It sploded!

[Jantrix]

About two weeks ago (before the cold snap) my son comes into the house and says, "Dad, have you been spraying in the garage today?"

I relied, "Nope."

His reaction was, "Uh oh."

Long story short, a can of Krylon white primer had spondaneously ruptured at the bottom seal and sprayed the contents of a 3/4 full can all over the garage. Paint everywhere.

At the time there had been no appreciable temperature changes recently. Any one else experienced this? Any idea what might have caused it?

[Dr. Cranky]

Oh man, no, never, but it reminds us all to make sure to keep work in progress and our models far away from where we keep the paint, etc . . . I hope the cleanup wasn't too bad for ya.

[Jantrix]

Luckily all the paints were in the general storage area of the garage. So mostly my yard equipement got most of the mess, which I'm not worried about.

[High octane]

When the temps here start hovering around the freezing mark I take ALL liquids out of my garage because after freezing and thawing of such liquids they are NO longer and good. I've even seen car-wash soap turn to ###### and would not use it.

[MikeMc]

  On 1/6/2012 at 11:59 AM, Jantrix said:

About two weeks ago (before the cold snap) my son comes into the house and says, "Dad, have you been spraying in the garage today?"

I relied, "Nope."

His reaction was, "Uh oh."

Long story short, a can of Krylon white primer had spondaneously ruptured at the bottom seal and sprayed the contents of a 3/4 full can all over the garage. Paint everywhere.

At the time there had been no appreciable temperature changes recently. Any one else experienced this? Any idea what might have caused it?

As a FL boy.....think the other way....A rusted can, overheated by the sun can explode. Thats why all my spray paints get stored in a clear rubbermaid tub. If something lets go...All I have to do is try to guess what color is in each can now..as the mess is contained

[SuperStockAndy]

^{They explode when you shoot them with a .22......experience}

[bigphoto]

At least with the yard tools when the neighbhor borrows them and doesn't return them for a spell you can always say " you know thats mine right" ........LOL

[Jantrix]

No sun, no freeze, just boom and a big mess.

[LAone]

wow, thats crazy. the only thing i can think of is that the edge might have been rusted and just finally gave out.

[Rob Hall]

Not to change the subject, but the spelling of explode in the subject line reminds me of a fake sports drink ad I saw a few years ago for a product called 'Splode'..

[Joe Handley]

We had that happen with a can of spray chain saw lube............that was a mess!

[Tom Setzer]

The only time I have had a Paint Can Explode was about 5 years ago my Son was Priming some of his figures, and he set a can of White primer down to go get a drink, problem was where he set it. He set it right by an electric heater we used in the work shop. When he came back there was primer all over the work room. He never did that again because I made him clean everything the primer got on!

[randx0]

Well I can't splain it.

[Guest masterbuilder]

  On 1/6/2012 at 2:16 PM, Wheelman said:

No, not with sprays. But when i worked for a Mobile home Sales outfit in central NY, we had a trailer in the back for storage w/ about 500 or so automotive paints in quart and gallon paint cans. After who knows how many freeze / thaw and 30+ degree daily temperature changes, even looking as some of them crooked would make the cans spontaneously explode - sending the lid to the ceiling w/ most of the paint following, raining down in about a 8 foot diameter of what ever pretty color was in the can. my last year working there - one popping can would lead to several others in a chain reaction of rainbow explosions. I peeled a section of the paint off one of the windows - it was layered w/ many different colors , 25+, and almost an inch thick. I remember removing the cans I could get at as if I was the bomb disposal squad. There were maybe 100-150 cans of paint - many still sealed, but just ticking time bombs - that had become a permanent fixture in the trailer, due to being locked into place by paint.

That sounds AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With my mischeivious nature, I should NOT have read that I REALLY wanna see that happen. But then again, remember the old adage "curiosity klilled the cat"?? well, MEOW

[Guest masterbuilder]

  On 1/6/2012 at 3:03 PM, Andy C. said:

^{They explode when you shoot them with a .22......experience}

Ditto!!! Better in a bonfire tho. Leads to real pretty fireballs

[Dan Helferich]

I've had unused cans of Testors lacquers weep around the bottom seal of the can. I decant them to save the paint when it happens.

[Mercman]

You were lucky. A can of spray paint is eqaul to a 1/4 stick of dynamite. I keep all of mine in a metal cabinet. Never had them explode yet, (knock on wood), but have had the seeping problem mainly around the nozzle.

