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Joined 4 years ago
Cake day: February 20th, 2021
  • rcbrk@lemmy.mltoLemmy Shitpost@lemmy.world•This is ground control to Major Dumb...English
    4·
    4 months ago

    Yeah nah, that’s not the way. Sure people can get away with it, but it’s really not eliminating the hazards.

    There’s a bunch of non-obvious hazards which exist around cutting into containers which have held fuels, including but not limited to:

    • An empty propane container could have an gas+air mixture inside it in proportions which could explode.
    • Any liquid residue in an empty fuel container can be vapourised by the heat of the cutting, creating a fuel+air mix which can spontaneously explode from the pressure and heat, even without sparks (think: diesel engine principle but instead of a 0.25L cylinder it’s a 200L cylinder).
    • An empty gas canister can be contaminated with heavier oils/waxes that could build up over the years of refilling cycles, creating the same hazard as noted for empty liquid fuel containers.

    Methods to reduce the hazard include:

    • Thoroughly washing the inside of the container before cutting (access can be difficult though).
    • Filling with water and cutting while full of water. (Container musn’t be sealed, and the cutting method must be safe to use in a wet environment, and further hazards such as introducing oxygen into the container need to be considered).