing foot opened oily rag trash cans. Any solvent, other then water, can spontaneously combust. So thinner, alcohol, gasoline, oil, etc.
Bill

https://www.amazon.com/Justrite-Galvanized-Steel-Waste-Safety/dp/B0076NILQE

i hate to disagree but water can spontaneously combust! When it is separated.Hydrogen Dioxide! ��
I have seen it explode.

[Ole Anderson]

Steve, so glad it didn't turn into a major disaster for you. Almost lost my motor home (and possibly my home) due to an electrical issue while stored in the drive parked next to the garage. Thankfully we heard the RV smoke alarm going off through an open window. So I know the feeling of panic and the adrenalin rush.

I always hang my stain rags to dry or just throw them on the concrete floor, spread out. In my shop. Don't go in the garbage until they are dry and hard. Can't spontaneously combust unless the heat can build up, as in bunched together in a pile or a can. Seventh grade wood shop. If the finish has a propensity to self combust with soaked rags, there will be a warning on the can, unless your can is really old.

[Steve Harris Bonney Lake, WA]

I am more than a little embarrassed that i let this happen, with that said, I still wanted to post this as a reminder to all that this does happen.

I just received a smoke alarm for the garage, and will be installing it today. Ole Anderson, you are right about the adrenalin rush and panic, when I opened the garage door and saw the fire, I was only thinking, get the fire extinguisher and put it out. Later I could reflect on what just happened and why, it is a heck of a way to be woken up, it got the blood flowing pretty quick.

[Bill Dufour]

i hate to disagree but water can spontaneously combust! When it is separated.Hydrogen Dioxide! ��
I have seen it explode.

Well then wood can spontaneously combust as well. It is well known that if it is separated into turpentine it will easily spontaneously combust on a rag soaked in turpentine.
Also di-hydrogenoxide can cause suffocation if it is allowed to reach a high concentration such that it displaces breathing air. Lucky that most people will notice and immediately attempt to reach areas where the concentration is lower, at least below nose level.:D
Bill

[Steve Harris Bonney Lake, WA]

I really did not want to post something telling on myself, but I thought it was good information to get out there for everyone, maybe it will prevent someone from making the same mistake.

I have the new smoke detector for the garage, and I will be installing it today.

I can tell you the smoke was bad, I did my best to keep as low as possible so as not to breath the smoke, I don't think it worked too well, it was bad out there.

[Chris Hachet]

I don't even store stain rags folded or inside. Beauty of living in the country I guess. Mine are spread out on a dirt pile till dried.

Heck i want to put in a fire cabinet too to store my cans of finish in.

TG you are safe! Heal soon.

I have a fire can for that very purpose.

[Steve Harris Bonney Lake, WA]

I really did not want to post something telling on myself, but I thought it was good information to get out there for everyone, maybe it will prevent someone from making the same mistake.

I have the new smoke detector for the garage, and I will be installing it today.

I can tell you the smoke was bad, I did my best to keep as low as possible so as not to breath the smoke, I don't think it worked too well, it was bad out there.

[Jim Mackell]

Steve, glad it worked out for you. Hopefully someone else in the house called 911? You know, in case you didn't succeed.

We were called to a fire in a barn workshop several years ago. The barn had a workshop under the main floor. The homeowner had been refinishing some boards and leaned them up against the walls to dry. He had dropped the rags on the floor. In the middle of the night, the rags combusted, lit the new finish on the boards and the flames raced up towards the century old ceiling (main floor of the barn). And the flames then died out just before ignition of the wood itself.! We ran a smoke ejector to clear the air and then asked the owner which church he attended, cause God was sure looking out for him.

[Steve Harris Bonney Lake, WA]

It sounds like that was a very lucky deal.

My kid is grown and my wife was visiting relatives, so I was all there was at home. I thought the neighbors might have heard the alarm, but nobody ever came and nobody came outside their house. The smoke was incredibly thick, I am lucky I keep a powerful fan in the window, it fits tight and it pulled the smoke out fairly quickly, it was tough getting to the widow with all the smoke, had to hold my breath, but I got it open. I will need to paint the ceiling, it is a much darker color now.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Very glad you are OK. Ironically I just bought a smoke detector and fire extinguisher for the shop today as I am remodeling the whole shop.