[Guest masterbuilder]

  On 1/8/2012 at 6:29 PM, Mercman said:

You were lucky. A can of spray paint is eqaul to a 1/4 stick of dynamite. I keep all of mine in a metal cabinet. Never had them explode yet, (knock on wood), but have had the seeping problem mainly around the nozzle.

A quarter-stick??? Really??? I know they can pack a punch, but when I was a kid we disposed of quite a few tree stumps with quarter-sticks and there is NO WAY your getting that kind of result with a rattle can.

[Art Anderson]

Time was when aerosol cans used Freon (which is essentially non-flammable) as the propellant. However, with the removal of CFC's from just about everything, propane and butane have replaced Freon as the propellants of choice. Either of those gasses makes a rattle can of lacquer or enamel even more hazardous if exposed to high heat.

I've been using spray cans of paint for better than 50 years, and NEVER once have I had a can leak, weep nor explode. It goes without saying that spray cans need to be kept in the coolest evironment available--but lacquers and petroleum-based enamels aren't particularly vulnerable to freezing, otherwise the stuff couldn't be delivered in unheated trucks from factory to warehouse to retail store in the dead of winter in most of the US, now could they? Even water-based enamels, such as Tamiya, MM Acryl and the like, while their labels may say prevent freezing, have to go through the same conditions in freight service--and I've never encountered any problem with those paints either, winter or summer.

Just sayin'

Art

[JustBill]

I've had those bottoms pop out on me too. It was a brand new can. Scared me so bad I threw it out and went and bought more. The bottoms of those cans are pretty thick metal. I thought whatever is going on inside that can can do that!.... I'm not taking any chances!

[Harry P.]

The bottoms of spray cans are shaped the way they are to help hold in the pressure inside the can... but if you overheat the can and the pressure increases too much, the contents will want to expand somewhere, and that somewhere is the can bottom popping out under too much pressure for it to hold back.

The paint seeping out below the spray nozzle is due to a partially clogged nozzle. When you push down the nozzle, if it's not clear enough to let the paint flow, the paint will find another escape route... and that's between the stem of the nozzle and the top of the can. But that yellow goop (propellant?) leaking out at the bottom? That seems like a manufacturing defect, not "user error," and I would think that Testor's owes you a refund. I would call them and ask; it can't hurt to try.

[sjordan2]

But still another argument for turning the can upside down and giving a few hits of spray to clear the nozzle after a painting session. I found that tip here and it keeps my paint can nozzles in good shape.

Edited January 8, 2012 by sjordan2

[Harry P.]

  On 1/8/2012 at 9:03 PM, sjordan2 said:

But still another argument for turning the can upside down and giving a few hits of spray to clear the nozzle after a painting session.

Exactly. But I know it seems like a waste of perfectly good paint to do that! I mean, with "hobby paints" now going for 5-6 bucks per 3 ounces, I'd bet a lot of people don't want to waste any of that expensive paint. It's probably cheaper to keep an old glass baby food or pickle jar with some appropriate thinner and a few spare spray nozzles from empty cans in there, to use as spares if the nozzle gets clogged. (and of course, if the nozzle does get clogged it goes into the bottle of thinner and becomes a new "spare."

[sjordan2]

  On 1/8/2012 at 9:07 PM, Harry P. said:

Exactly. But I know it seems like a waste of perfectly good paint to do that! I mean, with "hobby paints" now going for 5-6 bucks per 3 ounces, I'd bet a lot of people don't want to waste any of that expensive paint. It's probably cheaper to keep an old glass baby food or pickle jar with some appropriate thinner and a few spare spray nozzles from empty cans in there, to use as spares if the nozzle gets clogged. (and of course, if the nozzle does get clogged it goes into the bottle of thinner and becomes a new "spare."

When I do that process, only a tiny bit of paint comes out at first, then it's just air.

Edited January 8, 2012 by sjordan2

[Harry P.]

  On 1/8/2012 at 9:08 PM, DoubleD said:

i want to point out too on the bottom popping cans, i've always heated cans by running them under hot tap water. after i had a few pop like that i stopped heating them entirely and just made sure that a can i'd be using was at room temperature.

not sure either on how thick the bottoms of those cans are too, i've had cans that i've shook that show dents in the bottom from the ball inside. i don't think i'm shaking the cans any different or harder than anyone else or what's neccessary either.

Like everything else, I'd bet they're going cheap on the cans, probably using a thinner metal than what they used to use, to save a few cents per can. Thinner metal means a weaker bottom, and a weaker bottom means it takes less presure to blow it out.