"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" fired this volley in
m:

It had been empty for over two years. It
was full of water, but it jumped five feet in the air and sprayed hot
water all over me and a neighbor. It peeled most of the crimped seam
apart, and destroyed the tank

Then, Michael, it wasn't gasoline fumes, it was welding gasses -- or....

if it was "full of water", how, exactly, did you get a volume of gas in
there to explode? Could it have been steam pressure, which you
inadvertently caused by trying to cut or weld on a part immersed in
water?


It was on the neck. Just a few inches of metal that wasn't under
water. It turned out the inside of the tank was quite rusty, which
wasn't visible before it blew. I talked to a couple people who repaired
tanks before I tried to repair it, and was assured that nothing could go
wrong. They just stood there and scratched their heads after they saw
the results. This was in a steel town, where professional welders and
machine shops were thick as thieves.


--
It's easy to think outside the box, when you have a cutting torch.