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Darwin Awards
2014 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

Frozen Solid

2014 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

I worked for a company that provides the technical telephone emergency service for a company that provides medical technology to supply customers with oxygen. To be able to advise clients by phone, we were regularly trained by the emergency service technicians. During this trainings stories have been told again and again by the technicians about incredible things that the customer did to compromise their devices. The customers usually were to be called more than adult, since most of them were in their late years and already grandparents. And one particular story I have to share with you now. The technician was thus called to an emergency service deployment to a customer whose liquid oxygen tank obviously did not work. So far nothing unusual. What was unusual to say the least, was what the firebrigade at the scene told the technician next. You must know these liquid oxygen tanks carry 37-60 ltr. of liquid oxygen wich equals some tenthousands of liters of gasiform oxygen. These tanks come with a mobile device (about 0.3-1.2ltr.) to be filled from a vent to the side of the tank. During the filling cycle of the mobile device you attatch it to the said vent and pull an opening switch wich has to stay pulled untill the mobile device is fully filled. Liquid oxygen in these tanks has a temperature of about -180°C and due to this fact some times the mobile will freeze to the vent. To prevent this from happening you usually would interrupt the filling procedure to shake the mobile device just a little to crush ice crystals wich may have formed insede the vents. The firefighte discribed that the customer tried to fill his mobile and that during this filling cycle the mobile froze solid to the vent. This still would be nothing to be worried about, but the vent seemingly opend up far enough by ice crystals to allow liquid oxigen to leak and create a block of ice around the vent freezing water from the air around it. This happend due to the fact that the customer pulled the switch and tilted it to stay pulled and keep the vent open and then left the scene to go to the bathroom. As he returned he noticed the ice and let the switch loose to close the vent but since the ice pushed the vent open it stayed that way and created more ice in time. He now thought about ways to get rid of the block of ice that had formed around the vent and poured methylated spirits on the ice. While this would have worked to free your walkeway of ice in this case it did not taking into account that temperatures of -180°C are at work. The next brilliant idea of the customer was to set the spirits on fire since he already poured them over the ice and he hoped the heat would melt the ice. Now you see the image of a burnig ice block of about 20cm in diameter attatched to a vent on a 37-60ltr. tank containing liquid oxygen. Since the ice did not melt and this image started to frighten our customer he called the firebrigade. The firefightes in charge extiguished the fire the man had set to his own device and carefully put the still vapor emmiting tank out in the open and called the technician. They were unwilling to leave till technical support arrived and sorted things out. Even under such hazardous conditions noone was hurt, wich qualifies this stories protagonist only as an At-Risk-Survivor and since this story didn't make even the local news it is only worthy of a PA. But I truly belive this story of the thechnician since I had my one calls in the line wich would stand out in terms of stupidity close to this fellows actions.

Sorry in advance for any mistakes made. I'm from Germany and thus not native english. If you see any need to correct/rewrite this feel free to do so.

Submitted on 12/10/2014

Submitted by: Mario Z.
Reference: Personal Account

Copyright © 2014 DarwinAwards.com

Great? 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Awful?
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>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Too Common
Thanks, Mario, but we get lots of stories involving people who use oxygen. Typically it's smokers who are unable to stop smoking despite being warned about the dangers of lighting up around tanks of pure oxygen. The other moderators might think otherwise though...

James said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
I rather like this one! A rather creative way for a complete dolt (though you think his years would have given him wisdom) to deal with an oxygen problem! For the sake of a great write-up, I will vote PA on this one! Thanks, Mario!

Candi said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
My dad worked in as a driver for medical supply for a few years. Part of his job was making sure the people knew how to use their equipment when he brought it to their house. I think it's safe to assume that this gentleman got similar instruction, including you *don't leave that vent OPEN*! Ever. And instead of calling technical assistance, he goes for the DIY option. Sheeeeeeesh. He's lucky factors weren't correct for a kaboom. Thanks Mario!

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