NH3 Anhydrous Ammonia Nurse Tank Burst
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- Опубліковано 17 січ 2017
- This is a video of an anhydrous ammonia tank being pressurized until it bursts. The approximate pressure on the tank at the time of failure was 1400 - 1500 psi. Normal operating pressure for Anhydrous ammonia is 30 - 150 psi. These tanks are tested every five years to a pressure of 375 psi. This was a tank that failed its 5 year inspection. We did this as part of a training program to see just how much pressure it would take to actually make a tank fail.
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Brutal. They did it in front of the other tanks as a warning.
Public execution keeps them in line.
I think they are hydro testing a old tank before they refill it....
@@yourmomsabundleofsticksesp3312 No they try to be like whistlingdiesel
HA!
Bad and naughty tanks gets blown
For anyone that doesn’t know, that is not ammonia. You would not be able to stand that close to an ammonia spill. Must be an old anhydrous ammonia tank that was used to test the pressure and maybe test safety blowout valves. Definitely not anhydrous ammonia
I hear that. I grew up on a farm and most people don't know how dangerous Anhydrous ammonia is.
Bullshit, I bathe in ammonia.
I worked for many years in a lamb/mutton killing and processing plant in New Zealand the refrigerant used in the freezers is anhydrous ammonia, take a whiff of that stuff it feels similar to getting fully punched in the face.
@@ats-3693 bout like Muriatic acid. A friend told me to smell some he poured in a paint can, I went to one knee
@@scottskinner577 I know the feeling, a work friend once tricked me into taking a big sniff of anhydrous ammonia from a bottle he had it in, it honestly felt like someone had given me an almighty haymaker punch straight to the nose and eyes, as long as you aren't in a confined space it feels worse than it actually is, in a confined space, or even outside if there was enough of it, it's impossible to take a breath and you can't open your eyes, you pass out and asphyxiate before you can find your way out of it.
The test are done with water because it is not compressible. If they did the test with air it would literally explode. Same test they do with all tanks, and boilers, a hydro test. The pressure varies on type being tested.
Thank you, I was wondering, how they would just walk out there like it wasn't anything to worry about. :-)
Same. I've seen entire factories/major freeways shut down because of it. I was in a spud shed when a line was cut. Ruuuuuun!
They really need to put "water pressure test" some where in the title or description. I was wondering if I was going to watch a cameraman die and why is that truck so close.
Also Scott air tanks and extinguishers are hydro tested. Was the engineer on a fire truck.
Less compressible*
Everything can compress to a certain extent.
I saw a 30000 gallon propane tank explode filled with propane in North Las vegas. It was the biggest fireball I ever saw or will ever see. We were a 1/4 mile away and the explosion turned night into day, shook our house and a fireball the size of 3 or 4 houses slowly rose up. I had to shield my eyes from the heat of it. It was bigg.
This is an intended “Tank Burst” as part of testing. A tank like this under normal operation will have at minimum one pressure relief valve with a setting well below the tested burst pressure. The relief valves also have to be replaced at specific time intervals such as 5, 10 ,20 years depending on what product is contained in the vessel.
Yes, NH3 typically has a 265 PSIG relief valve setting.
thats what I was thinking. and based on the fact that nobody walking towards the tank after it let go was wearing a mask, and they would have been cause that stuff is nasty!! probably stunk even with the water that they used.
when i done my LPG conversion on my motorhome i tried to get the tank tested like you do a diving cylinder ....no one does gas so you life is in your own hands replace the tank and get a cert saying its safe ....i live off grid the back of my van has got 2 fill points for gas bottles you fill from empty to 80% what i have noticed is im having to travel further and further to get gas so it will be going soon as we get our gas from russia and treasa may thretened him i know what i would do if she thretened me ....valve closed ....so we are slowley covering that one then the little ones will be priceless
@@joken8901 That subset of code vessels typically don't have to be pressure tested under ASME standards. As LPG is a non-reactive gas, the interior will be unaffected. What you are looking for is exterior condition. There are far more subtle code issues than we should go into on this site....good luck.
@@wintonhudelson2252 the bi product of gas it water so they rust from thr inside out
Yes, hydrotest with water can be to 375 PSIG pressure values, depending on the design criteria. NH3 is a reactive liquefied gas, whereas the propane/butane hydrocarbon family is not. The folks that mentioned the fact about not using compressed air or nitrogen are correct! Had that vessel failure occurred with compressed gas, chunks would have come down in the next time zone.
