Bho Disasters (PLEASE READ!)

[jump /injack]

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article20141628.html


Explosion, fire lead to arrest of men suspected of running Nevada County drug lab
Sacto 911

Covering crime, police and courts in the Sacramento region
Richard Kuhn

Richard Kuhn | Nevada County Sheriff’s Office

By Denny Walsh

[email protected]

Two men have been arrested and charged with felony manufacturing of a controlled substance in connection with a Nevada County house fire on Saturday caused by the explosion of an illicit drug laboratory, a county sheriff’s sergeant said Sunday.

One of the men, David Schwab, who lives in the house with his wife and infant child, is also charged with felony child endangerment. His wife and baby were taken by ambulance to a hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries and released, according to Nevada County Sheriff’s Sgt. Bob Jakobs.

Richard Kuhn, who lives in a trailer on the same property, faces only the manufacturing charge, Jakobs said.

He said Nevada County sheriff’s detectives, who arrested and questioned the pair, continue to investigate the premises.

The men are in custody awaiting court appearances, Jakobs said. Bail for Schwab, 26, has been set at $535,000, for Kuhn, 34, $500,000, he said.

They are suspected of operating a honey oil lab in the house, Jakobs said. Honey oil, also known as hash oil, is a marijuana product made by separating resins from cannabis buds by chemical extraction and then converting it to a hardened or viscous mass, Jakobs said. He said the manufacture of honey oil is a dangerous process because highly combustible butane gas is used in the process.

“It’s not uncommon for these operations to blow up,” Jakobs said. “There have been these incidents all over the state.”

The Associated Press has reported that such occurrences have primarily been in West Coast states that permit medical marijuana.

Honey oil, which can be smoked, ingested or vaporized, is one of the most potent cannabis products because of its high level of psychoactive compound per its volume, depending on the mix of oils and compounds, according to a 2009 United Nations drug report.

The first report of Saturday’s fire came into the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office at 3:07 p.m., Jakobs said, and the Nevada County Consolidated Fire Department responded to the house at 12215 Poke Place, just outside of Nevada City.

By the time crews reached the scene, flames had engulfed the house, according to department Battalion Chief Joshua Sunde. He said the one-alarm blaze, which caused extensive damage to the house, was contained within an hour after the Nevada County fire crew was dispatched.

Besides firefighters from his own department, crews from Grass Valley, Nevada City and Cal Fire responded to the scene, Sunde said.

 

[prune]

The other source of catastrophic failure, besides sight glasses, is clamps. Some folks have stripped the threads from the silicone bronze nuts or broken hinged clamps, from repeated over tightening.

I think that's the proximate cause in this case. Look at the BHO residue on the reducer above the sight glass, and the threads on the lower clamp are exposed as if the female section had fractured and "popped" off. Wanna bet those are Chinese clamps?

 

[Gray Wolf]

Clearly the valve packing and seals are a wear item that requires regular inspection and maintenance, as do the sanitary seals, which become hard and deformed.

The other common source of leaks is the NPT threads from thermal cycling.

The other source of catastrophic failure, besides sight glasses, is clamps. Some folks have stripped the threads from the silicone bronze nuts or broken hinged clamps, from repeated over tightening.

Our failure analysis always includes not only what may/will fail, but what happens when it does and what action will be required to save the day.

"What is the worse thing that can happen? What are you going to do to prevent it from happening and what are you going to do when it does?"

Fortunately valve seals and packing are not typically a catastrophic failure, dumping huge quantities all at once.

This is an important enough issue that I contacted the Vail/Eagle Fire Chief and queried him as to what he observed.

Alas, as it is an ongoing investigation, he wasn't allowed to share, but agreed to do so once he was free to do so. Let's stay on top of this one, as it was for sure a closed loop failure!

 

[Brot]

What I did not see, and no one mentioned. Operator Error! Did anyone see any Pressure gauges? Sight glasses are great, but if you want to look at something, install a PRESSURE GAUGE! And then USE IT! I have two -4" 100 psi gauges. One on the top, and one on the collection vessel. I can charge my system to "X", then watch the gas expand and know when to start vacuuming down. Once I re enter a "safe" zone with pressure, I can then recharge, or let sit. Never the less, WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU RUN A PRESSURIZED UNIT, WITH A FLAMMABLE PRODUCT, WITHOUT A GAUGE? Or two.........

 

[Brot]

GW, seeing that peeps are
1), not smart enough to understand that fuel will ignite!
2), not smart enough to understand that fuel will ignite!

