|
I was reading through a draining blog and they stated that stormceptors can be extremely dangerous. Because I want to avoid getting near or in one I decided to google it to see what it looked like so I could avoid it if I saw one. Turns out its just a small room with 2 levels and holes walled off holes in the floor which doesn't look very menacing. Would someone here care to explain the dangers of a stormceptor and how to deal with one if you come upon it?
Thanks in advance, Mullet
|
|
There are a few reasons: they fill up with water very quickly they are very poorly ventilated. Bad air is a risk and so is drowning. I don’t know how big they come but if you could go through the hole in the floor you would likely not be able to breathe or climb back out. I don’t think they are as dangerous as the blog makes them out to be but if you see one be very careful.
Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not, we never are. But that's not the right question. The question is, are we living a life that is worth the harm? |
|
Any poorly ventilated space is a potential death trap especially if there's rotting organics in it.
These look like real killers.
Many professionals including emergency rescue workers have been killed in confined spaces over the years.
Sometimes the first breathe knocks them out.
Even holding your breath in a high H2S air may not work; involuntary cough reflex. H2S is an insidious poison.
Meth and and H2S are both heavier than air...
Get the picture?
Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.
|
|
Thanks for clearing it up, I'll be sure to avoid it if I ever come upon one.
|
|
Posted by mulletcat
Thanks for clearing it up, I'll be sure to avoid it if I ever come upon one.
|
If it's something like this it could be a death trap indeed. Bacteria wuv to fed on petrol and organics, and some anaerobic strains produce copious amounts of H2S as a byproduct.
http://www.rinkerp...neStormceptor.aspx
Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.
|
|
Maybe someone who knows what they're talking about (i.e. not me) should add "Stormceptor" to the encyclopedia. Seems like something that should be in there if they're that dangerous.
New. Improved? ... Extra shiny! |
|
Posted by Cryptomatic
Maybe someone who knows what they're talking about (i.e. not me) should add "Stormceptor" to the encyclopedia. Seems like something that should be in there if they're that dangerous.
|
They are not an incredibly common thing. Stormceptor is a brand of separator that gets oils and other contaminants out of storm drains to prevent them from harming the environment. It can't hurt to add it because we could end up saving someone's life. Don't misunderstand; they aren't necessarily dangerous, there is just a higher potential for hydrogen sulfide as it is a closed room. If you've ever been draining before there could be hydrogen sulfide produced in the drain but most drains have good air flow so the concentration is kept low. Inside a Stormceptor, there is no air flow, so rotting can make H2S and it will have nowhere to go.
I could be wrong but it looks like once you get to a stormceptor the drain pretty much ends there; or for you it does anyway. The pipes seem small and I don't think you could pass through one. Even if it was possible to go down into the water well and back out the other side that would be dangerous and probably not worth risking. It is also full of oil and water so who would want to enter a deep pool with a bunch of gasoline and oil?
Here is a link to the cleaning process, which gives details on what it looks like inside and the concept of it: https://youtu.be/OJrKwDmP0jg
Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not, we never are. But that's not the right question. The question is, are we living a life that is worth the harm? |
|
Any confined space -is- dangerous, H2S etc or not...
Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.
|
|
Posted by blackhawk
Any confined space -is- dangerous, H2S etc or not...
|
Why is it dangerous? Not disagreeing, you just know a lot about this stuff and I’d rather not find out the hard way.
Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not, we never are. But that's not the right question. The question is, are we living a life that is worth the harm? |
|
Posted by ryan5685
Why is it dangerous? Not disagreeing, you just know a lot about this stuff and I’d rather not find out the hard way.
|
Limited ingress/egress, limited ventilation.
A safe rescue takes time; time you probably don't have.
When shit goes bad it happens fast...
Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.
|
|
Posted by ryan5685
Why is it dangerous? Not disagreeing, you just know a lot about this stuff and I’d rather not find out the hard way.
|
As Blackhawk said above, confined spaces tend to have really bad ventilation, and if you collapse in one, it'll be difficult for someone to rescue you without proper gear, lest they risk collapsing in there and dying with you. A huge number of deaths in confined spaces are of would-be rescuers, people that go in to save someone and end up dying in there themselves.