I think they do much higher hydrostatic testing than 375 PSI. SCBA tanks working pressure can be 4500 PSI.
@@mdrew44628 yes, you are correct on the scuba tanks and on welding gas vessels. The company I work for manufactures propane tanks, like the NH3 vessel shown. They are made from SA455 material, designed for 250 PSIG working pressure. ASME requires we design to a "4 to 1" safety factor. So our minimum burst requirement is 1,000 PSIG. Again, you are correct for those other vessels. Ours just don't have to be that robust. Thank you
-They become rockets. Very unpredictable trajectory, impressive to launch ;}
@@mdrew44628 He's right about the pressure. They are tested to 375 to 400 psi. The working pressure of Anhydrous Ammonia is 50 to 150 psi so the test is only to just over twice that amount. These tanks have pressure relief valves that go off at 250 psi. This was an old junk tank that we blew up mostly just for the fun of it but also to see what it really takes to burst one. It was about 1500 psi.
@@MrSilvertech I was talking about SCBA.....firefighters....we had tanks that went up to 4500 PSI
Back in 2003, we had a Chemitrol tank that fell into 2 pieces like you cut a hot dog in half with a knife. And that only took 150 psi during a random hydrotest. When you looked at the broken circumferential weld you could see that the penetration was extremely variable and in some places only penetrated the steel about 15% of its thickness. The exterior visible weld quality was horrible too on every weld. Paint covers a lot of sins.
We then hydrotested over 60 Chemitrol tanks that we had in our fleet and 20% failed the hydro. Then we x-rayed one that had failed and none of the welds had 100% penetration and there were numerous cracks up to 18" long.
Then the tank was cut apart and wet magnetic particle tested and the results were very, very disturbing. We ended up scrapping over 60 Chemitrol nurse tanks that all exhibited the same exterior weld defects. They were an extreme liability that could not be kept in service. It was actually amazing that none of these tanks had come apart when loaded with NH3.
What's that famous expression "A grinder and paint, makes me the welder I ain't"
@@JohnA891, I have photos of a 1500 gallon nurse where a farner cut the head off to fix a broken baffle and then welded the head back on. It was in service filled with ammonia when I found ut during a site inspection! Scary stuff! Nicely painted though!
Seems to me that it would be considered gross negligence on behalf of whoever was responsible for welding these tanks. There are situations where shoddy work is not an option.
When I’ve welded pressure vessels or pipe line containing or transferring ammonia or ammonia gas it’s always been 100% X-ray Quality welding, three failed welds and it’s back to training or non essential fabrication, I’ve had one pipeline weld fail X-ray, one small lack of penetration, embarrassing.
@@MussaKZN, we x-rayed 2 of the Chemitrol tanks and NONE of the welds had 100% penetration. The welding was horrible and the welds were full of cracks. The spec data plate said it was made fir NH3. But obviously it had been stick welded by someone with no pressure vessel qualifications. I have ohotos taken of the weld that broke where you can see the varying depth of the weld penetration.
For all the speed cooks who’s hearts just broke. It was just water. They were using water pressure to test the reliability of the tank.
Ohh thank dad!
*WHOSE, not who's
@@Penguin_of_Death it's "HEIL", not "blaaahhh"
Are you the spelling police or something? Is it a crime to make a typo?
@@dougieh9676 weeee wooooo weeee wooooo! 😂
If that was ammonia, those guys wouldn't have been laughing.
My grandfather was breaking up the floor of the basement ice rink at the old Chicago Stadium.
The lines were supposed to have been purged, they weren't.
His co worker died and he spend a year in hospital and coughed up blood his whole life.
Oh shit. I hope he won a big lawsuit, at least.
ammonia is no joke
I know an officer that busted a mobile meth lab and took the lid off a Tupperware pitcher. His lungs boiled out of his nose and mouth. Very dangerous stuff. I'm glad your grandfather lived.
In the mid seventies an 18 wheeler carrying Ammonia fell off the 610 59 interchange overpass in Houston, TX by the Galleria. The tank ruptured and the liquid Ammonia became gas and killed a bunch of commuters.
