Oily rags

[QueBota]

Have seen several instances of smoldering/hot oily rags but have never seen them combust. Mostly back in the days of oil based paints and old fashioned turpentine. Would always leave mine to dry spread out in the sun away from buildings, then dispose of. They can burst into flames and cause serious issues. Only thing more dangerous is folks that leave fireplace ashes/coals on their decks. Have had three fires here in the past two years as a result. One resulted in major damage, required a major rebuild.

Q

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Have seen several instances of smoldering/hot oily rags but have never seen them combust. Mostly back in the days of oil based paints and old fashioned turpentine. Would always leave mine to dry spread out in the sun away from buildings, then dispose of. They can burst into flames and cause serious issues. Only thing more dangerous is folks that leave fireplace ashes/coals on their decks. Have had three fires here in the past two years as a result. One resulted in major damage, required a major rebuild.

Q

Back in the old days when I used to paint houses for a living, and when we used mostly oil-based paints, I can recall several times in my career when I absent mindedly stuck a rag soaked with paint thinner in my hip pocket. Not only can they burst into flames, the can set your butt on fire, in a manner of speaking.

 

[oldballs]

Been there, done that too. That'll burn your buns....probably do it again sometime.:duh:

 

[k0ua]

I throw any solvent or paint soaked rags out on the lower gravel driveway. If windy I throw a rock on top of them. When they dry out, I either burn them or throw them in the trash if they look dry enough. I don't bother with storage cans or water soaking them. Even if they did catch fire on the gravel, it would be no big deal. As for the linseed oil/water mix, I would just throw that on the the weeds in the fencerow.

 

[bigtiller]

I still have them.

So, am I hearing everyone correctly? I still need to dry them out before giving them to the trash man?

 

[bcp]

I still have them.

So, am I hearing everyone correctly? I still need to dry them out before giving them to the trash man?

I would dry them. I don't know if soaking in water will inactivate the oil, or if the water will evaporate, then the oil will still be liquid and can generate heat as it oxidizes. Why take a risk on setting the trash truck on fire?

Bruce

Trash truck fires

 

[k0ua]

I still have them.

So, am I hearing everyone correctly? I still need to dry them out before giving them to the trash man?

i would dry them out first. Chances are that you have removed a lot of the oil from them and that oil is now in your oil/water mix, but I would still dry them out by spreading them out on some non flammable surface (like my gravel drive) until they are dry, then trash them or burn them.

 

[bigtiller]

Okay, that's what i'll do.

And next time I will skip the water part. Actually, that is what I have always done but with small jobs and one at a time, it was no big deal to lay them out to dry inside the garage. It's windy enough here that I will almost need a pile of rocks to hold them down if I put them outside.

 

[dwhite]

I put my greasiest, oiliest rags in a capped plastic container of used motor oil and diesel. Make great fire starters.