Question about acetone?
Question:i had a house fire last sunday. we were v.lucky as it was during the day and only got smoke damage.the de-humidifier set itself alight in the cellar. the thing is up till about a month ago i had 5 litres of acetone next to it which i use for cleaning brushes as we've been decorating. so my question is if the acetone had gone whoosh! just how much damage would 5 litres of acetone have caused? i feel like i've 'dodged a bullet'
Answers:
You certainly did dodge the bullet. Acetone is not only highly inflammable as a liquid if it had been even slightly leaky the fumes could have ignited and run back to the container. I assume you have now moved the container outside, and will not take a chance again. I reckon if you were a cat you'd have one life left and be living in a tent now. Good luck
(you've already had plenty).
I would think this would all depend on just how much "fuel" was within the vicinity of your acetone. If there is nothing to burn, then it would have just made toxic fumes & burned itself out. I don't fully understand how this works, but it has something to do with heat & the substances that are in the surrounding areas. A brick building is different than a wooden structure (this is what a Fire Marshall in Los Angeles told me) .Someone or something was watching over you! I once lived in a building where someone was attempting to set it on fire by covering a can of acetone with piles of old rags. Fortunately, the rags were made of a material that would not burn & this made a smell that alerted us to the area of the impending doom! Imagine our surprise & dismay when we discovered a gallon of acetone buried underneath the pile of partially burnt rags! I think buildings CAN & DO speak to their occupants when something negative is about to happen! I suspect many owners do this for insurance fraud! Maybe you should consider using only water based home decorating products in the future!
As you know acetone is HIGHLY inflammable, evaporates quicker than petrol I would think. The fumes are enough to choke you, never mind it igniting. (I used it when working with polyester resins) Maybe you should consider "somebody up there likes you" I wouldn't have wanted to be standing anywhere near it if it can pop. Err, to answer your question specifically, I don't know how much damage it would have caused. :-)
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