A design should be produced, showing a safe environment to partake in this activity. I am assuming (makes a "Ass Of You man Me") that these "BuTards" cannot read. So... PICTURES!
I visualize a open air cabana, just four courner post holding up a roof. Then a wooden picnic table in the center, for your work station. Then a large (superimposed) red arrow facing the direction of the wind flow. At the starting point of the wind flow, would be stacks of fans blowing across the work station.
Do you think they would understand the concept? Or am I just wishing for common sense??

 

[SkyHighLer]

GW, seeing that peeps are
1), not smart enough to understand that fuel will ignite!
2), not smart enough to understand that fuel will ignite!

A design should be produced, showing a safe environment to partake in this activity. I am assuming (makes a "Ass Of You man Me") that these "BuTards" cannot read. So... PICTURES!
I visualize a open air cabana, just four courner post holding up a roof. Then a wooden picnic table in the center, for your work station. Then a large (superimposed) red arrow facing the direction of the wind flow. At the starting point of the wind flow, would be stacks of fans blowing across the work station.
Do you think they would understand the concept? Or am I just wishing for common sense??

Picture from FatherEarth's Terpanation at Terpene Station

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=5865564&postcount=13

 

[jump /injack]

The last four posts had a lot of good sense therein and if followed , especially with the fans at his back he wouldn't have been injured most likely. I went back to the original story where it showed the picture of the man who was 'allegedly' operating the closed extraction system to see what he looked like [maybe SkyHighler can post a copy since I can't figure the posting system out yet.] He was burned on the face, forearms and from the knee's down but not the feet, still had hair so probably a hat. If he had been wearing long pants, long shirt with sleeves and face guard and gloves he wouldn't have had 2nd and 3rd degree burns at all. Father Earth's and Gray Wolf seems to have the same setup with the fans going and outside, that keeps you out of the fireball of 3400+degrees. Probably less than $100 would have keep the gentleman out of the burn ward, fire retardant clothing isn't that much considering what he'll be spending.

If it can happen it will eventually happen according to the laws of chance.

 

[SkyHighLer]

The high level of competence and responsibility necessary to run a butane/propane extraction operation safely is not commonplace, but exists even among those without industrial safety engineer degrees. The head mechanic/team chief of a top fuel dragster, the crew chief of a pyrotechnics team, the crew chief of a demolitions team, guys who live/love and bet on their skills at risk assessment and management.

If you're not terrified of the possible mishap that could befall you if your precautions aren't enough when doing anything, find something safer to occupy yourself with........

http://www.aspentimes.com/news/16121402-113/vail-valley-man-injured-in-hash-oil-explosion

 

[jump /injack]

Thanks SkyHighler, that was the picture that I was referring to in the article, everything burned except for the areas that were covered, even his torso wasn't burned as bad as his arms and face where there was no protection at all apparently.

Below is a follow up on a story that was about 1 or 2 years ago. It is the final disposition of the case involving a death of a former Mayor who lost her life from the complications of a fall caused by the detonation of a butane fire. "Bellevue's first female mayor, Nan Campbell, 87, tripped and fell while escaping. She later died from medical complications following hospitalization."


http://www.bellevuereporter.com/news/317659801.html


Judge sentences accomplices in hash oil explosion | Men let friend use Hampton Greens apartment to make drug




by BRANDON MACZ, Bellevue Reporter Staff Writer
Jul 20, 2015 at 5:27PM

Two men who allowed a friend to manufacture hash oil using butane gas that caused an explosion and fire at the Hampton Greens apartment complex in Bellevue two years ago received three-year prison sentences in U.S. District Court on Monday.

Daniel J. Strycharske, 29, and Jesse D. Kaplan, 32, were renting a unit at the apartment complex in 2013, where they let David R. Schultz manufacture hash oil processed using a butane injection method. The plan was to share the profits.

Residents awoke to an explosion on Nov. 5, 2013, caused by gas leaking into the apartment and igniting. Eight exploded cans of butane found in the parking lot and shrubs were recorded by investigators.

Schultz was sentenced to nine years in prison by U.S. District Judge James L. Robart in early June.

Seven people, including Schultz, Strycharske and Kaplan, were injured in the blast and subsequent fire.

Bellevue's first female mayor, Nan Campbell, 87, tripped and fell while escaping. She later died from medical complications following hospitalization.

The explosion and fire caused $2 million in damage and the loss of $500,000 in belongings.

The U.S. Attorney's Office, in a statement, reported Robart went with longer sentences than are typically issued in the hopes of deterring others from attempting to profit from hash oil manufacturing.

