I have a brother in-law whose in the hospital right now with second degree burns to his legs. His Savage X exploded on him while he was spraying the chassis with NITRO BLAST engine cleaner. The engine was off. The gas is still in the tank and I'm thinking that it was the engine cleaner. However his wife was indoors when she heard a loud explosion. When she went outside, the neighbors were throwing blankets on him and hosing him down with water. I don't see how that could of happened with just the cleaner. I'ts more of an airspray to blow off the dust.
Anyone in RC land know what it could be, or if anyone had a similar experience? I'd greatly appreciate your feedback. And by the way, I know I spelled California wrong on my user name.

wow, prety scary stuff, since it is an aerosol propellant in there, the posibility for explosion is tremendous especally with fuel in the tank... what probabaly hapened was a cloud of fuel and cleaner vapors surounded the vehicle, and an accidental spark (static...) caused the explosion, prety scary stuff, what hapened to the savage???

Wow, I hope you Brother-In-Law is not too badly hurt.

Nitro Blast is not an "air spray to blow off the dust". It's a serious chemical cleaner very much like automobile brake cleaner. How did it explode? Who knows, only your B-I-L was there so, unless it comes from him, it's entirely speculation. And since we know nothing about him or what, exactly, he was doing anything we say would only be a guess. He was using a very powerful chemical aresol so nearly any source of ignition (smoking, static electricity, a spark from a short circut, a bad battery, etc) could cause an explosion. I agree with you in that the explosion was probably caused by the cleaner but what set it off, who knows. I seriously doubt that the fuel had anything at all to do with the original explosion although it could have splattered and caused further burns/damage.

good point but fuel in the tank is not such a great idea, hope he is ok as well, maybe there was some reaction between the methanol and the cleaner, I dunno, maybe the neighbors saw something you didn't[&:]

What he had for breakfast could have triggered the explosion.

Dude, that ain't good!

I can see that happening. The thing to remember is that there is ALWAYS a possible source of ignition. So never assume that just because things are off and not warm, there cant be a spark. Static discharge is common, tools can cause sparks, even things as minute as eddy currents in the metals have been known to ignite volitile vapors.

Hope he recovers quickly, and it should be a reminder to us all that we are working with combustibles.

I cant say what set it off but I can tel you aresol cleaners like brake cleaner and motor spray are VERY flammable. Thats why I always take the part outside, less sources of ignition.

Imagine a gas heater exploding... eek.

Sorry, bit off topic there huh?

It's pretty tough to ignite nitro fuel in a cold car, it's not highly flammable (ie ignitable by static spark) until it's warmed up. I would speculate that the car may have been turned on, and the cleaner shorted the battery causing it to heat up and explode, igniting the fuel and the cleaner. Pretty harsh though, I hope he's ok.

Man, thats horrible. I hope HE recovers ok, who cares about the car!

i agree.

and it kinda sounds like a freak accident. ive never heard of something like that hapening.

How can something explode with no compression? I'm puzzled. [&:]

I hope he gets well soon though.

AHHH brings me back to those times when i was combing the desert with my 22 one 1ONE G-FORCEINATOR when i hit a pebble containing radio active substances, it caused an explosion so intense...SO RIGHTEOUSS that it blew me shoeys straight up me boottocks and right out me nostriles. While being selfish and thinking only of my bootocksinator and me nostriles i didnt realize the GAPIN hole in the earth to till this day we call the GRANDE CANYONE!.YOU DONT KNOW THE VALUE OF A PARTNERSHIP OF GOING TO THE BANK! WEEKS LATER i can back to see the geographical feature i had created with my own two BUcheeks and nostriles when i saw a little twinkle of twine in a bottle of whine that cought my eye that brought be back to the times when.... i was combing the desert with my 22 one 1ONE G-FORCEINATOR when i hit a pebble containing radio active substances, it caused an explosion so intense...SO RIGHTEOUSS that it blew me shoeys straight up me boottocks and right out me nostriles. While being selfish and thinking only of my bootocksinator and me nostriles i didnt realize the GAPIN hole in the earth to till this day we call the GRANDE CANYONE!.ANYWAY i was at Walmart and i saw SAMUEL ADAMS and he said AINT U BUCHEEK BILL?! I WAS INSANLY ASTONISHED and over all ANSTONISHED! I could not believe he know my alias in which only me and my dog POOFPAR knew. I said hey u beer maker how u know my name? He replied so fast my shoeys went straight up my butoks...( i guess my shoes entering that region is hereditary)...OUT MY NOSTRILES, BOUNCED OFF THE STOOL UP MY BUTT OUT ME NOSEYS HIT THE WALL AND LANDED IN SAMMY BOYS BEEEEER! He said that he was the one drinking the twinkly twine whine that brought be back to wheni was combing the desert with my 22 one 1ONE G-FORCEINATOR when i hit a pebble containing radio active substances, it caused an explosion so intense...SO RIGHTEOUSS that it blew me shoeys straight up me boottocks and right out me nostriles. While being selfish and thinking only of my bootocksinator and me nostriles i didnt realize the GAPIN hole in the earth to till this day we call the GRANDE CANYONE!. SO kids keep this story in mind beacuse u might very well be the next maker of a national land mark to which we will one day call the POOFPARSAMMYBOYGFORCEGIGIDABOOUSHKATOXIRYMCATOR.

RIGHTCHUSS!!!!!!!!.....!!!!!.GM

im sure that the cleaner has been tested and the manufacturers made sure there was no chemical reaction. keep us posted on how he is doing

i think the engine was warm...

well deturmaining what whent wrong shouldnt be that hard........what expleded the nitro cleaner bottel or the engine/fuel tank of the truck????

there could have bein a defect on the bottel when is was made.........when he feels better ask him what blew up the truck or bottel

yeah, but not all fuels are the same, sounds like a freak accident also, prety scary stuff, hope he gets better, prety sad[&o]

yeah if i were to guess the engine was still warm/hot. does he smoke? i use the trinity nitro blast and it says not to use on a warm engine. hope he comes out o.k.

What was the % of the nitro fuel was he had in the truck?

that probabaly wouldn't have a difference, the nitro is oily stuff, not likely to vaporise like the methanol is, maybe the cap on the bottle flew off causing the contents to fly and make the can explode, but what puzzles me is what caused the fireball that burned him[&:]

I dont think it exploded, just burst into flames.

Im pretty shure that the higher % of the fuel, the more explosive it is.....

um. I dunno, nitro is oily sutff, not likely to vaporise like methanol would???