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Not my time.

Started by Jeff, July 03, 2003, 09:47:11 AM

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Jeff

This morning started badly. I woke up to the alarm which was unusual. I swung my legs out of bed then proceeded to ask Tammy a few stupid questions like:
What Day is it?
Why did the Alarm go off?
Where am I going?

After about 5 minutes the fog lifted. Usually I am right out of bed thinking clearly. This morning my head was full of mashed potatoes.

I got to work at 5:30 and Lyle and I went out to do our usual Morning stuff. This morning one of the loaders would not start. We backed up one w-14 case to the other and jumped iot to get it started. We then moved them both out by the chip vans to warm up a couple minutes. After doing my walk around on the mill, Lyle and I walked back out to the loaders that were just around the corner of the breakroom door. I opened the back hatch where the battery were and we discussed why it may not have started. I reached in and grapped the negative cable end and gave it a twist, it was lose so that was probably the problem, we would tell Jerry the mechanic.

I swung the metal grate door closed, latched it and lyle and I made the few steps into the break room. Suddenly there was a large explosion that really starled both of us. We figured a tire on one of the chip vans had really let go. We walked outside and seen a huge cloud of dust between the loders and the vans. We looked for a blown tire could not find one, even looked at airbags. They should not blow though with no air source connected to the trailor.

Finally turned our attention to the loaders, which were both still running. Tires were up on them so that was not it, but the back door was open on the one.

When the battery I was handling moments before exploded it tore the latch on the door, disinigrated the battery and looks like it took out the oil cooler and maybe the radiator. I know if I would have been in that opening when she went it would have been all she wrote. Lyle said in his best native american voice: This is not a good day for you to die.

Needless to say I am a little spooked and will be glad to get to the cabin to get away for a couple days.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Patty

Wow that is scarey Jeff! :o I am glad to hear you are OK, and still around to enjoy the holiday. Have an extra beer or two for me, and count your blessings. ;)

Happy 4th of July!
Women are Angels.
And when someone breaks our wings....
We simply continue to fly ........
on a broomstick.....
We are flexible like that.

woodmills1

[size=8]WOW![/b][/size][/color]
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

Bibbyman

We pulled up in front of the sawshed with our 93 Dakota and shut it off to unload some gas (before we went electric!).  Got back in and hit the switch and BOOM!  I like to have crapped my pants.  I thought sure it was a 12 gage going off just outside the truck.  It blew the whole top of the battery.  Acid went everywhere. I hosed everything down good but still lost some paint. Gave me a new respect for being careful hooking up a battery to jump start, etc.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

MrMoo

Whoa Jeff, that's pretty scary. Very glad you are ok. If I were you I'd get to that cabin fast. Do have a safe weekend.

Saki

First time I have checked in for a while. Glad to hear that it missed you. Sure is scary when something like that lets go. Enjoy your cabin time. Saki

Sven Christiansen

Jeff,

Glad you're still here to tell us this story.

Sven

Furby

Maybe going to the cabin isn't such a good idea. ::) If you beat the busy roads,  you'll be at a cabin in the middle of nowhere, with things like axes, fish hooks, FIRE, whoah! ;D
 Anyways, enjoy your time away.

D._Frederick

Jeff,
Was the battery terminal so loose that it was sparking?

Furby

That's what it sounds like! ;D

Tillaway

I would be a little rattled after that too.  Glad you made it.
Making Tillamook Bay safe for bait; one salmon at a time.

isawlogs

I don't think that the cables being loose had anything to do with it ...I had one explode like that on one of my pick-ups and I know that the cables where tight having cleaned them a few days before the big bang....Took the hood out well not completly out just half.... Sure was glad it didn't go while I was there. Glade to hear that your o.k. Jeff have yourself a good time @ LA  COTTAGE....
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

Tom

You're real lucky, Jeff.  Even if the explosion didn't get you the acid could have.

