Hypothetical Disposal of Expired Marine Flares 07 02 2022
1. Okay here is the issue, you need to have them on your boat but they can't be expired.
2. They often have expiration dates that are about two years from the date of purchase if that.
3. I don't believe that even the hazmat facility will take them.
4. I emailed the village where I live and they had no answer.
5. You shouldn't just shoot them off because that is not what they are for and it could be a fire or burn hazard. Also you might be triggering an emergency response as if the flare were deployed in an emergency.
6. So how do you dispose of them?
I think I read somewhere that you could waterlog them and then toss them in the garbage. However they are sealed so you can't really be assured you have them waterlogged.
They are made of plastic so if there was some way that you could cut the plastic then you could waterlog them. But is there a danger of that thing going off in your hand if you are cutting it with a knife? I just don't like that idea. What about grinding the plastic away or drilling? The risk is just too great.
So here is what I am thinking. I am thinking that you can buy threaded small sections of plumbing pipe at the hardware store. You can also buy screw on end caps.
The idea here would be to make something about the size of that flare. But the long section of that pipe should have a ground off section to the metal. So you would have to get the file out. A section so big that you could quickly slit the flare via its opening and then put it in large metal bucket and put the lid on the bucket.
The idea is that the metal will protect your hand. And that you can immediately turn that opening away from your face after you slit it or slit it with that opening facing away from you.
And I really don't like the idea of something metal, like the idea of the razor coming into contact with whatever is in there.
In theory you would only need to remove a tiny piece of the plastic. Perhaps a 1/16 or 1/8" square area to allow the water to get in.
What about drilling a hole in that pipe and then just drilling into the flare past the plastic? "They" might say you had a pipe____.
I am talking about hypothetically make such tool and after making all modifications to such tool then placing item to get ready to be disposed of in such tool. You know what a problem is? Attempting to figure out how dumb someone could be. You would have to be on a higher "wavelength" to understand something? Can't figure out premise to conclusion because you were never truly required to think?
I would wear a face shield, I have a welding jacket and some oven gloves if I were to do this.
So I think this is what I might settle on.
Is there a danger of that thing being more dangerous that way? As if you had created a fragmentary grenade????
Well flares are dangerous and that is why no one seems to be able to dispose of them for you.
I think if you have a large enough slit there on the side of the pipe you are not going to have the metal potentially exploding outwards like a fragmentary grenade. Potentially you might have that with the drill hole idea. But a grind away portion would allow your hand to be relatively free from explosion in theory. I would say you want that hole perhaps 1" long and half and inch wide.
I don't like the idea of something spinning being used to remove the plastic as it could ignite. I am thinking a brand new razor blade in a quality holder.
And I also don't like this idea because you can't be assured that some bur in the end fitting isn't going to come into jarring contact with the primer bulb while you are cutting at the plastic.
And once you get it in the water I would believe it to go bad quick. Whereby you could wait however long before being assured and doing the next one. Usually they are sold in four in a pack.
And this is just me thinking aloud. I am not suggesting you try this. If I were you I would search for a safer way than this. And don't take my thinking out loud here as being a suggestion. If you are the kind of guy that drinks alcohol or uses some sort of drugs don't even think of these ideas. You are responsible for your own safety not me.
This is all hypothetical and not meant as a suggestion even if the wording seems to read that way in some places in it.
But I mean you don't want them sitting around the house where the dog could chew on it. Right?
I would contact your fire department and see what they say. I would contact your local coast guard and see if they take them. I would contact your village hall and see if they know what to do. I would contact your police department and see if they will take them. I would contact a hazmat facility and see if they know what to do with them. Whatever.
You might be able send them back to the mfg too?
You know? Anyone who sells these ought to be able to take them back like this?
Off topic. Someone sells you 5 quarts of oil they ought to take your dirty 5 quartz back for free. Without causing an increase in price of product. And here we are getting into, what is the real cost of selling a product and how is that being circumvented to make profit? Sell cigarettes and what percent of people are going to get cancer from them? While you take the money in your pocket, dance like a hillbilly that thinks it can fly and run to the bank? Enough of that.
Don't try this!!!
© 2022 Thomas Paul Murphy
Ps.
I have seen some pretty dumb things in my life. An ASE certified mechanic syphoning gas from a cars gas tank and lighting his cigarette lighter a foot away to attempt to demonstrate that it really isn't dangerous? I just don't get a lot of "You people."
Oh sh1t. I just read this. They work underwater! I didn't know that for sure when I wrote this.
So Disregard all the above.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=do+marine+flares+go+out+when+they+hit+the+water&atb=v324-1&ia=web
If you had an accurate and reliable scale in the weight range required you could weight them before and after you attempted to waterlog them?
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