Vacuum?

[roy reali]

I was just visiting one of the powder company websites. I was looking at their page of safety tips. One warning got my attention, it said to never vacuum spilled powder. I have been doing that for years, using a shop-vac for post reloading clean up.

Is there some "real" danger to this? Have I just been lucky for the past three and a half decades? Has anyone heard of, or experienced a catastrophic event vacuuming up spilled powder?

[Qtiphky]

Liability issues probably. I use a Dyson to vaccuum the floor and the hose attachment for the bench. Never had a problem.

[FlyFish]

If I had the misfortune to spill a pound or so of powder, which I've fortunately never done, I don't think I'd want to use a vacuum to pick it up. But for occasional little spills, sure - I do it all the time.

[Jim243]

Any electrical spark COULD not WOULD set off the powder to burn. For that reason they tell you not to use a vacume cleaner. Most cheap vacs have an open set of magnets in the motor and can and do produce sparks.

Having said that, I do use a shop vac for clean up, but only for small amounts of powder less than 5 grains and clean it out each time used and check before using that the filter is in place and that no powder will get sucked into the motor.

Jim

[cornbush]

Black powder....no, Smokeless.....suck away. Works good for escaping primers too.

[kraigwy]

Simple solution:

Wet it down before you use your shop vac.

[Mal H]

As FlyFish said, I wouldn't try to vacuum up a large spill, but for the dozen or so grains that get away during a normal loading session, sure.

The powder company's advice by default has to cover all the foreseeable circumstances, so it is good advice in that respect.

[Smoke & Recoil]

Most vacuums have brushes creating an electrical spark, the brushes
send the A/C current to the armature crating the magnetic energy to spin
the motor. It is possible to have powder pass through this area even
though there are filters in place to prevent it from pass on through.

I believe using a vacuum would be a bad idea for cleaning up powder
and primers. Primers could explode on impact by striking the impeller
within the vacuum motor.

This my opion.

[mapsjanhere]

I've seen a vacuum go up in smoke, very impressive when several pounds of flammables ignite while a fan sucks lots of fresh air through it. I don't think that smokeless powder adds a lot more fire hazard per se, but it sure is going to add to the firework. A pound of pet hair, a pound of saw dust, an ounce of powder as accelerant ...
The biggest danger I see is using a dedicated vacuum that can accumulate powder, the one that lived in your basement since your wife got her new one, and that never fills up from those 3 primers and that bit of dust per session.

[B.L.E.]

I have used a vacuum to suck up small spills, a dozen grains or so, and have never experienced an accidental ignition, not even with black powder.

And, what if a dozen or so grains of powder actually does ignite inside your vacuum cleaner? Hiroshima? Chernobyl?, or something so like a toy cap popping?

[oneoldsap]

They're just covering their But in this litigation happy world . Somewhere out there is a moron who would try to vacuum up 5# of power with an old vacuum cleaner that would probably catch fire without adding the powder !

[Mal H]

If your vacuum cleaner allows not only powder, but everyday dust and dirt to pass directly through the motor housing and around the armature and brush assembly then either your vacuum is seriously broken or it was designed by a college business major who was required to design a piece of equipment in order to pass Mechanical Engineering 101.

Even so, vacuuming up live primers is never a good idea. I hope no one was suggesting that. Vacuuming spent primers - no problem whatsoever.

[sc928porsche]

If you are going to use a vacuum, be sure it is a shop vac and stay away from black powder.

[Lost Sheep]

Originally Posted by sc928porsche

If you are going to use a vacuum, be sure it is a shop vac and stay away from black powder.

Rainbow vacuums use water as the filter medium. And that is BEFORE the motor. They are horribly expensive, though.

Lost Sheep

[11B-101ABN]

I don't think that the arcing of the motor brushes is what the advisory is about. As high speed air passes through the tube, it creates a static electric charge that will cause an arc to pass to ANYTHING with a different charge. When you drag your feet on the rug (usually in the winter months when humidity is low) then touch the brass doorknob, the arc you see represents nearly 20,000 volts of static electricity. There are many other smaller arcs that you may not see but will still have the potential to detonate black powder or a primer. The potential is there, the probability is low. And if you take a few precautions, like have a grounded metal plate to touch on or close to your bench the charges are able to dissipate before they get dangerous.

[FlyFish]

The biggest danger I see is using a dedicated vacuum that can accumulate powder, the one that lived in your basement since your wife got her new one, and that never fills up from those 3 primers and that bit of dust per session.

That, sir, is an excellent point. So, if you use a vac to clean up powder spills from time to time be sure to empty it often. (I'd probably have a few more things to add, but I gotta go empty my shop vac.)

[WESHOOT2]

If one has never seen flames shooting from the end of a vacuum, one knows not what one is missing.

Simple safe solution: Take a handkerchief (young folk can look it up), place it over the nozzle opening, and push it into the opening with one long finger.
Gather the excess material on the outside, and firmly rubberband it onto the nozzle's exterior (visualize).

So, when vacuuming, the powder/primers are captured by the hanky, and you can recover said debris easily.
Safe, too.


Static is a serious safety concern, for real. All it takes is once.....

[troy_mclure]

i spilled alb of 777 in the carpet once. used a 10yr old vacuum with a full bag to suck it up.

took the bag out and set it on fire.

do you know how much the stuff sucked into a vacuum stinks? pewhhh!