Flare disposal in the back Garden

Not sure why the need to gaffer them to a stick - I'd only consider that if for some reason I was letting off flares which were seriously out of date. When I've disposed of the typical expired ones in the past, I simply wore the normal kind of leather rigger's glove that I keep in the grab-bag for doing it for real.

Either way, it's good practice and familiarisation and demystifies the things a bit if you've never used one before. One time I happened to have my normal crewing friends visiting for dinner while the expired hand-flares were waiting in a box by the back door, so I let them try it too.

I have a dustbin full of water at the back of my house for flushing the outboard; it's a good safe place to drop the used flares into (even before they're finished if you like; they keep burning).

I would very much like to practice with a rocket flare as well some time, but it's quite a bit harder to find somewhere to do that safely and considerately. Smoke floats I've done a couple of times at paintball sites, sold there for assault smokescreen purposes.

Pete
 
I found some flares my father bought in the 1980's - lingering in a box at the back of the old shed.
They still worked 35 years later (2 out of 3 did- one pull cord crumbled away)

I would expect most pyrotechnics to work perfectly well up to 10 years old- provided they are sealed and dry.
 
I've let off numerous hand flares and smokes up to 26 years old (wearing leather gloves, motorcycle jacket and either goggles or motorcycle helmet with visor) - it became a bit of Bonfire Night tradition.

All but one fired OK, old reds tended to be more pink than red. One appeared to die out prematurely, so very nervously I threw it on the bonfire (in a big, private open space, no people about) and legged it - it just flared for a few moments more.

I don't let off parachute flares, partly as they're more powerful/dangerous when set off, but mainly there's a risk they'll cause damage coming down still burning.
 
prv said:
I have a dustbin full of water at the back of my house for flushing the outboard; it's a good safe place to drop the used flares into (even before they're finished if you like; they keep burning).

I would very much like to practice with a rocket flare as well some time, but it's quite a bit harder to find somewhere to do that safely and considerately. Smoke floats I've done a couple of times at paintball sites, sold there for assault smokescreen purposes.
Click to expand...

I've still got two smokers I intend to let off at night somewhere quiet because I don't want to cover my surrounding area in orange smoke.
Does your 'bin full of water' trick capture the orange smoke and prevent it escaping? If so I can let those off today.
 
Last edited:
Looking at the pictures, the handles seem to have burn marks at the flare end which might prompt the user to drop them if they get hot. Not so clever if they drop them in the boat by the crew's feet.
One handle is broken. Was that during use or from pulling the tape off? Did it snap easily & could it easily have broken in use?
I cannot help wondering if the burn marks are normal, or if that is a product of the age of the flares.
It is one thing to suggest that they can be let off OK wearing welder's gloves & goggles, but I do not carry a welding kit on my boat that often.
Perhaps the OP can comment re the state of the handle & age of the flares please. I am also interested to know if it was a clean burn or if there was a lot of " splatter" in the burn which might drip onto the boat, sails, dinghy, liferaft etc
 
Last edited:
Daydream believer said:
Looking at the pictures, the handles seem to have burn marks at the flare end which might prompt the user to drop them if they get hot. Not so clever if they drop them in the boat by the crew's feet.
One handle is broken. Was that during use or from pulling the tape off? Did it snap easily & could it easily have broken in use?
I cannot help wondering if the burn marks are normal, or if that is a product of the age of the flares.
Click to expand...

Badly melted plastic was entirely due to my 'test rig'. When I did the first one the wood and gaffer tape of the test rig completely caught fire. On the second one I was more careful but some gaffer tape round the handle still caught fire so I suspect that was enough to melt the plastic. However, that handle must get *very* hot in normal use, and the tubes were too hot to touch several minute later so from what I saw I'm not sure many people could barehanded hold a handheld flare for the full 60 seconds. I wouldn't be surprised to find *some* minor melting of the plastic handle is normal because it's attached to the body of the flare which is hot enough to burn its own paint off. Maybe someone who'd used one can confirm .

Daydream believer said:
It is one thing to suggest that they can be let off OK wearing welder's gloves & goggles, but I do not carry a welding kit on my boat that often.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the leather over-covers to protect oilies & life jacket.

Perhaps the OP can comment re the state of the handle & age of the flares please.
Click to expand...

As far as I could see they were in perfect condition, stored in a waterproof tube and within a month of their use by date. I'm pretty sure they functioned normally.

I am also interested to know if it was a clean burn or if there was a lot of " splatter" in the burn which might drip onto the boat, sails, dinghy, liferaft etc
Click to expand...

There was a vast amount of fiery 'splatter' going about 3 feet depending on gusts. Also it wasn't blown cleanly downwind. I can't even imagine holding that 2 feet away from my face, I can't see how you'd avoid getting yourself and your gelcoat badly napalmed in a gusty wind on a moving boat. On the other hand the grass where most of the splatter was landing wasn't dead, so maybe it's not *that* hot by that point. I'm pretty sure it would mark gel coat and obviously go straight through sails, dinghy, liferaft, maybe someone who has let a flare of on a grp boat can tell us what collateral damage was done, if any.
 
Two thoughts in Lagos, Portugal the coastguard organised an out of date flare firing morning - a parachute flare exploded in someones hand, we were all wearing gloves. I was doing a demo jump into a county fare and had the large canister of Pains Wessex orange smoke strapped to my ankle with a fireproof sock on. It was in date and I fired it as I left the plane and it didn't work.
 
Daydream believer said:
Looking at the pictures, the handles seem to have burn marks at the flare end which might prompt the user to drop them if they get hot. Not so clever if they drop them in the boat by the crew's feet.
Click to expand...