@@Lifesabeachmusicvideos you would literally have to drink it for that to happen, that officer knew too much and it wasn't an accident
And that's how camping gas bottles are born, when the water breaks on big mama tank the lil' un's pop out soon after! 😊
Lmao….🤣😂🤣
so stupid lmao xD
Underrated comment.
Brilliant.
Lol 🤦
Thank you for showing the numbers required for failure. 👍🇺🇸
41 years ago we had an anhydrous ammonia truck turn over on a freeway interchange and killed many people:
The accident claimed seven lives, including six who died at the scene or shortly afterwards: David Randle Whiteman, 48; Grace Gillebaard, 33; Earl Davis, 26; Gordon D. McAdams, 40; Robert Wisnoski, 64, and truck driver William Gregory Schmidt, 28 Some people survived their exposure to the chemical but would live with lung damage.
We've had safety training at our hospital for this stuff. It's bad, kills you before you realize you're in a dangerous spot.
A silent killer
That must have been a terrible accident. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for unsuspecting motorists driving up to that overturned rig and finding themselves consumed by that burning gas. All mucous membrane tissues are immediately burned on contact just like mustard gas the Germans use during world war I .
@@danwatts6618 Anhydrous means without water. NH3 goes straight for the most moist part of your body. Lungs and eyes hold the most moister. Stored at a -20F NH# can get as cold as -100 when going through an applicator hose or plumbing.
@@panders55 Thanks Phil, not sure why you tagged me.
I used to deliver anhydrous ammonia into tanks like these. Before I started to watch the video, I was expecting to see one hell of a disaster. When the video started, my first thought was, 'the camera is either really close to that tank, or it has a hell of a zoom lense'. 😂 Then I looked at the hose to the tank and the valves/guages, and realized they weren't pumping anhydrous into the tank. Just the same, I wanted to see the tank explode and take the front end off of the truck in the background.
Thanks for sharing and the description. It’s nice to see how overbuilt those tanks are.
You know it's bad when the paint starts falling off as the paper thin walls of the tank start flexing.
Those walls are definitely not paper thin. They run from .25 in to .40 in thick. It would surprise people how thick these tanks really are.
Fresh from factory yes, but this one seemed rusted out inside.
@@kaptnkarl01 I love 1/4" Boilerplate. So useful, so handy...
Such a pain in the Butt to cut.
@@kaptnkarl01- Makes a great Texas ranch Bar B Q rig, but too heavy to haul.. ;)
Used to pressure test/check Chlorine tanks and pressure relief valves, that could be breathtaking if there was a leak.....use to have a special set of very rusty tools for the job too.
Ok now build a BBQ smoker out of the tank.
That that, right there, is why high pressure gas bottles are hydro-tested with water. Gas expands when the pressure is released. Liquid does not. It just splits open and gets your floor wet. If you do it with gas the expanding gas blows out your windows, and possibly your walls.
I wanna see the other side of the tank.
Bring on the carnage!
I used to operate a grapple crane at a scrap yard. The air conditioning was broken so I used to operate with the front window and door open, with my seatbelt on. I picked up an industrial refrigerator, when a big cloud of gas released, and came right at the cab. The last thing I remembered was really hot air in my lungs. When I came to, I was leaning on the swing lever and the crane was slowly swinging to the left. I was hanging out the door but was saved by my seatbelt.( the cab was elevated about 25 feet in the air). I didn’t know ammonia was put in refrigerators. I thought it was Freon. After this happened, I always operated with the door and window closed. Temperature in that all glass booth got up to 120 degrees. Osha? What a joke!
All refrigeration systems are supposed to be evacuated BEFORE SCRAPPING.
I remember being in the chemistry lab at school and some old dude came round while we were in class and opened each cupboard on our benches and waved a lit newspaper inside to check for leaks running up to the gas taps on the bench .. Happy days !!!!
I knew a local farmer back in the '80s who was filling an application tank from a larger tank like this. A seal in the line burst while he was working. It was on a grass area at the back of his yard and it burned about a 12 ft strip of the grass before he got it shut off. Luckily he was following proper procedure and working up wind from the main filler tank. Back then he was not wearing any protective equipment either.
For the life of me i couldnt figure out why everyone was so close, didnt realise they were using water
Well I do admit came here thinking this was a USCSB video and it was going to explode full of ammonia.
Yes, I had the same sort idea. They have done several on ammonia leaks.
