Safety Moments

[imellor]

Hi All,

I thought this topic could benefit every one. I created this to prevent others from making the same mistakes that others make that could possibly lead to injury or worse. Amongst all things that should be considered when homebrewing the number one is safety.

When starting off with kits the worst things that I can see happening are burns and exploding bottles. Sounds pretty mild so far but an exploding glass bottle can cause serious injury or worse to yourself, family members or friends.

Moving up to kegs and All Grain their is a whole lot more that can go seriously wrong. I have not moved to All Grain as yet so do not know of potential risks, but have moved to kegs so I will start this with my first safety moment.

Drilling hole in fridge door to fit tap.
No cooling lines in fridge door so should be easy. Wrong.
Decided to drill hole at a good height on door and in a place that would hide the connections inside the fridge. Worked out the top of door had butter container and another compartment that would hide all.




I noticed the switch for the butter and decided to pull apart the door and find out what was their. I found this.



I removed this ( A heat pad ) and insulated the wires. I suspect this was 240v and would not have had a problem drilling through as I always disconnet power from anything I am working on. When I turned the fridge back on I would have been lucky as I had a safety switch. If I didn't have the safety switch it could have been a different story.

It was not luck that led me to discover the heat pad. I looked around and thought what could go wrong, what made the butter controller work. I did not know so I investigated before proceeding and this saved me a potential diaster.



The final product works a treat.

Please pass on your near misses or disasters that relate to safety to raise awareness to others.

Cheers,
Ian

B)

 

[tangent]

i actually pointed this out in another thread.
glad you didn't die

 

[imellor]

i actually pointed this out in another thread.
glad you didn't die

Thanks, So am I. Wish I had seen your thread before I started.

 

[Jye]

Wires also run the entire length of the door so its best to have a good look before drilling.

Ive got a few more pics here and it also shows how to replace the door molding.

 

[imellor]

Thanks Jye.

Had a look at your link and when I get a third tap I will do the same to my door to make more room.


Cheers,
Ian

 

[Bizier]

I will revive an old thread...

I just drilled 2 gas line holes out the side of my fridge using the slow, poke poke poke method. Anyway, I went a little gung ho and did not do enough poking, and just nicked a copper coolant line with my drill bit. The side of the fridge is fairly deep, and this was very close to the outer steel skin of the fridge, and hard to detect. I swabbed the nick with 50/50 dish detergent and water, and it did not bubble, so I am tentatively assuming that this is all OK.

Please take more care than I did if you are drilling your fridge walls.

 

[eamonnfoley]

My safety moment. Was doing a make shift batch sparge - picked up a 50L pot of the burner to pour the last bit of hot water onto the mash. Piping hot base of pot touched my inner forearm - received a nasty burn!

Be careful of things like this when your brew setup isnt "ideal"