Strycharske and Kaplan also face three years of probation after completing their prison sentences.

 

[Cannajits]

May be I don't have the capacity to understand how people are stupid enough to blast batches indoors. May be I won't understand how they can be retarded enough to blow themselves and their houses up, while dealing with a flammable substance.

I guess common sense isnt so common.

 

[Gray Wolf]

May be I don't have the capacity to understand how people are stupid enough to blast batches indoors. May be I won't understand how they can be retarded enough to blow themselves and their houses up, while dealing with a flammable substance.

I guess common sense isnt so common.

The father of humanistic psychology noted in his later years, that it is a mistake to forget there is pathology in the populous, so leave us not lose sight of the sociopaths, which statistics say one American in 25 is, or 4% of the population.

If you add ignorant or wit challenged and led astray to the mix, there are enough brothers and sisters to account for the rash of home/apartment/motel room/car explosions.

Sociopaths have no conscious, so we can only influence their actions by its perceived influence on them, but we still have some chance of educating the dim witted and not technical brothers led astray by sociopaths or other dim witted associates.

Check out the response I got from Drew on Skunk Pharm Research at http://skunkpharmresearch.com/, in the comments column of A Well Intended Closed Loop Explosion.

 

[Cannajits]

The father of humanistic psychology noted in his later years, that it is a mistake to forget there is pathology in the populous, so leave us not lose sight of the sociopaths, which statistics say one American in 25 is, or 4% of the population.

If you add ignorant or wit challenged and led astray to the mix, there are enough brothers and sisters to account for the rash of home/apartment/motel room/car explosions.

Sociopaths have no conscious, so we can only influence their actions by its perceived influence on them, but we still have some chance of educating the dim witted and not technical brothers led astray by sociopaths or other dim witted associates.

....

I guess as the population grows, so do the proportion of stupid people. I'll admit I forget the clothing rules and I don't keep a fire extinguisher around, but I have built into my process mitigation factors to lessen the risk. Something I think people don't consider. I've also heard something like 20 different ways to blast, evap and purge batches all using one secret method or another - none of which have anything to do with safety. For example, when I hear about someone purging batches on a hot plate or anything that uses electricity I just smile and nod.

Sheet, we don't even store the trash used for batches in the house. May be i'll take a big ol' risk and make a thread on all this some day. Thanks for the props.

 

[jump /injack]

http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/ne...ted-drug-explosion-causes-damage-to-apartment



Suspected drug related explosion causes damage to apartment


SOUTH LAKE TAHOE -- A suspected small honey oil lab, a substance made from marijuana plants, caused a minor explosion that blew out the windows of an apartment in a small complex Tuesday night on Larch Avenue near Pioneer Trail.

“I see the windows start inflating like balloons and then before you know it they burst, ‘pop! Boom!’ I run to the street and once I looked back everybody was outside,” said Erick Lopez, who lives directly above the apartment where the explosion occurred.

Lopez was standing by a tree with his dog about 15 feet in front of the window when the explosion occurred at about 8:30 p.m. He sustained minor scratches on his face from the flying glass. He was the only one outside when the explosion occurred.

“It sounded like they threw a grenade in there,” Lopez said.

The South Lake Tahoe fire and police departments responded simultaneous to the call, but the investigation was later turned over to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office SLEDNET unit, after first responders found evidence of honey oil production, including butane gas containers, EDSO Sgt. Tasha Thompson said Wednesday.

“I see the windows start inflating like balloons and then before you know it they burst, ‘pop! Boom!’ I run to the street and once I looked back everybody was outside.”Erick Lopez

Thompson said it did not appear anyone outside of the apartment was injured.

Police are searching for two men in connection to the explosion.

Lopez said two men ran out of the apartment moments after the explosion and had not returned as of Wednesday morning.

Authorities asked area hospitals to report any injuries that may have been caused by the explosion, but none had been reported as of Wednesday morning, Thompson said. It was unclear if the two men were injured in the explosion, though it was possible.

At the scene, a two-man cleanup crew was picking up shattered glass scattered all over the common area of the small complex. Two large side-by-side windows at the front of the apartment had been blown out and the window frames were damaged. Out back, at least one window had been boarded up. Inside, at least one butane gas container was visible from the window.

Thompson could not comment on whether any drugs were recovered from the scene.

The investigation is ongoing, Thompson said.

