shop safety,, it happened to me today

this happened to me today so everyone please read this and just plain be careful,, no i am not saying you guys are stupid,, but i got lucky,,, i was working on a couple of the weedeaters that i got yesterday,, was checking it over and when i do that it make sure the purge bulb is not cracked or missing,, the weedeater i was working on i pushed the purge bulb a couple of times and it didn't break so i ASSUMED it was ok,, i did my other checks and everything seemed fine,, so i fueled it up and started pushing the purge bulb,, woooooohoooooo it was drawing fuel,, about the time it got almost full of fuel and there was a little bit of pressure it shot a strong stream right in my face,, i could not see a crack or hole in the bulb,, i am glad i have to wear reading glasses or my left eye could have been toast from the fuel mix,,, so what i am saying is be careful and wear some kind of safety glasses when working in the shop,,, and no i don't have pics to prove it :msp_biggrin::msp_biggrin::msp_biggrin:,,, again guys please be careful and take precautions,, expect the unexpected,,, i got lucky ,, i might have lost some of my eye sight if it wasn't for my reading glasses,,, yes i am that dang old,,,,,,,,,,,

Glad your alright. I had this happen a few weeks ago. I was working on a blower and pulled the fuel line off and it sprayed all over the place. Luckly it hit me in the mouth and not the eyes. I smelled like fuel for a few days.

Glad to hear your ok 1 fitty. Eye protection always seems to be last on the list, but should be first! Those eyes come in handy from time to time.

I ve had carbcleaner do the same thing when working on carbs. I always try to wear safty glasses probibly not often enough. Glad you are all right. Sight is important.

Buncha sissies.....I use gasoline for aftershave. :msp_wink:

Mastermind said:

Buncha sissies.....I use gasoline for aftershave. :msp_wink:

Click to expand...

You da MAN!

Mastermind said:

Buncha sissies.....I use gasoline for aftershave. :msp_wink:

Click to expand...

don't make me come down there and thump your head you sawed off tn midget :msp_biggrin::msp_biggrin::msp_biggrin::msp_biggrin:

Never take safety for granted, as easy as it may be.

sefh3 said:

Glad your alright. I had this happen a few weeks ago. I was working on a blower and pulled the fuel line off and it sprayed all over the place. Luckly it hit me in the mouth and not the eyes. I smelled like fuel for a few days.

Click to expand...

Some soap & warm water will help remove it - jus' sayin'

luck,greg

Always have the bulb pointed NO higher than your stomach...yeah...don't ask why I know..!!

Would you pump up a football with the inflating needle pointing toward your face....again..don't ask..!!

This last one goes way back to my youth..when we pumped 'em up with a car tire inflater hand pump..!!

J2F

o8f150, appreciate the offer on the Ryobi, (still tying to backread everything)

On the topic of purge/primer bulbs.
cussed at them from day one. can remember back when Homelite issued a bulletin
telling shops to drill a hole (can't recall dia.) in the choke slider on those bottom engined trimmers (st80 & such).
People were flooding them and apparently wearing out the dealers, so Homys answer was that field mod.
Seems that's along when we started getting choke plates, in everything, with a F'ing hole punched in them and the Damn punch bubbles.
nice, now Ya got 3 fule lines going brittle (remember that early tygon ?)
and the bulb stiffening too.
wonderful cluster of spots for an air leak and the bulbs would get those surface cracks in a few weeks, so looking for that clown flower eye spritzer was even more fun.

Here's one method for anyone who's keeping their string slingers..
After wasting a couple of kits in an alky damaged carb, found new carbs online for price of 2 kits (grumble).
get 'em unpacked and first thing is to extract the choke plate,
(can't solder on it mounted in a plastic shaft.)
clean & prep it for soldering and then solder the hole shut.
Then same cleanup on the purge fitting, crimp it and solder over end.

install new gaskets, fuel lines and new, modded carb, ad some non-alky gasoline.
now use choke in the manner in which it was originally intended and trimmer fired on second, easy tug.

Wallering the venturi out a bit is optional.

Got an eyeful of brake cleaner one time due to unexpected ricochet. Melted a contact lens to my eyeball. Took a lot of washing to get it loose, and a couple of weeks of healing before things looked and felt right again. That's part of the reason why I wear glasses these days.

Fuel in the eyes is extremely painful. I was changing the carb out on my ATV. I pulled a line off it and it shot fuel right into my eyes. You talk about burning. Hell I thought it was going to kill me. I had to hold my eye open under the outside spicket for probably 15 minutes before it quit burning. But it did'nt hurt my vision. Not saying that it can't hurt your vision, but it didnt affect mine any. Still a terrible experience though to say the least.

Yup, have had gas, carb and brake cleaner in the eyes before, carb cleaner seems the worst.

Will say that while it will burn for a bit, and it probably isn't good for your eyes, it doesn't seem to do any long-term damage.

Best practice though is safety first!!! :msp_thumbup:

This was awhile ago but something that also is something to watch for happend to me.

Had a 009 stihl that i got in a load of saws. It didnt have a sparkplug boot... i didnt think much of it. So i took my squirt bottle and sprayed alittle gas in the carb and pulled on her only to see a small bit of overspray from spraying gas ignite and catch fire. Ran with the saw outside and put it out with a big heavy rag put it out. No damage luckily but made me piss my pants!

Sure felt like an idiot afterwards!

naturelover said:

Yup, have had gas, carb and brake cleaner in the eyes before, carb cleaner seems the worst.

Will say that while it will burn for a bit, and it probably isn't good for your eyes, it doesn't seem to do any long-term damage.

Best practice though is safety first!!! :msp_thumbup:

Click to expand...

Second that about the Carb cleaner....

Don't know what's in it, but seems to sting about the worst. My second is contact cleaner - seems to dry the eyes out in a millisecond!


Scott - good advice thou...

Keep a pair of safety glasses handy when you tear down a saw, or anything else!