Its that time of year. Lets discuss ether.

[walkerv]

I was just going through wiring diagrams looking for something else, saw this & thought of this thread. Must be 466 only, the 444 would blow the hood off!
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It could probably be rigged up on the 444e ecm would just need to disable the glow plug solenoid if ether start is engaged . Not sure if that was an option though been along time since I have seen dealer programming for those .

 

[Willie B]

We tried ether in a buddies potato gun that he had in camp, didn't work very well, I thought it would be great, best propellant is hair spray unreal how well that works!

Ether is best. There is high ether content starting fluid, and low. The good stuff is best. Use a tiny squirt, it's hard to spray little enough. Too much of it, it doesn't work.
Willie

 

[Willie B]

Picked up a few cans of either at the hardware store this evening ....

Hardware store feller warned me it was flammable . I thanked him for the advice .

No chit Sherlock .

I was buying canned dry compressed air, the kind you use to blow out a computer. The ingredients are air. The clerk at Staples needed my driver's license. Why? It can be misused as an inhalant. I responded; "It's air!"

 

[kshansen]

I was buying canned dry compressed air, the kind you use to blow out a computer. The ingredients are air. The clerk at Staples needed my driver's license. Why? It can be misused as an inhalant. I responded; "It's air!"

Maybe the cans you were buying but some are not just air, here is the MSDS for Staples Electronic Duster spray:
http://sds.staples.com/msds/712196.pdf

I have no idea of what "Ethane, 1,1-difluoro-" is but not something I would want to inhale!

 

[DMiller]

Petroleum distillates, ethane. Difluoroethane. Will burn if used wrong!!

 

[kshansen]

Petroleum distillates, ethane. Difluoroethane. Will burn if used wrong!!

And if it is burned the stuff you get can kill you or cause bad acid burns!

 

[Birken Vogt]

Ether is best. There is high ether content starting fluid, and low. The good stuff is best. Use a tiny squirt, it's hard to spray little enough. Too much of it, it doesn't work.
Willie

Most flammables will burn or explode at a range of 2-8% in air or something like that.

Ether is more like 5-50%, really wide range, so it is easier to get a proper mixture to light it off.

 

[DMiller]

Then there was always the Jolly Joker that would sneak into the bathroom at the shop, touch off a little ether into a populated toilet stall under the door or walls!! FOOOOOM! Flame ON! That'll get the poop moving, or shut it down!

 

[td25c]

I was buying canned dry compressed air, the kind you use to blow out a computer. The ingredients are air. The clerk at Staples needed my driver's license. Why? It can be misused as an inhalant. I responded; "It's air!"

I generally try to laugh it off anymore ... The cat informing me that the either was flammable . LOL !

Had to get on the management at the drug store ...... They only sell barley soda warm and the Doctor prescribed it taken cold .

Just jamb a case in the milk cooler few hours before I pick it up .

 

[Vetech63]

Picked up a few cans of either at the hardware store this evening ....

Hardware store feller warned me it was flammable . I thanked him for the advice .

No chit Sherlock .

Reminds me of a time many years ago. The wife asked me to pick up tampons on the way home for her. Now......I hate buying the dam things in the first place, but I did what was necessary. So I get to the checkout with them and the clerk ( a chick no less) asks me if I knew what I was buying. I calmly replied "Yeah I know, but they have changed them some. I don't know if I can get these in my ears."

 

[DIYDAVE]

reminds me of the old dog food diet joke:

“I was buying a large bag of Purina dog chow for my dog at Walmart and standing in line at the check out.

“A woman behind me asked if I had a dog.

“On impulse, I told her that no, I was starting the Purina Diet again although I probably shouldn’t because I’d ended up in the hospital last time, but that I’d lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.

“I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry and that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again.

“I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story, particularly a guy who was behind her.

“Horrified, she asked if I’d ended up in the hospital in that condition because I had been poisoned by the dog food. I told her no; I stepped off a curb to sniff a poodle’s ass and a car hit me.

“I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard.”

 

[Vetech63]

Well, I watched 2 Mexicans bead a tractor tire with ether last week. One sprayed the rim, the other was throwing matches at it from too far away. Everytime the match missed, they resprayed the ether. I told them they didn't need to do that with THAT much ether, but they couldnt speak English! So, after the 4th match miss, one of them touched it off with a cig lighter. The resulting BOOM and percussion knocked **** off the shop wall and that Mexican was on his back , on the concrete floor, trying to extinguish the burning beard he had. No one seriously hurt but hell, I TRIED to tell them! I couldn't understand what they were yelling at each other afterwards, but it surely wasn't good. Another crew of them was watching and busted out laughing. All in a days work for them I guess

 

[DMiller]

Have seen the Mexican Jumping Tire before, they seem to feel the ether evaporates too fast or something. Usually with similar results!!!

 

[Tinkerer]

Is there any way to determine the % of ether that is in a can ?

 

[Willie B]

The answer lies in price as best I can tell.

 

[repowerguy]

Or how high the tire jumps off the floor .

 

[DMiller]

LOL!!

 

[Vetech63]

Well, I had some ether residue on my glove yesterday when I lit my cutting torch, glove went up like a Christmas tree. I proceeded to violently shake the glove off my hand...………..only to fling it (in flames of course) onto the bag of trash I had sitting in the back of my truck. Isn't there some kind of super hero that throws flames from his hands? Yeah, that's who I felt like as I watched the glove traveling through the air.

 

[Birken Vogt]

I like to use ether as cleaning fluid. Because it is pretty much non toxic, it does not attack plastic like acetone in brake cleaner, it evaporates super fast, etc.

One reason to be concerned is its flammable range. Acetone, like gasoline and propane, has a flammable range in air of something like 5-15%. It has to be right to fire. Ether is something crazy like 3-50%. That must be why it is used as a starting fluid, because it will fire no matter what the concentration might be.

I always think about when I will need to start an engine or cause a spark before I go hosing ether all around.

 

[Birken Vogt]

Well, I had some ether residue on my glove yesterday when I lit my cutting torch, glove went up like a Christmas tree. I proceeded to violently shake the glove off my hand...………..only to fling it (in flames of course) onto the bag of trash I had sitting in the back of my truck. Isn't there some kind of super hero that throws flames from his hands? Yeah, that's who I felt like as I watched the glove traveling through the air.

Did the bag of trash catch on fire? This sounds like one of those stories.