Fire!!

[Matt Day]

I think this is a great post to remind us of some hidden shop dangers.

After the machines are turned off and the DC has been off for some time, is there any risk of spontaneous combustion (i.e. not from a spark from a machine like in Dave's case)? I know you can get sparks from static electricity in the ductwork that is connected to the DC if it isn't grounded, but is this a concern with 10' or so of plastic duct?

I need to get a fire extinguisher in my shop pronto, I just don't know if I should take any other precautions with my single stage 1.5 HP Delta DC.

[Jeff Raymond]

From the old school, here's my 2 cents worth, altho it may not apply to your case, but since you bring it up...

With a dust collector, you are creating a fierce, turbulent current with wood chips and dust going through at high volume. I have always used metal piping with the dust collector, making sure to GROUND it. Otherwise you are creating a potential bomb.

If you look at chips going through a pipe at night without GROUNDING, you are likely to see, due to static electrical generation in the piping, St. Elmo's Fire...being very high voltages as the material goes through the pipes.

You'll have to figure out the cause...but I can tell you that about 25 years ago, a guy I believe in Vermont blew up his shop due to a NON-GROUNDED dust collection system.

Important stuff, especially with a planer/jointer.

[CPeter James]

In addition to having a 10 pound tri-class (abc) dri chemical in the shop, one of the best extinguishers on sawdust and wood is a 2 1/2 gallon pressurized water extinguisher to which you add a good dose of dish detergent as a wetting agent. It will penetrate a sawdust pile of wet the surface of burning wood instead of just running off. Also you can get a foam nozzle for these that will lay down a nice layer of cold, wet foam to smother the fire. cheap, very effective and easily refillable.

CPeter

[Roger Savatteri]

I've been thinking about the ceramic guides.

Could those who have them talk about the pros and cons?

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Could have been the laguna guides. If they make a wood dust generating tool they would I think liable if it lights things on fire when used as it's supposed to be.
Could have been a static spark in the DC but that's far less likely.

[Gary Herrmann]

Glad you're ok Dave. I've been thinking of getting ceramic guides. I may have to rethink that now.

Also makes me think I should move a cyclone up to the top of my want list.

[Blake Holton]

A good smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector (for anyone with a gas hot water heater) are probably a good idea, too. My smoke detector is located right in the middle on my shop ceiling.

Blake

[Chris Parks]

Yes, smoke detectors are a must. If a fire goes undetected and you leave the shop it still warns you. if you are working and do not notice it also warns you. Put it right above the dust collector.

[Richard Wolf]

I have the Laguna ceramic guides on my MiniMax 20. Yes they spark at times but it is a very cool spark that seems like it would be very unlikely that it could start any fire. Is it possible? I don't know, but I would really think not. The sparks do not even reach the table before disappearing.

Anyway, I find the ceramic guides very easy to adjust and an improvement over the Euro guides.

Richard

[James Kuhn]

I was a bit scared about the sparks from my ceramic guides early on but I've found that, as long as they are properly adjusted and tightened up, I haven't had any problems. The only time I had sparks was when I had forgotten to tighten the fence while sawinf some pretty heavy wood: The blade wandered way too far to the left and end ended up snapping. Definately a wetware malfuction rather than any problem with the guides.

[Steve Clardy]

Wow. Sure glad you and the family are ok, and had minimal damage.

[John Fry]

I am on my second Laguna band saw and have been running ceramic guides for over five years now. I've heard the concerns about "sparks" but I have been fortunate to NOT have any problems.

But c'mon, have you ever looked down inside your routers, or any other brushed motors? I have a PC 3-1/4 HP router hung under my table and the DC hose is 4" away from it and is sucking the dust and chips that fall into the open, sparking end, of the router right up into the hose.

[Matt Meiser]

With respect to smoke detectors, having one in the shop would be good in this situation, but they can also be set off by fine dust. Having one that is attached to a monitored alarm system probably wouldn't be allowed by an alarm company. Mine won't and neither would the two other companies I got quotes from.

[Dave Morris]

Wow, glad it wasn't a total disaster... could so easily have been one.

You might want to call Laguna and see what they say about their guides, but don't forget to check out the DC itself. Could be a problem with the bearings getting hot, something rubbing the impeller, or something not as easily diagnosed.

Long time ago I was nearly killed when an industrial dust collection fan had a bearing get hot. The motor slowed down, letting dust build up while the bearing got hotter and hotter. I noticed some smoke, got the guy I was training on the job out of the way, and went to hit the fire alarm. Just before I could get there, the whole back of the fan blew off, sending shrapnel outwards and leaving "bullet holes" in the concrete wall that I was heading towards. Scary stuff. (It happened again in another location less than six months later... blew out all the windows in the building. Yeah, I quit that job and never looked back)

Dunno if your situation was caused by the sparks you noticed or not, just saying be sure to check all possible causes before turning on the saw again.

[Ben Grunow]

Done some fire rehab jobs and the best tool I have seen for removing the odor of smoke is an ozone generator. We have a cleaning company that we use to clean homes before they are turned over to the client and they used it to deodorize a home we fixed after a small fire and what a difference it made.

Drapes/rugs/furniture need to be cleaned but that odor is hard to eliminate from everywhere. You might smell it on a cold damp day in november, 6 months after it happened. Strange. Like gradmas casserole.