NOS bottle safety disc popped off. MAN!

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Joe McCoy
Posts: 113
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:05 pm
Location: Gaffney SC

NOS bottle safety disc popped off. MAN!

Post by Joe McCoy »

Racing yesterday, it's real cold, got NOS bottles in the water bath plus using the 120 volt/12 volt heater in the car. I use a pressure switch and relay to control the bottle pressure with the heater blanket and it works great the past few years. Swapped the bottle and did the big stupid, didn't open the valve so the pressure switch had no pressure. I know and totally understand I can't do that ,but I did, so that tells me others can do it too. So I have all the right stuff properly installed and the disc pops with a swoosh and lots of vapor rolling out form under the car. We go investigate what happened and are Thankful everything did it's job and nobody or nothing was hurt, and swapped a new bottle in. I installed a bottle holder that uses a clamp with twin screws to hold the bottle securely. I have crewed on cars with holders that just a clamp similair to a hose clamp that goes around the bottle to hold it in. Seeing the force that comes out of the bottle vent, I would never use those things. Just saying. A guy comes over and asks what happened and did I see the hole in the ground under the car? I was like what hole? The ground under the bulkhead fitting in the floor had a hole 2 ft around and about 6 inches deep. I was like WTF! I looked under the car and there was dust,dirt, and debris all over from this hole. I laid on the ground and wiped the frame off and the floor. I was amazed by the power of the vented gas. I've seen them pop before but never really saw the damage done, just thought another stupid idiot did a dumb thing and glad nobody got hurt. If a safety popped while filling a bottle sitting on a scale on the floor or bench I now think there is going to be some serious issues so I am again going to make a cage to fill bottles in to protect myself and the mother bottle if the baby bottle vents and gets to flopping around with the hose attached. We go up for 2nd qfy pass and when I let go of the trans brake the car goes dead right like an axel is busted and we were very lucky to have not hit anything or anyone. Adding more shame to myself, alot of dirt and trash had been trapped by the lines and cables and any flat area under the car so all that crap dropped in front of the tire when it launched so it went dead right. I am 64 and have raced my whole life. I am cautious and use lots of common sense and I do lots of checking to be sure my stuff is safe and reliable and I don't do dumb stuff as a rule. But I made a stupid error in a rush in the cold and just thought I'd mention it so others make sure they have the right stuff on/in the cars and to express how amazed I was at the power of the vented bottle. 1800 PSI or so escaping out a 1/2 inch hole. DAMN!

23T Altered
Posts: 64
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:40 pm
Location: Summaville SC

Re: NOS bottle safety disc popped off. MAN!

Post by 23T Altered »

Glad you are ok a good thing the safetys were working and in stalled to the out side
Last edited by 23T Altered on Wed Nov 09, 2011 5:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

LIZZARD
Posts: 214
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2009 3:49 pm
Location: da crib

Re: NOS bottle safety disc popped off. MAN!

Post by LIZZARD »

Don't know much about the NOS, but working with Oxygen tanks and filling high pressured cylinders....there is alot of safety that goes into these things (and they got me in charge of these things??? :shock: :shock: ) Glad your issue wasnt too serious!! I've never had an issue so far, and hope I dont....but part of our training involves seeing incidents where people didnt use or have proper safety measures in place and the consiquences are bad. The one that sticks out in my mind is a tank going through a 8 inch thick solid concrete wall and then travelling about 300 yards after going through the wall. This can apply to welders too!!

Joe McCoy
Posts: 113
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:05 pm
Location: Gaffney SC

Re: NOS bottle safety disc popped off. MAN!

Post by Joe McCoy »

Yes Chad any type bottle can be dangerous. When in the Army I saw an oxygen bottle dropped off a truck and the bottle valve had no cap on it and it broke off. The bottle went thru the side of an ordinance truck much like a bottle rocket. An over filled CO2 bottle can be a blast too. Not many people use NOS in bracket racing but some do so I posted this here. I still see people using torches to heat NOS bottles and that is just so dangerous. People will tell you how they know what they're doing and have done it forever and bla bla. I know what I'm doing and I use all the more costly recommended methods and procedures to heat my bottles and I made a stupid error and had the rupture disc let go. We are people and we are as careful and cautious as we can be, but people make mistakes and poor decisions every day. Some can be seriously bad.

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