Me too, I was waiting for everyone to run away when the liquid dropped out.
One of these cylinders came up missing two years ago. All regional schools were closed and there was a heavy police presence in the entire province for about a week. It turned out the cylinder was not filled and was being taken in for service. But the person that transported it did not check the cylinder out of the yard, nor checked it into the maintenence area. The news said it had the potential of being coverted into a powerful, makeshift, bomb.
Yes, that's what is called, here at least, a water burst. The tank is pressurised with water until it lets go. The same is done when sample testing fire extinguishers, gas bottles etc. It's only ever waster, not what the tank is intended for. For what it's worth they usually go to huge over pressures before letting go.
If that had been NH3 those guys would have been running like hell in the other direction for about 10 steps until their lungs filled and they fell on the ground enveloped in a white fog.
We used to 'burp' the fill lines, on the mother tank so it wouldn't leak out, on the next fill-up . When we did so,, the cloud that hung around could be deadly! Sometimes birds would drop outta the trees dead, if the wind shifted.
I’ve been on a couple burst 💥 tests, generally heavy equipment etc. Parked around the vessel/piping being tested for shrapnel protection but these guys could be behind something protecting them, I hope 🤞
Hydro pressure testing is not as outrageously dangerous as pneumatic. Compressed gasses are like big springs, liquids cannot be compressed by themselves.
I remember a LPG Tank a bit bigger on the Goodwin A Gas Platform getting Nitrogen gas tested when some one was hit in the face with paint flaking off.The guage had a pressure reed out with x10 in the top quarter no one noticed.by this time the tank looked like a balloon.How it never burst I dont know but by the morning it had gone & no one talked about it.10 VIP engineers half a sleep on the job.
This is literally how stressed my bladder was after 25 cent beer night.
Brings back some crazy memories of my crank days
Factor of Safety of about 10. I was told most pressure vessels are only built to about 5 but seeing as this is a more hazardous product I can see why it might be higher
Just an ordinary hydro test. We do them at work at the time because they are safer than pressurizing the tank with air. The water takes the place of the air and it takes less pressurized air volume to raise the pressure of the tank because the empty volume of the tank is minimal when it is nearly 100% full of water.
They only have one line attached. It takes two lines to fill a NH3 tank. One to push in and one to pull vapor.
They filling with water to test
Many years ago I worked at a company that ran blueprints for an engineering department at the county. We experienced a valve failure in the enclosure and both myself and a coworker fell very sick and required hospital treatment and a two week recouperation at home...nasty stuff for sure....
She's knocking for sure
It's like scuba tanks getting "Hydro tested" time to time. If an NH3 tank blows, it's curtains for a square mile at least.
Misleading title kind of, thought I was going to see some crazy shit and was wondering why anyone was dumb enough to stand around
I have performed many high and low pressure hydrostatic testing and have failed only a couple.
Well that's an incident report someone has to fill out ! so much for safety dinner award😂
It was a pressure test using water
Seems like they know its about to explode...cause they are just sitting there filming it.
The description explains the answers you are seeking.
They were hydro testing it to recertify it as a anhydrous nurse tank. Thats why they do that to make sure that don't happen with ammonia in it.
So we don't get to see the damage up close?
I used to work for Northern FS and luckily I never had to fill these tanks I just helped to build a couple grain bins that anhydrous ammonia is nasty stuff
Very cool.
Clearly NOT ammonia. I was at a beer plant in NC decades ago when an instrumentation ½” line broke on a bigger tank. Full on evacuation, fire department called out. 300 yards away when the wind caught some of the gas, you couldn’t breathe, eyes on fire.
Owe shit it's the TIC TAC that the army chased
I took a huge whoof by accident in the field one day. It only takes once and you learn your lesson. Later when lunch break was over dad took me back to elementary class.
"my water broke"
- that's what she said
The pressure must have been very high, for a tank like that to burst the way it did.
I was expecting people running from a cloud of certain death. If that were NH3, that amount will have been scary, for sure. A true bleve would have been too active to show the actual amount of liquid escaping. But that was cool.
Thanks for sharing. At what pressure did the tank burst?
I believe that the description said 1400-1500 psi.
No safety award for that week
NH3 tanks are only filled to 85% capacity for a reason. Prime example of why right here.
What a wild heat stove could be made with that !
I'm more impressed by the hose not blowing.