 

[Symbiotic AD]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/24/explosion-at-santa-fe-medical-marijuana-dispensary/

By - Associated Press - Friday, July 24, 2015
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A Santa Fe Fire Department official says an investigation into an explosion and fire at a medical marijuana dispensary which injured two people will look at whether there was a fuel leak.
Assistant Battalion Chief Carl Crook says butane is used in extraction of an active compound from marijuana and that the investigation will try to determine if there was a leak of butane that was ignited by a source yet to be determined.
The explosion and small fire in a production building at NewMexiCann Natural Medicine damaged the room where the explosion took place.
Crook says at least one person was in the room when the explosion occurred but it’s not immediately known whether the second injured person also was in the room or entered after the blast occurred.
___
Another disaster this month, these events are going to make the legal market for light hydrocarbon extractions more difficult.

 

[Cannajits]

Never good to see another tally to the negative side of the hobby

 

[Lefthand]

What's crazy to me is that thier are current threads where people are defending open blasting and its safety.. How could someone read this thread and still want to open blast.

Simple risk/reward ratio is fucked, a little bho tainted w/ mystery oil is definitly not worth risking everything.

 

[Brot]

May people could grasp the concept of the damage, igniting Butane will do. The expansion rate of Butane igniting, is 233:1. (Per gallon) or 32 scft. Ever seen a fire ball on TV, or in person. That "ball"of fire, IS the expansion! I have worked with flammable gasses for 30+ years. Ive seen a few bad accidents, but all in all, if your to stupid to not know proper precautions to take, PLEASE DONT ATTEMPT THIS. I cannot believe of all of the numbnuts i read about blowing themselfs up! Would be funny, if not so serious of a situation. Go to Vo-Tech. Take some, saftey classes, or better yet have a job that incorporates voliale gasses. BE TRAINED! Above all THINK, and if that doesnt work, PLEASE DONT! Your giving this relatively safe process, a terrible name!...,, my 2C

 

[Cannajits]

What's crazy to me is that thier are current threads where people are defending open blasting and its safety.. How could someone read this thread and still want to open blast.

Simple risk/reward ratio is fucked, a little bho tainted w/ mystery oil is definitly not worth risking everything.

I'm one of those, on the forefront of defending sensible and responsible open blasting. I'm not convinced I need to pay $$$ for a CLS and I have no desire to use a less efficient solvent. Yes, these stories of things going boom and people getting hurt suck and give the process a bad rap. Yes, there is risk involved and if one had the money to do so, even I would suggest a CLS in a well built separate environment.

What you do have, regardless of your best intentions or wishes, are people who are still going to see the relative ease of BHO and who are going to think they know how to be safe with 'lighter fluid'. I get that we are going to hear much about the accidents, so I offer some stories of the alternative - responsible open blasting, mitigating and recognizing as many risks and possible hazards as possible.

It can be done, even if you don't (can't, won't...) do it.

 

[Gray Wolf]

I'm one of those, on the forefront of defending sensible and responsible open blasting. I'm not convinced I need to pay $$$ for a CLS and I have no desire to use a less efficient solvent. Yes, these stories of things going boom and people getting hurt suck and give the process a bad rap. Yes, there is risk involved and if one had the money to do so, even I would suggest a CLS in a well built separate environment.

What you do have, regardless of your best intentions or wishes, are people who are still going to see the relative ease of BHO and who are going to think they know how to be safe with 'lighter fluid'. I get that we are going to hear much about the accidents, so I offer some stories of the alternative - responsible open blasting, mitigating and recognizing as many risks and possible hazards as possible.

It can be done, even if you don't (can't, won't...) do it.

I and my associates are living proof that you can open extract without incident, and I attribute it to both following the rules, and long term, the luck of the draw, as the odds numbers play out.

Even 1000:1 odds are shaky if you do 10's of thousands.

The odds are even better with a closed loop system, and they have the added advantage of enabling you to first remove the mystery oil.

Residual mystery oil from open blasting is typically below levels of health concern, but it does detract from taste and given the choice, I had rather not have it in my body.

They are also cheaper per gram and easier on the environment both at release and from drilling.

When there were no good alternatives, we did what we had to do to produce the meds for the dying folks, but now that there is an alternative, consider pooling resources like us'n skunk pharmers did to be able to afford our stuff.

 

[Lefthand]

Your giving this relatively safe process, a terrible name!...,, my 2C[/QUOTE]

I have open blasted many times then learned about a better, safer,cheaper way. I like to upgrade my toys /tools and building sweet looking closed loop systems has been allot of fun.

I know people r still going to open blast, hopefully they do it safe as possible.

The people in these stories give the process a bad name not me commenting them. Are u serious?