Compare Burrow Blasters- Rodenator, Warrenater, Varmitgetter and othersHow they Work

Rodenators, Warrenaters, BurrowBlasters, Tunnel Busters, Varmitgetters, WarrenBlasters, BurrowBlast? What are they?

How do they work and what should you be looking for in a Burrow Blaster ?

To know what is required in a Burrow Blaster is easily determined by following the flow of the gases.

The system starts with 2 gas tanks (one with Oxygen and the other Propane) These 2 gases need to be mixed in a certain way and transported to the tunnel being treated.

Once the gases have been passed into the target tunnel, there has to be a means to create a spark to ignite the gases.

The gas explodes underground and the explosion should be of sufficient force to collapse or destroy the tunnel system being treated.

So there are 2 gas tanks, 2 regulators, hoses connecting the regulators on the tanks to the gas mixing unit. Then the mixed gases must flow to the tunnel through another hose of sorts and be attached to a rigid wand that is inserted into the tunnel. This wand is designed to take the gases into the tunnel system. Also needed to be attached to the wand must be some form of electrical device that carries a strong voltage to the tunnel where it can deliver a spark to cause the gases to ignite and explode.

The more gas that is applied to the tunnel the bigger the explosion.

The further away the Operator can stand the safer he is from the risk from injury.

It does not follow that smaller the tunnel systems need less gas.

Now you can imagine that a minor blast might not require a very robust applicator, whereas bigger blasts might require something more robust. All of the companies in this business have tried to make devices that can reliably sustain the impact of big explosions.

Rodenator for example started with and still have their main product as a handheld device which is difficult to use. Operators face the dangers of standing above tunnel systems that are exploding all around them. They have over the years released several new products to try to address this problem but because they are tied to their original design of having the wand mix the gases, it has proven difficult for them to develop an entirely safe and easy to use system. It is also interesting to note that early videos showing the Rodenator in use had large blasts occurring which it seems were designed to show the power of the device. In recent months however the new videos show much smaller explosions which are possibly designed to make the device look safer. In actual fact nothing has changed, the blast is purely a result of the amount of gas applied, bigger tunnels need more gas and make bigger explosions and smaller ones may need less.

So what should you be looking for in a Burrow Blaster?

Here are the most important safety elements:

* Your Operators should always HAVE TO retreat far enough away from the blast to avoid risk of injury BEFORE they can trigger ignition.

* The distance between the Operator and the tunnel should always be such that the Operator has no fear for himself of applying enough gas into the tunnel to make a big enough explosion to do the job required.

* The application of the gases and the trigger mechanism should be such that there is never a time when it is possible for the gas lines still to be open when the ignition is triggered.

When you review the various products you should pay particular attention to these matters.