Fireproof Overalls

I use cotton trousers and jacket with a wool jumper underneath, heatproof leather gloves and boots, and I do my silver soldering outdoors with the fire extinguisher close by.

Thor

On one very hot summer's day some time in the 1980s I was invited to watch the big electric furnace at work at what was the United Engineering Steels plant at Rotherham. I was somewhat surprised to be issued with heavy boots, thick woollen trousers and a heavy donkey jacket, as well as a hard hat and visor, but I was glad of the protection as I watched many tons of liquid steel being poured and rolled into bars. The operation was computer driven, but the over-ride button was held by a steel maker well over his retiring age who stood by the furnace mouth, occasionally lobbing in lumps of aluminium, which was used as flux. I think I lost more sweat that day than I ever have before or since, but it was a great experience.

I don't have any propane equipment in my workshop per se, plumbers Mapp gas torch is all... at the mo'. what I use for ppe protection is a cotton warehouse coat & heavy cotton work trousers/ cargo pants for general wear, plus a pair of safety toe capped trainers; for the workshop a couple of small powder extinguishers & a fire blanket on the wall.

George.

Do you actually need ppe for silver soldering (assuming you are well ventilated)? I use oxy acetylene to silver solder most days and ppe would be cumbersome and quite frankly not needed. There are no sparks to set fire to my clothes so as long as I point the hot firey end in the right direction there is no risk to person. I never use the oxy gear if there is anyone else in the workshop or even likely to enter as this is where distraction lies and error ensues. I often work in shorts and tee shirt as I have severe psoriasis with no ill effect to date. Otherwise I do regularly wear thick leather gauntlets, leather apron etc for welding and ear defenders.

I saw a video on cellulose (chopped newspaper) house insulation that was treated with something that made it very non-flammable but can't remember what that was. We have to get our exhibition table covers treated with flame retardant too. There is also a video of various loft insulation being flame tested and a product made from chopped blue jeans (ie cotton) burned nicely.

So anyone know what the treatment is? I think it was some quite common chemical sounding a bit like 'borate'.

I worked in the Oil Industry most of my life and The overalsl used there remade from Fireproofed cotton. Synthetic materials are not approved because the plastics used in them can melt and make any burns much worse than they would be from smouldering cotton. Thick cotton does not easily burst into flames, it will smoulder though.

The fireproofing they use has the most disgusting smell and you can always tell when somebody has a new pair on. The smell usually disappears after a few washes, presumably the fireproofing remains for a bit longer. I believe they make this retardant from some nasty chemicals such as Bromides but can't be sure if that's what causes the smell.

Sodium Silicate aka Water Glass has some fireproofing effect.

D.

What do firefighters wear these days ?

Helping backstage in amateur dramatics at school I was issued Borax to fireproof scenery made of cloth tacked to a wooden frame. The cloth was fireproofed before painting . I've no idea if it's still legal to fireproof that way in a theatre, but this link is pretty much how I remember it being done. It's odd I remember painting scenery with borax l when I've no recollection of the production itself, or who was in it, or even why I was involved. I expect it was a punishment.

Dave

Drag racers race suits are similar to donkey jacket material, I assume this is for insulation in case of fire!

Just an aside

If you ever get the opportunity of visiting a steel works, grab it. It is awe inspiring, very spectacular and incredibly frightening all at the same time.

JA

I wear flameproof cotton boiler suits at work, at home it's usually jeans and a cotton tshirt if driving machines or bench work. There's a boiler suit there for when it's either dirty or hot work. However overalls should be as clean as possible, I (in the middle of a mad rush repair job) managed to get the hems of my overalls smouldering quite nicely whilst cutting a piece of plate with a plasma cutter. I'd spent the morning stood in an inspection put under a locomotive and the hems had soaked up oil.

I currently work with three lads ex Teesside steelworks, their tales are sphincter clenching....

Owain

I did have the opportunity whilst doing some work at a German steelworks, working with the very appropriately named Herr Stahlschmidt. This was a highly unofficial tour at about 3 am while we waited for a 300Mb disk drive to format (that rather dates it!). I was taken over the gantries above the streams of white hot steel pouring down from the furnace and we then zigged and zagged across more gantries watching as it cooled and I think started to be formed. We also wandered into the main area just as one of the crucibles was up ended, presumably to empty the clag out of it roughly 5 tons of stuff hit the floor and reverberated through the enormous building. My lasting impression was the colossal scale of everything.

I was almost certainly dressed in my standard jeans, trainers and a cotton sweatshirt or ex army green woolly pully, so perfectly in line with H&S..... I still have the photos that I took somewhat surreptitiously with my then super new SLR

On the original subject, I had a source of plastic coated paper overalls from a friend who did composites at BA - wonderful working coveralls especially while stripping gearboxes or other very oily items -until the very cold evening when I was standing right next to the space heater and felt a tightening around my lower parts and discovered that I was being slowly shrink-wrapped....

Simon

Edited By Simon0362 on 05/02/2017 11:32:21

I used to work at a place that had an environmental centre with chopped newspaper wall insulation. The gap between the inner and outer skins of the walls was about 8" and over the years the newspaper had become a neat, compacted layer about six inches thick. It was installed was when it was a very new idea, but in this case it had become totally useless.

neil