sharpenu
Contributor
Yooper,
To have a fire, you are correct in that you need heat, fuel and an oxidizer to have a fire. But, in the case of oil and oxygen, heat is generated when oil is exposed to oxygen. Oil products have the ability to produce heat without fire. Even the oil on your skin is sufficient to be explosive in the proper O2 atmosphere. That is why a pile of oily rags will catch fire "spontaneously". Anyone who doesn't O2 clean when using high % O2 is playing the odds.
Heat can also be supplied when you open the tank valve. An oil contaminated reg, with high % O2, will generate heat from the compression of the gas in the regulator itself when the pressure in the first stage goes from 1 bar to over 200 bar in a second or so.
To have a fire, you are correct in that you need heat, fuel and an oxidizer to have a fire. But, in the case of oil and oxygen, heat is generated when oil is exposed to oxygen. Oil products have the ability to produce heat without fire. Even the oil on your skin is sufficient to be explosive in the proper O2 atmosphere. That is why a pile of oily rags will catch fire "spontaneously". Anyone who doesn't O2 clean when using high % O2 is playing the odds.
Heat can also be supplied when you open the tank valve. An oil contaminated reg, with high % O2, will generate heat from the compression of the gas in the regulator itself when the pressure in the first stage goes from 1 bar to over 200 bar in a second or so.