it go boom

[ak9]

So the other day I was working in my shop and I hear what sounds like a 3" 12 gauge shot gun fire near... too near the house.I noticed that everything got real quite .it was starting to get dark so I decided to wrap it up for the day and go see what the noise was.,...well after checking @ the house and checking on the dogs ... & then finding the misses . I asked" what she using the 12 gauge on"....so as i'm talking ... I could tell she could 'nt hear too well... so she kinda sheepishly tells of her filling up a small wagon wheel with the air compressor" the end clips on she turns the valve on and boom 125 @ 15 cfm .So I give her a quick physical to make sure of no real injuries ... She got lucky . ..just a little bruise...ego:ashamed::ashamed::confused2::confused2: mostly...tire & tube are toast... kinda funnie now tho
Ak9

 

[jerrybob]

Wow.....that could have been a lot more serious.....glad she is OK and not hurt badly. Recommend she NOT apply for that job at the local tire store!:thumbsup:

 

[don45640]

Glad she's okay........could've been really dangerous. don-ohio ^)

Wow.....that could have been a lot more serious.....glad she is OK and not hurt badly. Recommend she NOT apply for that job at the local tire store!:thumbsup:

 

[wyeguy]

We all learn some things the hard way....glad this wasn't too hard on her!

 

[robbyr]

My nephew shattered leg bone when he was probably ten years old airing up a four wheeler tire. Glad your wife is ok.

 

[Mace Canute]

ak9, I'm glad your wife is ok!

Inflating those little tires can be quite hazardous! Sometimes it's the tire that fails and sometimes it's the rim.

Maker of snow throwers sued over exploding plastic wheels

It's fortunate that more people weren't injured. I've seen plastic rimmed wheel & tire combos being sold locally in Princess Auto's "surplus" area and I used to think they would be nice since there would be no rust problems with them but now I am not sure if those aren't some of the old stock left hanging around from way back then. Any that I buy now will be steel, hopefully those might fail less catastrophically but I found this while surfing. Recent Investigations - Garden Trailer Wheel Explosion In their Conclusions and Opinions they had this to say

The finite element analysis (FEA) indicated that at an inflation pressure of 30 psi, the local stress around the bolt holes exceeded the yield strength of the metal from which the split rims were fabricated. Therefore, the design and fabrication of the subject outer split rim carried ABSOLUTELY no design safety factor

and

The subject split rim wheel was defectively designed and manufactured.

One thing for sure, a person definitely doesn't want to overpressure those little tires and realize it could take as little as fractions of a second to go from a safe pressure to what might be a dangerous pressure so crank that air pressure regulator down! What's scarey is even the rated pressure on the tire sidewall might not correspond to a safe pressure for the rim itself.

MTD wheel in question.

 

[ak9]

this is the little tire that blew ... I know it is easier to fill with a compressor ... An if you have a reg that goes to 5-10 psi then it might be safe ... However I ,in the future will be filling these type tires with a hand pump....I 'll say this ,my wife is very mechanically talented, This isnt her first tire by a long shot ... I think what happened after talking with her , is Ice/moisture was in the valve of the tire and the tire was not taking on air.....then the ice let loose in the tire valve and in a spit second pow.I guess in a way see did get lucky cause if the rim had fractured... as in your picture mace .... she may have lost her hand as it was on the inflator at the time ....
Ak9

 

[uglyboywith11fingers]

MTD wheel in question

looks just like the wheels on my old utility yard trailer, think it came from TSC.

I better be careful... thanks Mace.

Pete

 

[Thomas]

Whew..already said,glad your bride okay.

 

[DAD1220]

I keep wanting a bigger and bigger air compressor, maybe I'm better off with what I got. I haven't destroyed anything up with it.