If you’re invited to a Halloween party, don’t dress up like Charlie Chaplin from the tramp. Everyone will think you dressed up like hitler and you’ll have a bad time.
23 Likes
Don’t let the circulating lines on your chiller that lead to your external condenser hang over your vacuum pump… Rookie mistake.
Chiller lines get VERY cold and create condensation on the outside. I saw this and thought nothing of it until a month later when I realized the oil in my vacuum pump was red…
Took the pump apart and found LAYERS of rust. Cleaned it head to toe, got oil all over me, put it all back together, missed a screw, took it all apart, found more rust, cleaned it again, put it back together again, works like a charm, lost three days and $600 bucks in maintenance kits, replacement parts, and a lot of oil for flushing.
5 Likes
This is true of all kinds of equipment. I’ve seen techs fry all kinds of things with frozen condensate warming and dropping on stuff, the most costly being a turbovac circuit board…
4 Likes
Have fire extinguisher s close at hand
But if possible not the powder type
Pfff fire was out in a sec but took 3 days of cleaning
19 Likes
cute sleeping photos 
1 Like
oops
3 Likes
Make sure that fire extinguisher is the correct one for oil. Like cooking oil. You don’t want to hit a normal extinguisher on it. You ever see napalm on fire while getting spread around like a super soaker hitting the wall 
i never had either but this is what will happen if you use a normal extinguisher lmao
2 Likes
One time I was open pot decarbing and decided to attach a whisk to a drill for stirring. I try my shitty contraption and the whisk breaks off the drill throwing 130C crude on me and the walls.
Another time I had a thermocouple fall out of heat tape. Went to adjust something and instantly melted my skin.
1 Like
by normal do you mean water?
I’ve deliberately used a water based “extinguisher” to turn a small cauldron of burning cooking oil into a 20ft high inferno. only real problem was the overhead wires at 15ft.
I like to have at least one CO2 fire extinguisher on hand, so that I can at least try to calm things down without covering everything with powder. the clean up from using a dry powder extinguisher is not a fun task (been there, done that, feel your pain @Roguelab)
then of course there is the “playa extinguisher”…filled with flour, dried milk, or coffee creamer.
Wielded by #%>€£%#ing DPW clowns 
7 Likes
I’m a big fan of oxygen displacement myself.
There’s a certain gas mixture that I can’t think of the name off the top of my head… It’s considered safe to inhale, makes the room look like the air above hot pavement in the distance, except, right in front of your face (see also: Acid visuals) and makes your voice super deep.
It’s like $5k a shot for a 1000 sq ft room though, I suppose you might lose a lot more than that in equipment and product otherwise.
Edit: It’s called FM 200 (HFC227ea) safe for sensitive electronics and people.
Btw, I’ve never set off a fire system in a lab, the fire system tech was doing an inspection and demonstration of the alarms, he forgot to disconnect the gas release relay before he pulled the switch.
He turned BEET red, haha, his boss was not happy having to pay to refill that tank.
3 Likes
For real though, use a correct fire extinguisher and be aware of your environment. This is something I never considered before being in this situation. I say this as someone who has performed hot work in a closed, confined space, where my life supporting atmosphere could have gone away with a co2 extinguisher. I dont imagine your labs being tiny and unventilated…but dont suffocate yourselves please.
5 Likes
Halion i think not sure how its spelled, same stuff property rooms use to preserve evidence and such from fires
3 Likes
Just posted it in an edit.
I’ll just post the detail here.
FM-200 is the brand name from the company Great Lakes for 1,1,1,2,3,3,3-Heptafluoropropane, also known as HFC-227ea. FM-200 belongs to the class of fluorinated hydrocarbons (HFCs) which are exclusively made up of carbon, fluoride and hydrogen atoms. The effect consists of cooling the flame and disrupting the chemical reaction of the combustion process. If exposed to flames, the FM-200 will emit small quantities of free radicals on the fire which inhibit the chain reactions responsible for combustion. Another important aspect is that FM-200 is not harmful to sensitive devices. It is a clean, gaseous substance without particles or oily residue. It does not cause a significant reduction of the oxygen content and is therefore also suitable for human-occupied premises. After it has been activated, it can be extracted through simple ventilation measures.
10 Likes
I use to weld high pressure pipes and built a few sprinkler setups and that was one that this particular company was using.
1 Like
Halon systems are badass, I have one in the engine room of my sailboat. Deploying a system similar to that in a lab would be amazing, I know there are some hoods that have built in halon systems aswell.
Just be sure everyone is out of the room before you deploy the system or they are toast.
5 Likes
That’s why I like this FM200 stuff, it’s safe for panicked monkeys.
5 Likes
That’s pretty awesome I’ll look into it! 
2 Likes
Always make sure there is no residual ETOH in your Zelite before you toss it in a 400 degeree oven to deyhdrate.
It goes BOOM if you don’t. 
5 Likes
“effectively drilling your yields in the ass with a fat dildo”
2 Likes
Ive had a 20L system with 13L of non decarbed unwinterized crude muffin to the point of trying to climb out of the flask. I mistakenly opened the valve for the vac slightly and it induced the full muffinator of doom. Started to climb up the head and was about to peak the condenser… i shut the valve hoping to subdue the beast. Just after i closed it, i looked at my vac gauge and it read ovr… i was puzzled by what that meant as i had never seen it before… just as i said “whats o…” ::BOOM!:: the 12L receiving flask i had on the system exploded and sent glass and crude into my face, no ppe… when i turned back and wiped the glass off my face, my stainless table was half covered with crude and it was beginning to drip on the floor… nearly everything ejected the bf and i was left to salvage only a small amount of what was lost… not to mention picking glass out of my face for weeks… we all do it… i have scaring on my hands from dry ice/acetone burns from exploding cold traps as well… those were due to cracks not over pressurization though. 5-600 runs later… ive seen some shit lol.
Glass under vacuum is like a concussion grenade… nearly knocked me off my feet from An exploding flask dewar… my entire arm was covered in glass shards… all i did was tap it too… sometimes shits just ready to go…
11 Likes