[Nhcoll-l] Humidity in collection rooms, sparks, ignition and fire

[Dirk Neumann]

We had a massive electric arc (2m!) sparking off a bad neon-light socket 
in the fish collection ... it was very bright for a moment, and bitch 
dark immediately thereafter, because the fuse went off. No fire.

And this was not a small electrostatic spark, but more of the category 
/AMAZING/.

Before the renovation of our climate control system I was asked for 
advice during the planning (fire rating of the storage rooms). To create 
a combustible, saturated ethanol atmosphere, it would have been required 
to knock more than 300 jars off the shelves. And even then, because of 
the 2-time-fold air exchange rate per hour, it would have been even more 
unlikely that a spark could ignite this.




Am 25.06.2021 um 16:58 schrieb Callomon,Paul:
>
> I’d be interested to know if there are any published studies of the 
> spark ignition of ethanol vapors – perhaps others would too, so if you 
> know of any - chime in! My experience with other volatiles, such as 
> gasoline, is that spark ignition is unlikely once even a moderate 
> amount of dissipation in air has occurred, but also that such vapors 
> can create “trails” in still, dense air (linking, for example, the 
> pouring point with the spot at which the container was put down and 
> capped).
>
> *Paul Callomon MSc*
> /Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia***
>
> 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA
> /callomon at ansp.org <mailto:callomon at ansp.org> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 
> 215-299-1170/
>

-- 


Dirk Neumann

Tel: 089 / 8107-111
Fax: 089 / 8107-300
neumann(a)snsb.de

Postanschrift:

Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns
Zoologische Staatssammlung München
Dirk Neumann, Sektion Ichthyologie / DNA-Storage
Münchhausenstr. 21
81247 München

Besuchen Sie unsere Sammlung:
http://www.zsm.mwn.de/sektion/ichthyologie-home/

---------

Dirk Neumann

Tel: +49-89-8107-111
Fax: +49-89-8107-300
neumann(a)snsb.de

postal address:

Bavarian Natural History Collections
The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology
Dirk Neumann, Section Ichthyology / DNA-Storage
Muenchhausenstr. 21
81247 Munich (Germany)

Visit our section at:
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