A smoke detector saved my life once. My situation was a bit funny. I had filled the bedroom with candles for a romantic evening. Set the doggone bed on fire. :-) That's all I will tell of that story.

[Bill Dufour]

Let us know in six months how the smoke detector works in a woodshop. I have heard that saw dust will set them off and you can only use heat detectors.
Bill

[Mike Ontko]

Yeow! Glad to hear no serious damage was done.

My shop space is in an attached garage and for just that reason (spontaneous combustion) I've been super cautious about the rags I use for stain or oil. After I've finished using them, I wash them in a bucket of warm soapy water, rinse, then hang them on a ladder to dry before finally bagging them up for disposal (come to think of it, the ladder is made of wood...which is probably not the best thing to use for this).

[Charles Lent]

I'm a retired fire marshal and have seen too many of these incidents in my life.

My shop rags used to be hung on my neighbor's chain link fence to dry for 24 hours, but in my present location there is no chain link fence. I now have a small lidded metal 5 or 6 gallon trash can outside and about 10' from my shop and other buildings, with water in it. Now, all used shop rags from finishing or even from working on the car get put in that can and submerged in the water, then the lid placed back on it. The next day or whenever I get the chance, I wring out the rages and put them in the trash, still wet. I once left a rag with linseed oil on it on my work bench for less than an hour while I was moving some things around so as to provide a place for the table that I had just used the linseed oil on. When I picked up the rag off the work bench, it was already almost hot enough to burn me. I now keep a 1 gallon tin can on the workbench to drop the rag into when I want to set it down for any reason, and it is never left there when I finish using it.

Charley

[Brice Rogers]

i hate to disagree but water can spontaneously combust! When it is separated.Hydrogen Dioxide! 😁
I have seen it explode.

Ha ha. Good for a chuckle.

[Wade Lippman]

Glad you caught it in time. They make self closing foot opened oily rag trash cans. Any solvent, other then water, can spontaneously combust. So thinner, alcohol, gasoline, oil, etc.


I think you are wrong about that. Linseed oil, or any finishing oil or oil based paint, produce heat when they cure. If they are bunched up, the heat is retained and eventually gets hot enough to ignite the rags.

Rags soaked in alcohol or gasoline have no reason to get hot; unless they are stored in a heap long enough for the solvent to start to decompose. Which is not to say they can't catch on fire easily; they just don't spontaneously combust.

I bought one of those trash cans at a garage sale, but mainly toss rags out the back door to dry.

After posting this, I googled to make sure I was right.:eek:
This is maybe the clearest...https://content.statefundca.com/safety/safetymeeting/SafetyMeetingArticle.aspx?ArticleID=118

[Ole Anderson]

I was surprised to find that some claim that denatured alcohol soaked rags can spontaneously combust. Others say no. Google "can denatured alcohol spontaneously combust". My gut feel is no, same with motor oil soaked rags.

[Val Kosmider]

Two years ago, thanksgiving, I smell smoke around 8 a.m. Thinking it must be someone getting ready to smoke a turkey or some other preparation i didn't think much of it. Few minutes later I see smoke drifting across the yard. Looking more closely, huge clouds of smoke rolling through the neighborhood. Then flames rising above the trees. New house, 95% complete, burned to the ground. Homeowner had been sampling various stain finishes and thrown the rags in the corner. Took all night to heat up and combust. Casual behavior led to disaster. As a woodworker you knw the "right" things to do but when you see the effects so poignantly presented you still shiver. Could have happened to any of us in a moment of absent mindedness.

[Hoang N Nguyen]

Let us know in six months how the smoke detector works in a woodshop. I have heard that saw dust will set them off and you can only use heat detectors.
Bill

I have 4 smoke detectors in my basement shop for the last year with no issues. The only time it's beeped on me was when the batteries were low and needed replacing. 3 is a smoke alarm only, the last is smoke and Co2 combo alarm. I was told by my builders that code in my area required a smoke alarm in every room of the house so I ended up with just north of 20 smoke alarms throughout the house.

OP, I'm glad you caught the fire in time and no harm or extensive damage was done to your home or yourself.