It's the suspense that gets ya.....
If you ever get a lung full of the real thing you will never be the same. This was around many pulp mills I used to go to
Water in tank blown on pourpose
They can consider themselves lucky!
I wouldn't be that close man
I've hated working on those tanks. I preferred working on the lay down tanks. We sandblasting and paint 🎨
That tank burst before that. Line filling it ?
Definitely a test of the tank. It was filled with water first, to minimize the explosion.
The tank used the safe word twice before it split open.
nice video
That looks like pure clear water coming out I bet it is very cold
It is just water for pressure testing. Anhydrous would be smoking off, or directly vaporizing in to a devastating cloud.
@@tek4 : and would be expensive and very toxic test. I was guessing it was not Ammonia when I heard the guy laugh when it cracked. I assume it was a long crack on the bottom or back side. It would have been nice to see the crack not that it matters.
I went thought ammonia hazmat training and they just opened a small tank for a second and we had to get out immediately.
I hate this stuff it's so dangerous... I got into just a little bit once and immediately I had one hell of a nose bleed..
Hydrostatic testing with water pressure. Standard ICC test.
I live two blocks from about 4o of them plus bulk tank they fill them from many times valves have leaked you can't go outside it will take your breath away. And to think it's four blocks from grade school. Wish they were out of town very dangerous.
I miss living rural, when you could casually make a bomb for science and people would come and watch
Before times: Before Timothy McVeigh @ OKC Murray Federal Building. Before tweakers began building multi stage anhydrous process labs.
I used to do tank testing, it's not a bad gig actually.
At what pressure did it give way
In the description is says about 1500 psi
Had the liquid been anhydrous ammonia people would have been running away. Disclaimer: no innocent farmers were deprived of their ammonia during the creation of this video.
I was praying they were testing with water, glad they were. Otherwise that truck and the camera dude would have been toast.
Yea, this was a hydro test! What was the pressure that it popped at?
In description.
Looking at the way the water flowing out, the longitudinal welding seam in one of the “rings” has failed.
That's right.
That's not NH3 if it was all those guys would be dead. It only takes about a half breath.
Yes, the vapor cloud would have been huge and spreading.
A tiny little leak is enough to make ya wanna gtfo...know your exits.
How to fill water pressure from industrial high pressure pump or pressure washer
Is that a question?
What kind of pump do they use that can put out this much pressure
I've worked with Hydraulic pumps that operate at 10,000 psi, gear driven pumps.
The Audi diesel race car fuel pump, pushes over 50,000 psi.
WELL, at now you have the good base for a monster smoker
Pressure testing the blowout safety valve. Am I wrong??
Initial thoughts: should this guy be this close to that thing?
Good thing it was water
Well when you see chips of paint falling off you know there’s an issue
if that was ammonia these guys would be in quite a lot of trouble
Pretty good tank if it's meant for 150 psi but took 1500 before rupturing!
That's called "factor of safety." Based on your numbers that tank had a FS of 10.
How are they stranding so close?
Action, if you can call it that, starts at 1:18 no explosions, no human fire torches, no joy.
They use water to test the tank pressure capability. That way when the tank breaks it doesn't explode because water doesn't expand. If they had used air the tank would explode
And then the camera man got startled and he missed it.
It seems to have ripped on a seam. If that's the case, the manufacturing was the weak link, not the material, no?
I think I would have slowly started stepping back after those 2 loud bangs before it blew...
Wow, that could've wiped out a whole city block...
Long sub arc seam fail id like to see the failure if the weld failed or parent metal and what #s
Is this a "Nurse Tank" because the color of the tank is the same as a Nurse's Uniform or a Nurse Shark?
Seems like a hydro test using water and air pressure to test all fitting and connections and welds
My guess is you witnessed a hydrostatic test of the tank.
Oh, water. I was like, why are they not running?
It failed the five-year 375 psi test but then managed to handle 1400 psi?
There are other things.. date built, rust or other corrosion...
or damage.
☝
The failed 375 PSI test showed yielding failure. As the pressure increased, the soft spots that yielded experienced strain hardening which is why it took 1400 PSI for a rupture.
In this corrosive service, there is no room for yielding failure.
It popped💥
I was super worried until I realized they were just pressurizing it with water lol. If that was anhydrous theyd all be dead as fuck
Good camera placement.