Cutting torch around fertilizer

BobReeves · Nov 30, 2016

In the process of resurrecting an old John Deere planter and will need to cut a couple bolts off to remove the runner shoes. It has old fertilizer caked in the shoots where I will cutting and wondering if it will blow up. I might be able to get to them with a cut-off wheel but even that will throw sparks.

Of course in trying to get the nuts off I have soaked it with penetrating oil. Sounds like a bad combination to me...

JMOR · Nov 30, 2016

(quoted from post at 12:18:19 11/30/16) In the process of resurrecting an old John Deere planter and will need to cut a couple bolts off to remove the runner shoes. It has old fertilizer caked in the shoots where I will cutting and wondering if it will blow up. I might be able to get to them with a cut-off wheel but even that will throw sparks.

Of course in trying to get the nuts off I have soaked it with penetrating oil. Sounds like a bad combination to me...

y bet is you can't make it blow up even with a blasting cap.

BobReeves · Nov 30, 2016

Being from Oklahoma and remembering the Murrah federal building might make me a bit more cautious of the combination of fertilizer and oil.

RobCons · Nov 30, 2016

Don't think it will blow up but watch out for the fumes and gases given off. They could be rough.

Jim Phelps · Nov 30, 2016

Ammonia nitrate is what they used in OKC, not fertilizer. Most modern Ammonia nitrates have been chemically altered so you cannot use them as an oxidizer in explosives. The only product now used is called amfo but you need a license to purchase it. Mining operations use it for blasting in open pit mining.

coonie minnie · Nov 30, 2016

Ammonium Nitrate is the one to look out for- that is the one that goes BOOM! World trade center in '93, Oklahoma fed building, West, TX all were linked to ammonium nitrate. It is too bad, because it is a nice form of N.

Copperhead don't play · Nov 30, 2016

No, it will not blow up. One, it is not in a tight confined space. Two, it has to be detonated, not set on fire.

jeffcat · Nov 30, 2016

No it will not blow. With heat from a torch it will just melt. Go on U-tube where there are several videos about just that question. When you add a fuel to it and it needs one heck of a shock... then it goes boom.

Dick2 · Nov 30, 2016

If it does blow, you will be the first to know.

FLOLDFORD · Nov 30, 2016

We cut around it over it and thru it every day where I work. Hit it with the flame of a torch and it will melt and give off some nasty fumes but no it will not blow up

mj · Nov 30, 2016

(quoted from post at 10:18:19 11/30/16) In the process of resurrecting an old John Deere planter and will need to cut a couple bolts off to remove the runner shoes. It has old fertilizer caked in the shoots where I will cutting and wondering if it will blow up. I might be able to get to them with a cut-off wheel but even that will throw sparks.

Of course in trying to get the nuts off I have soaked it with penetrating oil. Sounds like a bad combination to me...

Don't know what it was called but it was spread in fertilizer 'buggys'. I was doing some repair for them at the time, arc-welding and oxy-acet cutting, one of the volunteer firemen told me that when that particular substance was heated that it gave off phosgene gas - the infamous gas used in WW1, SO find out what you're dealing with and keep a stiff breeze at your back! 8)

Cutting torch around fertilizer

BobReeves

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JMOR

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BobReeves

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RobCons

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Jim Phelps

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coonie minnie

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Copperhead don't play

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jeffcat

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Dick2

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FLOLDFORD

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mj

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