"That sounds like a horrible idea! Let's do it!" |
|
This question has pretty much been answered. I just wanted to throw out there that until a few years ago, I didn't appreciate just how dangerous these confined spaces - drains and mines in particular - can be. I had this erroneous idea in my head that the "bad air" was akin to lack of oxygen, which I also erroneously thought would result in having to fight off asphyxiation long enough to get to an exit. Basically, I thought if you could hold your breath long enough, you could save yourself. I didn't understand that it's probably not going to be a lack of oxygen that kills myself or anyone else due to asphyxiating, but a much more rapid, incapacitating, and lethal dose of poisonous air. Even worse, this "bad air" is often odorless, like carbon dioxide for example. I've never encountered a "stormceptor" personally, but I would think that something like that would have a higher probability of collecting these toxic gases within their chambers, which means that they should be avoided whenever possible. Enough dangers already exist without increasing the odds against you.
I wanted to throw that out there in case anyone new to drains or mines on this site has the same misconception that I did.
Below is another similar article to the one earlier in the thread. This one is from earlier this year in Florida and also includes several rescue personal that were injured trying to save the doomed workers underground. These guys have tons of special training and equipment to deal with this stuff and they still died.
The really sobering part of this article is that only one man was initially exposed to the lethal gas. Every other victim was a would-be rescuer of the first man.
http://www.cnn.com...hs-trnd/index.html
I wandered till the stars went dim. |
|
Dee you are completely spot on. Many people and would be rescuers have been killed by just methane alone.
Sometimes 3 or 4 a pop. Sometimes even trained emergency rescue personal.
H2S is much worse than a simple inert gas. It's a systematic poison that effects multiple vital body systems beyond just displacing 02 from the hemoglobin.
-Somewhere- on UER I've posted this before, in detail.
Hydrogen Sulfide is called an insidious poison for good reason. It dulls your ability to smell; your sense of smell is worthless after a couple breathes at low non lethal concentrations.
Higher concentrations can kill you outright with one breathe.
After you breathe enough in even immediate O2 and CPR may not save you.
The dangers in a confined space can be hidden and deceiving even with good gas measuring meters.
A space may test as having breathable air, until you disturb the mud or whatever goo and it releases a lethal concentration of H2S.
-or-
You can be in a bone dry rusty tank. Everything tests good, nothing... until you disturb the rust scale and it turns into a H2S hellhole.
Never underestimate this proven killer.
Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.
|
|
Crazy... I never knew about this.
Thanks to ryan and blackhawk for giving the skinny on Stormceptors -- my candy ass might never set foot inside a drain now! XD!
Seriously, though: definitely made me think twice about dubious underground locations. Cheers for the info, guys!
\=\ TOPKEK ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL MISSION /=/
\=\ ^u^ /=/ |
|
Posted by fluffy_bunnies
Crazy... I never knew about this.
Thanks to ryan and blackhawk for giving the skinny on Stormceptors -- my candy ass might never set foot inside a drain now! XD!
Seriously, though: definitely made me think twice about dubious underground locations. Cheers for the info, guys!
|
I am with you. Typically not a chickenshit but this draining thing makes my pansy side come right on out. This is one part of exploring that I prefer to live vicariously through others.
Never climb after somebody with ulcerative colitis. -Steed |
|
Not actually heard of, or seen these, at least in the culverts and drains I have explored in England, in the past. Not sure if they are to be found in the UK, unless anyone knows any different?
[last edit 1/28/2018 12:14 PM by Jules Verne - edited 1 times]
|
|
Just a add on, H2S alarms have gotten cheaper with the Advent of the oil boom so you can pick em up fairly cheap these days. I don't drain but if you do one of these is a no brainier when dealing with a gas that is heavier than air and has a nice little feature of killing off your smell receptors first so you don't even know your breathing in death. I've dealt with a H2S event on a pad and it's no joke. One guy went to the hospital, one never got the chance. Shit is serious.
Ezekiel 25:17 |
|
Posted by Jules Verne
Not actually heard of, or seen these, at least in the culverts and drains I have explored in England, in the past. Not sure if they are to be found in the UK, unless anyone knows any different?
|
They are sold in England so they are there. Most likely found in industrial/petrochemical plants but also truck/car washes for waste water treatment.
Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.
|
Ethics
