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How to make it rain - in your workshop

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by edwardlloyd, Mar 7, 2016.

  1. edwardlloyd
    Joined: Aug 2, 2003
    Posts: 2,074

    edwardlloyd
    Member
    from Germany

    Let me tell you what happened on Friday which will make you all laugh (or cry!)
    We started the nailhead powered Model-T I'm building for the first time ever.
    http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/index.php?threads/1001406/

    Started on the button and ran beautifully and we were amazed. Now I had the car on the lift to keep the tires clear off the ground for safety. (The automatic selector needed to be adjusted and I didn't want the car running off on it's own. Now because it's got no fan I set up one of those huge 6' square military outdoors air conditioners in the shop in front of the car to keep it cool. Just ran the fan, no air-con. But I've got a wall of 20mph air rushing through the shop.
    So I'm running the engine and adjusting the transmission selector and the engine gets up to running temperature. Everything OK.
    Now at this point I'd like to add, that the car was spotlessly clean, inside, underneath and outside. A little dusty perhaps but clean. And I'd just spent a complete day cleaning my shop earlier in the week so it looked like an operating theater.
    Now I'm not naming anyone but it wasn't me who fitted the bottom radiator hose! Could have happened to me too though. No blame, these things happen. Some of you will have already guessed what happened next.
    The bottom hose blew off releasing gallons of very hot rusty water which immediately turned to steam, rose in the air, got blown across the shop and the car by the massive 6' fan, then condensed and fell like hot rain in a thunderstorm everywhere. I flipped off the ignition and all three of us ran outside chased by a wall of steam and boiling rain. About 3 seconds later the show was over.
    I'm telling you, you won't believe what a mess two gallons of rusty water can make when it's spread everywhere, all over the car, the entire floor and both walls up to the ceiling. Every tool, every box, everything in the shop got covered.
    So we're standing outside the shop looking in at the mess, and James turns to me and says, "I just hate it when that happens." I said to him, "What - this has happened to you too?". "Oh yes - several times." he said.
    Made me feel a bit better. Anyway. It took us three hours to clean the shop and the car. There's still rusty spots everywhere though - always will be now.
    But it made me so glad I decided to run the first test run with water and not coolant. If that had been glycerol all over the place we'd still be cleaning today. At least rusty water cleans off easier. Not easily - easier than glycerol.
    Anyway - moral of the story is: Try not to create the ideal conditions for a thunderstorm inside your workshop.
     
  2. seb fontana
    Joined: Sep 1, 2005
    Posts: 9,113

    seb fontana
    Member
    from ct

  3. HotRodMicky
    Joined: Oct 14, 2001
    Posts: 1,784

    HotRodMicky
    Member

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!
    That is just funny
     
    firstinsteele and volvobrynk like this.
  4. Gearhead Graphics
    Joined: Oct 4, 2008
    Posts: 3,888

    Gearhead Graphics
    Member
    from Denver Co

    Pics or it never happened.
     
  5. Petejoe
    Joined: Nov 27, 2002
    Posts: 12,545

    Petejoe
    Member
    from Zoar, Ohio

    Oh my I would have cried. Now I would suggest making sure your temp gauge is operable next time. That is terrible.
     
  6. BigDogSS
    Joined: Jan 8, 2009
    Posts: 982

    BigDogSS
    Member
    from SoCal

    Why was the water rusty?
     
  7. edwardlloyd
    Joined: Aug 2, 2003
    Posts: 2,074

    edwardlloyd
    Member
    from Germany

    I just wasn't in the mood to take out my camera right then. In retrospect I wish I had, but right then my only thought was - " how the xxxx am I going to get this cleaned up today!"
     
  8. edwardlloyd
    Joined: Aug 2, 2003
    Posts: 2,074

    edwardlloyd
    Member
    from Germany

    It was. Water in a cooling system is just under boiling point under pressure. As soon as it's released into the atmosphere it turns to steam. Well about half of it does. Half falls on the floor, half turns to steam. When it meets a wall of cold 20mph air that steam condenses back to water - hence it actually rained in my shop.
    Ed
     
    Petejoe likes this.
  9. edwardlloyd
    Joined: Aug 2, 2003
    Posts: 2,074

    edwardlloyd
    Member
    from Germany

    Iron block engine standing around unused for 1 year. First run with water. It'll always be very rusty. It's the first flush.
     
