Question: What is the bigest explosion you have ever done

Robert Bowles answered on 13 Nov 2014:

We try not to make too many explosions MCMoyes, at least not accidently. They create an awful lot of paperwork! I did almost start a fire once though. I was running a fermenter which is an enclosed vessel you can grown micro organisms in. It is temperature controlled and it has a heating element in it sterlise it at 100 oC and then to keep it at a constant temperature. It has a stirrer in it too to keep the growth medium circulating. I set it to sterilise but forgot to set the stirrer going. Because the heat sensor was a long way from the heating element and the liquid wasn’t being stirred so it didn’ t register the right temperature and it keep getting hotter and hotter and the vessel started to smoke. Forunately someone saw the smoke and turned it off before it caught fire but it did damge the equipment which cost £1000 to replace and delayed our project by 6 weeks. Don’t try that at home folks!