Demonstrating the Heat Resistant Power of the HP Torch Blanket
The HP Torch Blanket was designed to protect components from the heat and sparks generated by welding, cutting, or grinding on metal. It’s especially useful when this kind of work is being done in close quarters near components or surfaces you don’t want to be damaged by welding splatter or sparks. Just a few sparks or seconds of extreme heat can cause serious and expensive damage to components or surface finishes. HP Torch Blanket keeps that from happening. But it has a lot of other uses that don’t involve welding spark protection.
Because HP Torch Blanket is extremely flame/spark resistant while being able to withstand 1800-degrees F continuous direct-contact heat, it is also ideal to use when you have to work around hot components that could easily burn your skin, clothing or damage tools and accessories. Some examples of situations are working around hot exhaust pipes or manifolds, hot engines, hot surfaces (like metal surfaces heated by the sun), and so on. The HP torch welding blankets can easily be carried with you, so it’s great to have in your off-road rig or race-day kit in case you’ve got to do emergency repairs without enough time to let things cool off.
Can a Welding Blanket Burn?
It’s important to note that while the HP Torch Blanket is a fire-resistant blanket for welding, it is only intended to provide partial protection during light-duty welding and grinding jobs. Like other torch welding blankets, exposure to or direct contact with extreme temperatures may result in smoking or fire.
Demonstration
In order to illustrate how useful the HP Torch Blanket can be and what it can withstand, we got out the FLIR camera and MAP gas torch to perform a little demonstration:
ABOVE: HP Torch Blanket is made from Heatshield Products Stealth Shield insulation and thermal barrier material. It feels a lot like felt cloth but is made of special fibers that can withstand up to 1800 degrees F of constant, direct-contact heat, making it highly flame resistant and capable of providing welding spark protection. It’s available with mounting grommets or built-in magnets and a version with a built-in keyhole-style opening to allow for placement over an object needing welding/grinding. Still, the immediate surrounding area needs to be protected.
ABOVE: We used a MAP gas torch to show how HP Torch Blanket is flame resistant. You can see the fibers turning red from the torch, but no signs of flame or even being close to ignition.
ABOVE: After the torch was used on the material for close to 30 seconds, there was only a slight whisp of smoke and discoloration of the material hit by the flame. But it was instantly cool enough to touch and still felt soft and remained flexible.
ABOVE: Using the FLIR camera, you can see the visual effect of the MAP gas torch flame hitting the torch welding blanket, plus how hot it got.
ABOVE: just seconds after we removed the torch, you could put your bare skin on the back side of the torch welding blanket and not get burned! We used the FLIR camera so you could see how much heat was still there.
ABOVE: One of the great bonus uses for the HP Torch Blanket is to cover dangerously hot surfaces or components you’re working near. For example, we put Torch Blanket over a hot iron exhaust manifold. It’s also great with racecar applications where you must work near scorching hot exhaust headers.
ABOVE: Using the FLIR camera, you can see how hot everything is around HP Torch Blanket, but not what’s underneath because the blanket (the big black-purplish blob) is totally shielding the heat.
ABOVE: To further demonstrate, we put a bare hand on HP Torch Blanket and held it there indefinitely with no issues or burning. As helpful as this product is for car welding, it’s equally great to keep in your race kit or off-road rig. That way, if you ever have to do repairs around something really hot, you can ensure you don’t end up with scorched skin or worse!
