what would cause a scuba tank to explode? in a nearby apt complex

[KG]

a guy was loading up his gear early in this morn. and a tank apparently exploded killing him and blowing out a bunch of windows and stuff.

[fortyfeetunder]

1. Here is some insight:

http://scubatanks.us/contents/en-us/d48.html

"A standard 80 cubic foot scuba tank pressurized to 3000 PSI has an explosive force of approximately 1.3 million pounds. That is equivalent to a hand grenade..."

[struggle4progress]

2. overcharging. construction flaw. damage by dropping.

other things might cause problems: i've heard it's important not to oil valves on some compressed gas tanks

my first bet might be somebody dropped it earlier

[petronius]

4. It's more about the type of lubricant you use. Where partial pressures of oxygen

go above 40% or so, conventional lubricants can be easily ignited, so it's necessary to use something that's oxygen-safe...

[petronius]

3. There are som old tanks that used an aluminum alloy that turned out to be

somewhat defective - having a tendency to fail explosively. Especially if the tank had a history of overheating or over-filling. Catastrophic failures are extremely rare, but a lot of dive shops still won't touch tanks with the old alloys.

He could also have dropped it in just the wrong way, shearing off the valve end. Sad story...

[MiddleFingerMom]

5. Dropping a tank is what we were most warned about in class.

.
.
.
The instructor had an old newspaper story about a tank being propelled
THROUGH a cinder block wall and doing major damage to a car outside
(though fortunately, no injuries).
.
.
.

[Frank Cannon]

6. I worked at a hospital once where someone knocked over an O2 cylinder.

The valve came off, and it became an impromptu missile. Miraculously, no one was hurt or killed, but it blew a sizable hole in a wall and pretty much caused other damage that looked like a grenade had gone off.

I imagine a scuba tank can do much the same, if not worse.

[krispos42]

7. I think they usually just split at the weakest point, rather than explode

The Mythbusters were unable to get the explosion like in "Jaws", despite shooting a full tank with a rifle.

However, the tank can easily become a missile that can punch through cinder block walls (also on "Mythbusters"; it penetrated disturbingly easily). Maybe something along those lines happened.


I can also imagine a split causing the tank to gyrate and rotate like a buzzsaw. In the above paragraph, the penetration of the cinder-block wall was achieved by lopping off the valve and turning the tank into a torpedo. But if it split (say, from a drop) and the thrust was not through the center of mass, then that tank will bounce around like a superball fired from a musket. Only a hell of a lot heavier.

[petronius]

8. A bit of an update for you: it may have been an oxygen tank rather than

regular or enriched air. So a drop could have been a lot more catastrophic than usual...

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/clues-suggest-pure-oxygen-may-factor-in-fatal-st-petersburg-scuba-tank/1191201