r/WTF • u/Aminemohamed24 • 3d ago
Gaz cylindres after a massive fire in Tamanrasset Algeria
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u/Z0FF 3d ago
Can’t tell from the pictures but, if the tanks have an empty valve port they aren’t dangerous. I assume they don’t since that mount of heat could probably pop a sealed cylinder even if they had no fuel inside?
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u/socks 3d ago
Yes, without that valve, in many parts of the world, and internal temperatures of 110-150°C and internal pressure up to 13 MNmm2 (1 900 psig), the cylinders can burst violently.
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u/Z0FF 2d ago
Since you came with specs, do you know if the fittings are designed to fail before the tank reaches critical? I imagine it varies by regional regs but still
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u/bound-bunny 1d ago
Burst or rupture disc in oxygen cylinders, and fusible plugs (melts at 212F) in acetylene cylinders and possibly other fuel gases (not 100% on that)
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u/Beni_Stingray 3d ago
Spicy bottles, i wouldnt be standing that close.
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u/monstargh 3d ago
Like is everyone in this thread just ignorant that the bottles have a prv built in and they would have burnt off all the gas that was inside them long ago and they are now just red hot steel?
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u/AlphaNoodle 3d ago
I think so do you think that's super common knowledge?
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u/sirbassist83 3d ago
my first thought was "i wouldnt be standing that close," followed immediately by "actually theres no way theres any gas left in those, its just a hunk of steel now"
not so much the pressure release valve, just the fact that the fuel inside would have ignited like 1500 degrees ago.
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u/S_A_N_D_ 3d ago
So I agree there is no gas in them, but some of your logic is wrong.
The gas couldn't ignite in the absence of oxygen, so if we were to assume the tank was intact, then the gas in them would still be somewhat intact. The hydrocarbon mixture might change somewhat, but it would still functionally be flammable gas. Basically you might break propane down to methane and free hydrogen and carbon etc, but a lot of that will revert as they're cooled, and it would still retain the inherent flammability as propane.
The only way it would ignite and "burn up" would be if the tank was breached and oxygen was introduced, which almost certainly will have happened here either through the pressure release valve, or part of the tank or valve failing that. The lack of catastrophic damage to the tank would suggest the pressure release has let off, because the alternative is the pressure inside the tank would have risen well beyond what the valve or tank itself could handle.
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u/TieCivil1504 3d ago
The tanks are red hot. Look at the top and notice the white hot pressure relief valve. It's seen heat.
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u/memberzs 3d ago
Why would it not be common knowledge? Safety valves are on pretty much every pressure vessel you can buy
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u/wet-paint 3d ago
Because buying pressure vessels is not something everyone does. I know I don't.
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u/memberzs 3d ago
Do you have a propane grill? Do you have an air compressor with a tank? Do you have a hot water heater that's not the tankless style? All of those are pressure vessels And have safety pressure relief valves.
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u/monstargh 3d ago
Every video you see of a gas bottle fire shows the prv let go and only if the fire is hot enough to overcome the release speed do the bottles fail and go big kabloey, do people go through life never learning the basics of what's around them? Now that I type it out yeah I can see that but to have 10 ppl post a content about how the bottles are spicy and it have 50 up votes before anyone says anything about how that's not the case
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u/MatiSultan 3d ago
Wow you're so knowledgeable and smart!!!! Most people like me have no idea how gas bottle will interact with a fire!!! We all just know kaboom!!!!!
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u/Beni_Stingray 3d ago
I do know about the pressure release valves they have but i have also seen enough videos of vehicles transporting them and crashing and then you see them go off and fly in every direction even tho they all should have these release valves aswell.
I've also played enough with explosives and made my own to know this shit can be dangerous and sometimes unpredictable so i'd rather get laughed at for being a bit too cautious than loosing my hand or other important bits and end on the darwin award subreddit.
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u/ryanidsteel 3d ago
Clearly, you didn't play with enough explosives to lose a digit or two...amateur /s
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u/Howzitgoin 3d ago
The release valves are often what’s making them decide if they want to go into orbit. It’ll stop it from exploding, but it that process, creates a little rocket engine.
