Reloading near furnace? Crazy?

[lowepg]

I've been trying to find a secure place to setup/keep my reloading gear. Right now, I pull the rubbermaid bins out of the closet, and setup on a folding table and go at it.... Works ok- but not ideal. One problem is I can't secure the press to the table as permanently as I'd like.

So, my options for a more permanent location are either the garage (um- about 100 degrees right now and humid) or my utility room in the basement.

The utility room is air conditioned, has a lockage door or it and has just enough room for a 2x6 desktop and some shelves next to it.

The downside: in the corner of this room are the 2 forced air furnaces for the house. They are natural gas units.


So- as I stare at a 8lb keg of powder, potentially sitting 6-8 feet from the furnace- I start to have doubts......

Thoughts?

 

[Mcinterest]

Sounds like my setup. Unless one of the furnaces blows up, the powder is safe. I've been reloading there for several years, first just shotgun, now several pistol calibers.

 

[snuffy]

Not a problem. The powder isn't going to walk over, get involved with any flame from the furnace. The combustion chamber on gas furnaces is sealed except for the draft. It's powder, not dust.

 

[FlyinBryan]

in the winter months i load in the same room as a wood burning stove. i just dont throw powder in the fire, or fire on my powder.

actually i have thrown pinches of varget in the stove.

 

[lowepg]

Yeah, I guess its not like theres FUMES that will float over to the furnace....

I guess it just SEEMS like a poor location.... but thinking it through- perhaps not.

Having oily rags in the shelf nearby is probably more dangerous than a keg of powder....

 

[41 Mag]

If your overly concerned about just having the 8# keg there, pour it off into a 1# bottle for use while there and store the larger portion in the closet. Do the same with bulk primers, and only keep what you need at the time on hand at the bench.

I keep several empty powder bottles for pouring out of the bigger keg so I don't have to remove it from the climate controlled area I store it in. Same with primers, I keep them stashed away in the top of a closet, and only grab a pack of 100 when I head out to load.

 

[THe Dove]

Having oily rags in the shelf nearby is probably more dangerous than a keg of powder....

You are correct, oily rags can = danger in many circumstaces...... Don't ask me how I know!!!

The Dove

 

[dmazur]

The only concern I can think of is more related to the air flow from the furnaces. If it is all ductwork (to registers located somewhere else), then there isn't much of an airflow problem.

However, if there is a "local" register to heat that utility room, you might check the airflow path from it. If it is directed at your proposed table location, it is going to make using any type of scale interesting.

(The heating register in the room I use for reloading is under the table, with very little noticeable airflow at the table top...)

 

[buck460XVR]

The only concern I can think of is more related to the air flow from the furnaces. If it is all ductwork (to registers located somewhere else), then there isn't much of an airflow problem.

However, if there is a "local" register to heat that utility room, you might check the airflow path from it. If it is directed at your proposed table location, it is going to make using any type of scale interesting.

....this, as most modern gas furnaces use outside air for combustion. No way for powder to get into the furnace, other than thru a cold air return and then passing over the heat exchanger. Even then, you have that chance in any room in your house.....that and the powder still would have to get by the filter.

 

[GaryL]

If your overly concerned about just having the 8# keg there, pour it off into a 1# bottle for use while there and store the larger portion in the closet. Do the same with bulk primers, and only keep what you need at the time on hand at the bench.

A capital idea!

I wouldn't be comfortable storing combustibles near a furnace, even though the chances of a problem are typically very low.

 

[Otto]

So- as I stare at a 8lb keg of powder, potentially sitting 6-8 feet from the furnace- I start to have doubts......Thoughts?

Maybe you should ask your insurance agent.

 

[snuffy]

Maybe you should ask your insurance agent.

Maybe everybody should quit being so paranoid. Ignorance breeds fear.

Smokeless powder is a solid propellant. It burns, it does not explode. Confined, it burns faster, the more it's confined, the faster it burns. BUT it still does not explode.

In order for that powder to get involved with the flame in that gas furnace, a human will have to do it on purpose. Kids and terrorists will have to be kept away from it. That means locking the powder up.

Back in '75 I started loading duck loads in my brothers basement. I had 4 or 5 different types of powder for the 12 ga. loads. My young nephew got into the powder, mixed several types of powder, small amounts so I wouldn't notice. He took that powder to show his buddies how pretty it was when it burns in a pile on the sidewalk. Pour a pile, light it, then pour another light it and so on. He got tired of that, just poured some more directly out of the main supply right on top of a pile that was just lit but had quit burning. You guessed it, a spark lit the whole shebang. No explosion but he got his hands and face badly burned. See, powder burns very hot!

After that, we locked the powder in a room, sort of like closing the barn door AFTER the horses got loose!:banghead:

 

[Revolver218]

I keep all my powder and primers stored separately from each other and in the basement, opposite end from the furnace. I bring only what I plan to use upstairs for use that day. I use W231 and some Bullseye but never have more than one type of powder at a time on the bench, that way there's 0 chance of mixing up loads. There's no such thing as being overly cautious around anything that will go bang.

 

[gamestalker]

I use C- clamps and a towel and then I can clamp it securely to anything in the house. I now have my own reloading romm with a solid 1 1/2 thick cherry wood table, but years ago I would clamp my press to a heavy coffee rable or the kitchen counter top and go to work. As long as you lay down a good thick towel and use large C- clamps it won't damage the surface and it will be extremely solid and stable. Just look around your house and find a spot that will accomodate your press and is solid.
On another note, you mentioned loading by a furnace. many years ago I had this area in the house that was like a long narrow hallway. It was probably 15' long and maybe 4' wide. At the end of the hallway the gas water heater, and at the entrance was a gas wall furnace. My powder shelf was right next to the water heater, you know, right next to the exaust stack. Ya, I was really smart. But what ended up opening my eyes and changing the way I approach this hobby, so to speak, was my own stupid and careless device, a cigarett. I had a salad bowel full of IMR4350 and was loading some .270 win. while smoking. I was thinking I'm careful and not an idiot. I dropped my cig in the bowel. You should have seen me trying to get out of that tiny hallway with a mass of hot flames and gasses chasing me. I had some where around 15 lds. of powder on the shelf above the flaming bowel of powder and none of it ignited, Thank God. Back then powder was in either a metal or paper copntainer, where as now it is plastic. I'm inclined to think that the plastic container would have likely not with stood the heat and flames as well as the metal and paper did? I don't know and I guess it doesn't really matter since I never plan on experiencing something as thoughtless ever again!
Think it over!