Lit my garage on fire tonight.

[JohnnyEgo]

Sitting in my garage right now with all doors open and the fan blowing full force to clear out the smoke from a trash can fire. I had been using a oil-based gel stain earlier today, and while I thought the rags were dry before I discarded them, they were not. Somewhere around an hour ago, I started noticing a smoke smell in the house. First, I thought it was my neighbor's brick oven, but it kept getting stronger. Went out to the garage 15 minutes, and it was filled with thick white smoke.

I got pretty lucky, I suppose. The fire was confined to the trash can, and had burned itself out by the time I noticed it. I have 3' concrete stem walls in my garage, and keep my trash can by itself in a corner. No soot tracks on the walls or ceilings. Just a lot of white smoke now venting through the neighborhood.

By habit, I leave rags that have been used with oil-based solvents out in the yard for several hours, until they are fairly stiff, before I discard them. This was my first time using a gel stain product. The rags had sat outside for about five hours and seemed fairly stiff, dry, and inert, like the conventional stains I had used previously. But apparently that wasn't enough cure time for the gel stain. I will definitely not do that again. I got very, very lucky tonight. Learn from my poor choices!

[Great-Kazoo]

wowzer. How's the spouse taking it?

I picked up one of these at a garage sale
https://www.amazon.com/Justrite-0910...J92ZDNMBTYK7QT

[Irving]

First, glad you didn't burn your house down.
Second, time for an oily rag waste bin!
Last, what was the ignition source?

[Bailey Guns]

Glad it wasn't worse.

My guardian angel has had to work plenty of overtime in the past due to some of the things I've done.

[MrPrena]

I am kinda nervious about the bug zapper catching fire after stuck of moth.
I watching the bug zapper every 3-5 minutes. I put those near the porch window for me to see it.

BTW< glad no one got hurt.

[JohnnyEgo]

wowzer. How's the spouse taking it?

I picked up one of these at a garage sale
https://www.amazon.com/Justrite-0910...J92ZDNMBTYK7QT

Pretty well, all things considered. It's not the dumbest thing I've ever done, possibly not even this week, and no actual damage was done, so she was fairly forgiving tonight. When the house still smells like burnt rags tomorrow morning, it may be a different story.

First, glad you didn't burn your house down.
Second, time for an oily rag waste bin!
Last, what was the ignition source?

Googling Just-Rite oily waste cans right now. Will stop by Boomgars or Tractor Supply Corp tomorrow and pick one up.
Appears to be straight spontaneous combustion. This being the first time I've ever used a gel stain product, I didn't really think it through. Unlike the thin stains I usually use, it has a pudding-like consistency. Oil solvents give off heat as they dry. I thought the rags were dry after five hours in the sun, but they definitely weren't. Nice enclosed space to build up all that heat, and poof, real live spontaneous combustion. They weren't kidding with the warning labels on the back of the can.

[JohnnyEgo]

Probably four or five blue shop towels that went up in flames.

The product:


Yep, weren't kidding:



There is a sticker on the can that says 'Satisfaction Guaranteed'. Part of me wonders if I'd get a new can for telling them I was not completely satisfied with their product.

[Wulf202]

Usually they end up with smoldering fires that grow into the surrounding areas. You did get lucky

[Irving]

Did you give them a one-star review on Amazon yet?

[JohnnyDrama]

Glad you and your property are ok. A former neighbor had a spontaneous combustion like that. It cost him a shed and could have easily spread to our property. I keep a very close eye on rags that I have used with a mineral product.