On Sat, 11 Jun 2011 08:33:52 -0700 (PDT), Robatoy
wrote:

On Jun 11, 1:45Â*am, Larry Jaques
wot?

NOW yer snippin'.


Problem is, that when people try to imagine what an air tank failure
would look like, their imaginations become filled with fuel/grenade/
gasoline/actionmoviebull**** type explosions.

Like watching the guy plant a single ounce of C4 with a detanator and
then seeing (and hearing) seventeen discrete charges blow up the
house, all from 3 angles? Yeah, that's them.


The escape of normal (135psig?) air pressure out of a failed metal
tank will not be accompanied by a full perimeter failure releasing a
rather benign quantity of stored energy. It will release in a fart-
like measured amount.
It will be a big howling puff, but no bang, and any **** flying will
be because of the startle factor, not due to released energy.

Wow, whose farts make your ears pop? No...I don't want to know.
Maybe I _won't_ visit Canada.


For giggles, my mechanic and his friends hooked up a motorcycle inner
tube to a 165psig line in a garage and just let it get bigger and
bigger. So big in fact that a huge hernia appeared which became almost
see-through thin. When it failed, it made a bang, much louder than a
balloon, but not mortar launch grade. The flying remnants did knock
over a beer, much to the chagrin of one the participants. Yes alcohol
was involved. No blown-out windows. The hose-end with the metal nipple
did fly around for quite a while till the main valve was shut off.

That was probably not more than 3bar, not the 10 we're talking with a
compressor. But the point is made.

--
The ultimate result of shielding men from the
effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
--Herbert Spencer