In case of fire...

[whiskychaser]

Went to a friend's over the weekend. Overnight the daugther's car had had an under-bonnet fire. When we arrived friends and family were gathered round inspecting the damage and merrily poking around in the ashes. I quickly pointed out that when a car goes up, an evil little acid called hydrouflouric can be produced from seals burning. It attacks your bones and wont stop - you may even have to have a finger or two taken off. I also pointed out the fire brigade had cut the aircon lines. Well the gas in there makes hydroflouric acid too when heated - so as it was under pressure it could have gone anywhere. Big laughs all round. Only I used to run a chemical distributorship and wasnt joking. Couple of links if you are interested:
http://www.mawwfire.gov.uk/business_eng/vehicle_arson/viton.htm
http://www.aircondition.com/wwwboard/alternative/messages/1995.html

Just thought I would cheer you up:)

[Bin_jammin]

Went to a friend's over the weekend. Overnight the daugther's car had had an under-bonnet fire. When we arrived friends and family were gathered round inspecting the damage and merrily poking around in the ashes. I quickly pointed out that when a car goes up, an evil little acid called hydrouflouric can be produced from seals burning. It attacks your bones and wont stop - you may even have to have a finger or two taken off. I also pointed out the fire brigade had cut the aircon lines. Well the gas in there makes hydroflouric acid too when heated - so as it was under pressure it could have gone anywhere. Big laughs all round. Only I used to run a chemical distributorship and wasnt joking. Couple of links if you are interested:
http://www.mawwfire.gov.uk/business_eng/vehicle_arson/viton.htm
http://www.aircondition.com/wwwboard/alternative/messages/1995.html

Just thought I would cheer you up:)

Meh... worst case scenarios under ideal conditions. Never seen it happen, never even heard of it happening.

Can it happen? Sure, probably. Anything's possible. Will it? Probably not.

[whiskychaser]

Meh... worst case scenarios under ideal conditions. Never seen it happen, never even heard of it happening.

Can it happen? Sure, probably. Anything's possible. Will it? Probably not.
Yep. I dont know what the fck I'm talking about and neither do the fire brigade. But smoking may seriously damage your health after all:)

[E34-520iSE]

I've heard of hydroflouric acid before, and the damage it can cause to humans. Sounds like something out of the Alien film!

Cheers,

Shaun M

[BMWDriver]

I used to work in a pharmaceutical company's chemical lab that does quality control. They have this type of acid and some technicians expressed serious concerns about manipulating this chemical - which they keep secured in a vault. Indeed, it is a very deadly acid as you can see on Wikipedia's entry on the subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroflouric_acid

The last line of Wiki's entry on the subject states on the hazard brought up here: Hydrofluoric acid is a known hazard in car engine fires, forming when Viton o-rings and hoses are exposed to temperatures in excess of 400 °C.