Reading Dusterbd13's fuel tank explosion fuel tank made think about what a guy that I know at work tried recently. Seems he had an old, used fuel tank that he needed to weld on. So he took one of those rubber exhaust hoses (that shops use to exhaust.. exhaust.) and hooked it up to the fuel tank. Slipped the other end over the tailpipe of his late model truck. Started the truck and let it run for a few minutes to flush the fuel tank with exhaust. And with the truck running proceeded to weld on the tank. No excitement. No boom. And no, I am not saying to try this. YMMV. But it worked for him.
I've had this suggestion from a few different people since I blew myself up. Supposed to work better than the water.
I just clean the tank thoroughly, air dry with long wand on compressor air hose turning frequently, then run compressed air hose nozzle in the tank while welding. No drama
I work on electric forklifts for a living, the vast majority of them use lead-acid batteries that give off of hydrogen gass. The battery repair guys purge the airspace above the electrolyte and plates in the cell jars with CO2 before torching the lead cell connector bars off to remove bad cells. Sounds like the same idea to me.
I have done the exhaust thing and welded up a rusty tank. It worked but I sweated bullets and I don't care to repeat it.
Makes sense, exhaust is mostly CO2, steam, and nitrogen, not enough oxygen to support combustion. You could get the same effect with a spare mig/tig gas bottle and flow regulator.
Smitty
New Reader
3/5/16 8:13 p.m.
I've been welding fuel tanks that way 30 years. Taught to me by an old timer who learned it in the oil fields in Texas. Commonly refered to as "innerting". Removing the oxygen side of the fire triangle. I don't even take the gas out any more.not a new reader. Been reading since it was Auto X magazine