  10. olscrounger
    Joined: Feb 23, 2008
    Posts: 4,822

    olscrounger
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Wow!! what an experience.
     
    volvobrynk likes this.
  11. sorry for the mess in your shop, but it sure was fun to read, Ed! :p:)
     
    firstinsteele likes this.
  12. '51 Norm
    Joined: Dec 6, 2010
    Posts: 865

    '51 Norm
    Member
    from colorado

    On the upside; the insides of your engine are a lot cleaner!
     
  13. I'm not sure I agree with your hypothesis and observations. Could you please repeat the experiment?

    :p
     
    Truck64, Stogy and kiwijeff like this.
  14. rusty rocket
    Joined: Oct 30, 2011
    Posts: 5,230

    rusty rocket
    Member

    First Time I started my Flathead powered T modified it popped an upper radiator hose. I had polished the heads and there isnt a raised ring on the neck where the upper hose attaches to. It built a bit of pressure and slid the hose right off. I ended up drilling and tapping a hole and put in a stainless steel button head bolt so the clamp had something to clamp against.
     
  15. xpletiv
    Joined: Jul 9, 2008
    Posts: 938

    xpletiv
    Member
    from chiburbs

    I like the fact that it happened to your buddy before, but that it didn't seem a concern in the least.
    He wasn't the one who put the hose on, was he? I know you said you went going to tell.....
     
  16. Terrible80
    Joined: Oct 1, 2010
    Posts: 785

    Terrible80
    Member

    As long as no body got scalded it's not that bad.
     
  17. aaggie
    Joined: Nov 21, 2009
    Posts: 2,530

    aaggie
    Member

    On the bright side you needed to flush the cooling system you just got an early start.
     
  18. edwardlloyd
    Joined: Aug 2, 2003
    Posts: 2,074

    edwardlloyd
    Member
    from Germany

    I just told you how it works. Try it out yourself. It's awesome to see a thunderstorm indoors.
     
  19. El Caballo
    Joined: Mar 3, 2001
    Posts: 6,332

    El Caballo
    Member
    from Houston TX

    Not Christian's shit chopper toilet, but an amusing anecdote anyway.
     
  20. I've had them come off before outside, never inside. Looks like you had the perfect shit-storm going on. I just put together my Ford and double checked every hose connection, just out of habit.
     
  21. I thought the same thing, that was one of the funniest things on the HAMB.
     
  22. tfeverfred
    Joined: Nov 11, 2006
    Posts: 15,788

    tfeverfred
    Member Emeritus

    No big deal. In Houston, we call that humidity.:D
     
  23. Speedwrench
    Joined: Nov 21, 2009
    Posts: 1,032

    Speedwrench
    Member

    As I said on a previous thread : " Experience is recognizing a mistake the second time you make it "
     
  24. David Gersic
    Joined: Feb 15, 2015
    Posts: 2,802

    David Gersic
    Member
    from DeKalb, IL

    A good reminder to double check everything. I had an upper radiator hose burst in my face once, it's quite a surprise to suddenly be covered in very hot antifreeze mix.
     
  25. stimpy
    Joined: Apr 16, 2006
    Posts: 3,546

    stimpy

    better than hitting the sprinkler head on the ceiling of the shop with a truck roof and knocking it off and not able to find the water shut off ( as its in a room labeled in big red letters sprinkler control on the other side of the room ) and the other new radiator, hoses hooked up correctly , and have bottom pipe break off radiator due to bad soldering when it built pressure . and yes glycol is a pain to clean up you have to use laundry detergent .
     
    Jet96 likes this.
  26. I had a college professor for physics, he had a Phd in thermodynamics.... his car over heated on the way to school one morning. He opened the cap... parboiled one side of his face and was out the rest of the semester.
     

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