I remember an incident  along about 1962 when I had a faulty battery in my 1935 Buick.  It was a pretty car and I was trying to refurbish it on nickel and dimes.   I had done a top end job and re-shimmed the bottom end. It was ready for a test run down the grass airport runway.   I couldn't get it cranked and Charlie opened the right front door to check the battery which was located under the floorboard. Kaboom! I went off right in his face. I was scared to death that he had been killed but quickly realized that he was still moving. Then I worried about his eyes.  I rushed him to the side of the workshop at the airport and turned the faucet on, flooding his face.   As it turned out, he hadn't gotten anything on him but I didn't know that.  The battery was sure in fragments though.

Once that has happened to you, all the safety precaution of jumping a battery or over charging really begins to mean something.

Charlie's never been right since. :D

kentuckyboy

      Whew! Close one Jeff.  It wasn't your time, but it was your lucky day. Have a good weekend ;D

hawby

Jeff,

Sure glad you were not there for the explosion.

It has been a lucky day for our family as well. My wife, daughter, stepdaughter and stepson were in town today, leaving the bank and stopped at a light. The light changed to green, she was a little slow getting started. The truck to her right started, then slammed on his brakes. My wife did as well, just as a semi-truck blew through the light at high speed.

She said it would have been all over for all four if they had of been hit. Needless to say, several prayers have been said already. Just wish there would have been a cop around.

As for battery stories... I was working as a mechanic while a senior in high school. The boss's son also worked there. He was in his late twenties and should have known better, but he hooked up a battery to the charger and slid it under the grinding bench.

Well, I needed to grind something and did not see it there. BOOM!!!! Lifted that 200# bench a couple of feet in the air. It happened so fast, I couldn't even fill my pants. However, that was the last time I could wear that uniform. It disintegrated.

hawby
Hawby

Missin' loggin', but luvin' the steady check...

Mark M

When I was a kid I was putting a new battery in my dad's car. It was on the charger and I was tightening the cables. My dad was rototilling the garden and hit a rock so the tiller made a funny noise. I turned my head to see what happened and my wrench hit ground, sparked, and blew the top of the battery. I got acid on the side of my face and neck but no permanent damage. Sometime later someone taught me to always disconnect the negative cable first and hook it up last, and to wait a while for the hydrogen to escape after charging. Batteries still make me nervous and a lot of people don't realize how dangerous they can be. I've seen some nasty burns people have got from wrist watches and rings shorting out on starter cables and the like.

Glad you are ok Jeff.

Mark

DanG

Batteries explode so rarely that we forget that they can. Glad this one missed you, Jeff.

Tom, I'm glad Charlie came through his ordeal, too.  But I've seen his pitcher, and I'm not sure it missed him completely. ;D
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Furby

I was working on the yard tractor one time, hooking the cables back onto the battery, when my fingers slipped off the wrench. ::)  The wrench fell across the terminals and welded itself in place.  :o Luckily I managed to grab something to knock it out with before the battery blew. :o I guess I came close to joining you all, that time! ;D

Frank_Pender

The best part of the whole thing is/was/ what your friend said,  "This was not a good day for you to die."  What would do without sojeone to keep us all in line around here?  We would have a mell of a hess.   I deal with keeping batteries going all the timne around here.  this is a good reminder for everyone.  Thanks for the post, Jeff.
Frank Pender

Fabiola

It sounds like been a forester can cause you troble!
Last week some one had probklems with fire also.
God bless you guys! ;) ;)
Fabíola Vieira
Forestry Engineer
Brasil

inspectorwoody

Glad to hear you are A Ok Jeff and are able to enjoy your time at the cabin.

A few years ago when my uncle was still able to see, we were out in the saw shed trying to get the old fork truck started. He was messing with the battery and the charger and all of sudden it exploded. He got some acid on his face and clothes but Thank God I was there and was able to get him to the house fast enough to get it all cleaned up with no problems. Still to this day able to enjoy his stories of the old days etc. That gave me a whole new outlook on batteries and dealing with old junk  :o

Gadget

biziedizie

    When ever you jump start a vehicle always connect the negative first and the positive second. Your negative will create a spark not your positive cable.
  Always connect your negative cable to the block or any other ground on the vehicle that will be boosting the vehicle with the dead battery.
  Connect the cables directly to the battery on the vehicle that needs a charge.
  This is the safest way to jump a vehicle with a dead battery.

   Steve

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