I've fired off three of these things in anger. There was a lot of ejected material, but I was holding them over the side of the boat and facing away from me so it all went in the water. Firing one off in a boat (ie with boat underneath) would not be a good idea, I think.
 
I have fired off a few hand held flares and can confirm that the handle does not get too hot, or melt. Think about it, would they meet any sort of standard if the handle got so hot that you couldn't hold it? When I have let them off, I have never worn gloves and held them right untill they burnt out. The metal tube gets red hot.
 
Back when Greenock MRCC was about to close we had a demonstration where a lot of boats let off a lot of flares - there's a BBC video somewhere
IMG_8547_2012-August-31-8.15.42+-+Save+Clyde+Coastguard+Flares.jpg


From taking part I learned ..... para flares are easy and quick to let off; hand flares burn for a loooong time and have to be held over the water 'cos of their ash; mini-flares are best let off above head height to avoid the ear-ringing from the bang. For me, hand held flares are a last resort and, yes, I have welding gloves in the canister.
 
Mark-1 said:
I've still got two smokers I intend to let off at night somewhere quiet because I don't want to cover my surrounding area in orange smoke.
Does your 'bin full of water' trick capture the orange smoke and prevent it escaping? If so I can let those off today.
Click to expand...

Night may hide the smoke, but I believe the orange colour tends to stick to surrounding surfaces so I certainly wouldn't be letting one off on my patio.

As I said, I haven't let one off for disposal, and it's about ten years since I was given one at a paintball site to throw like a grenade and screen our attack on the enemy base :). It was a standard marine floating smoke, I don't know if it was in-date or expired.

I could believe that the water might absorb the smoke, but of course the flare is designed to float so you'd have to weight it with something. Probably best to let it get going before dropping it in the water, so that the can doesn't fill up through the hole before it starts generating pressure.

Pete
 
Daydream believer said:
Looking at the pictures, the handles seem to have burn marks at the flare end which might prompt the user to drop them if they get hot. Not so clever if they drop them in the boat by the crew's feet.
One handle is broken. Was that during use or from pulling the tape off? Did it snap easily & could it easily have broken in use?
I cannot help wondering if the burn marks are normal, or if that is a product of the age of the flares. I am also interested to know if it was a clean burn or if there was a lot of " splatter" in the burn which might drip onto the boat, sails, dinghy, liferaft etc
Click to expand...

Wondering about this kind of thing is the classic situation of someone who's never tried it. As I said in post #3, demystifying the process so that you know exactly what to expect is a significant benefit of letting off recently-expired flares in an appropriate location.

The handles should not get hot (the OP has already explained why his looked burned). The Pains Wessex Mk8 are particularly good in this regard because of the telescopic design, so you have a substantial length of plastic tube between the handle and the burning part. They're also very solid, no way you'd break one. The Ikaros type with a fixed handle stuck on the end are not quite as good, but still pretty tough plastic.

Given the choice I would aim to hold a lit flare over the water just in case, especially from a raft, but there isn't a significant amount of solid matter being thrown around.

It's really not that dramatic after you've tried it a couple of times.

Daydream believer said:
It is one thing to suggest that they can be let off OK wearing welder's gloves & goggles, but I do not carry a welding kit on my boat that often.
Click to expand...

They're designed to be let off in a bare hand, so that should be ok, but I'd prefer to wear gloves. You don't need to carry a welding kit, just a pair of leather gloves. Amazon have a set for all of £3.18 at the moment. They'll probably fit in the bottle if you carry your flares that way; I have my flares in pockets in the grab bag and the gloves near the top of the main compartment. As well as flares they're also earmarked for helicopter hi-lines if we ever do such a thing; we had to medivac the assistant cook once in Stavros and the bosun's gloves had some pretty deep grooves in them afterwards.

Pete
 
An old cruising friend decided to get rid of some out of date flares on a bonfire night, sad night arrived but it was very very windy. Not deterred he got through the hand held then started on the first of the parachute flares carefully pointing it into the wind at an angle he fired it off only for it to describe a perfect arc and land on a neighbours shed a few doors away which it promptly set alight and spread to the fence which went up like a tinder box. He was mortified, his wife and myself couldn't stop laughing and even today the word flare would set us off.
Unfortunately he was the only sailor in the locality and blame was swiftly attributed and his wallet became considerably lighter.
 
petehb said:
An old cruising friend decided to get rid of some out of date flares on a bonfire night, sad night arrived but it was very very windy. Not deterred he got through the hand held then started on the first of the parachute flares carefully pointing it into the wind at an angle he fired it off only for it to describe a perfect arc and land on a neighbours shed a few doors away which it promptly set alight and spread to the fence which went up like a tinder box. He was mortified, his wife and myself couldn't stop laughing and even today the word flare would set us off.
Unfortunately he was the only sailor in the locality and blame was swiftly attributed and his wallet became considerably lighter.
Click to expand...

Not many people realise that rocket flares are designed to stay alight until they hit the sea. That's one of ten reasons you should never set them off inland. Luckily for your 'friend' it was only a shed. :p
 
Thanks to all for inspiring me to set off the flare pack that's been languishing under a tree in my garden, inside six layers of plastic bag for six months. I phoned the RNLI, the fire brigade, the police, and the council, but nobody's will take them. Except the council who advised I put them in the dust bin :rolleyes:
 
I just disposed of the smokers in a remote spot. Different experience to the reds. They go off with a disconcerting bang but the heat is a different order of magnitude - too hot to touch for some minutes afterwards but doesn't burn it's own paint off. Easy to hold the plastic handle. Not sure how easy the 'orange' would be to get off a boat.

As people can probably guess this whole experience has heightened my long standing reluctance to have anything to do with flares - especially not on a plastic boat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top