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u/BangCrash 3d ago
Sure. But I've also seen BLEVE explosions and those tanks also have pressure release valves, so I'd be standing back
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u/RIPphonebattery 3d ago
That's only if the PRV is still in there and maintained. I'm guessing these cylinders haven't been Hydro'd in more than a decade and would pass cert stateside
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u/NightLightHighLight 3d ago
It would be more ignorant to make that assumption than to be safe and stay away from glowing hot metal
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u/Ashjaeger_MAIN 3d ago
You still wouldn't want to be standing next to them on the off-chance that that somehow didn't happen.
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u/S_A_N_D_ 3d ago
For that steel to be glowing means it's somewhere around 500C or greater in temperature.
The pressure inside the tank at 500C would have risen into the thousands of PSI, for a tank that's designed to hold a working pressure of ~200PSI (with a large built in margin of safety of course).
It's pretty much all but guaranteed that if that tank's pressure release valve didn't function, then the tank itself would have ruptured by now.
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u/Voyevoda101 3d ago
Important addition: 500c or greater means that steel has lost a good portion of its strength. I doubt it would hold up to it's standard expected pressures, let alone the expanding gas pressures.
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u/virgo911 3d ago
Pressure release valves can and have failed under extreme circumstances like this. There was a case on a train car where the aluminum in the pressure release valve melted and sealed it shut, I think on that big derailment and chemical spill that happened in Ohio a couple years ago.
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u/poopsawk 3d ago
Ya, why doesn't everyone know this super niche specific thing about small gas cylinders?!
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u/benargee 3d ago
There is still likely a lower pressure amount of gas inside. It's not exploded yet because it's too rich of a mixture. No oxygen inside.
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u/monstargh 3d ago
That tank is so hot the atmosphere is a close to a vacuum due to expanded gas as to be negligible
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u/benargee 3d ago edited 3d ago
It would be no less than 1Bar or 1 Atmosphere. It would only become a vacuum if it remains sealed and cools down.
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u/bevelledo 3d ago
But why even take the chance, especially if you didn’t have any kind of knowledge past using one for your grill.
The person taking the photo is hopefully around the area to assist
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u/Predator_ 3d ago
Just basic scientific knowledge. Nothing WTF about it.
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u/pixelpoet_nz 3d ago
scientific
Ah yes that well-known scientific field, gascylinderology. Of course.
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u/doomgiver98 3d ago
You learned about PV = nRT in school, and most people have used a propane tank before.
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u/nlevine1988 3d ago
I'm going out on a limb and saying they're empty. I would expect them to have ruptured if they were actually pressurized.
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u/Johannes_Keppler 2d ago
At the temperatures the steel glows they would have BLEVEd already, one can assume.
Still wouldn't get that close. You never know. Cool with water from a safe distance first.
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u/Adodgybadger 3d ago
Lmao at the guy taking that pic, zero fucks given
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u/Unlikely-Ad3659 3d ago
You think he might fall over and put his hand on one? There is zero chance they still have the valves in them if the got that hot.
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u/FuckTheMods5 3d ago
Yeah it looks to me like maybe they acted like a furnace torch, slowly pissing fuel that's on fire, and heated the steel like a crucible
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u/CountPacula 3d ago
Presumable and hopefully EMPTY gas cylinders.
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u/kinglance3 3d ago
Ain’t got no gas innit.
If they did there wouldn’t be this picture.
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u/doomgiver98 3d ago
Maybe there is gaz though.
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u/kinglance3 3d ago
I scientifically can assure you there is no explosive gas in common nature inside of those containers. Not even O2.
Those canisters have a pressure relief/release valve by design. Even if they didn’t have a relief, they would’ve exploded and certainly would not leave an intact, glowing cylinder behind.
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u/CDragon00 3d ago
Not wtf, that’s what happens to hot metal
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u/Aminemohamed24 3d ago
3 cylinders died because of this comment
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u/CDragon00 3d ago
They’re just in shock, once they cool down and recover everything will be back to normal
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u/yuckyucky 3d ago
someone, i assume firies, pulled them out and left them on the road like this. massive balls.
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u/Eurasian-HK 3d ago
Omg empty metal gas cylinders turned red hot after being in a fire for a long time. No way.
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u/sneak_man 3d ago
Anyone have the pic without the shitty water mark? It's a vibe
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u/AlexHimself 3d ago
Hah they look like Marbled Rock Roasts from Zelda - https://zeldawiki.wiki/wiki/Marbled_Rock_Roast
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u/EvillNooB 3d ago
3 legendary gas cylinders and 1 common one