Scary beginning to Memorial Day

[Playingwithfire85]

So my neighbor and I decided to let off the last 10 Excals left over from last year tonight. All the shells went fine except for the last shell lifted but never detonated. The scary part was we had a bonfire going about 150 feet away where everyone was sitting and the failed shell decides its going to land directly in the pit. Thank god everyone noticed and ran away and the shell still didn't go off for about 10 minutes. I have had a couple flowerpots before but never a shell complete a round trip flight. Do you think it could be because of age or simply a bad manufactured shell? They were stored in ziplock bags in my garage to keep out moisture.

[Pyro Nation]

It happens...even in the 1.3 world.....

[PyroJW]

I have seen it multiple times unfortunately. We tested a few old stock 6" shells last year and had one come back down. It is more than likely a defective / failed time fuse. All of are shells now have 2 times fuses.

[smilli]

Probably just a bad chinese timefuse, u were pretty lucky everyone noticed the shell landing in the pit.
Once found out i've been standing about 15 feet away from a smoking 3 inch(failed timefuse) during the whole 15 minutes of show that where left, luckily it was a dud.

[NWPA]

I personally don't ever expect every firework [no matter what the item is] to do what it is supposed to do. Always expect the unexpected.

[matandch]

Fireworks deflagrate. Dynamite detonates.

[PyroJoeNEPA]

The glue used in the class C shells to seal the shell around the time fuse is a thick syrupy paste that dries hard like Epoxy. If it gets over the exposed end of the bare time fuse it will seal the fuse & keep it from lighting. I have seen this several times. Ball sells just have a hole punched in the paper & glue around the time fuse. Canisters have a clay plug with the time fuse going through and are also sealed with the "goop". It is most important that the time fuse is completely sealed or the hot gas from the lift charge will get into the shell before it is expelled from the tube & cause it to deflagrate [thanks John for the clarification in your post above!!]. This is one of the reasons shells "blow up" in the tube.
It is Fireworks!!! Like NWPA said above, "expect the unexpected."

[Playingwithfire85]

Well I showed the shell to a friend of mine that I had bought them from locally and he gave me a new pack under their "guaranteed no duds" policy. I was really shocked at how far it landed from the mortar since it was vertical. Is there any way to prevent this other than wind factors? I cant angle my racks because they are perpendicular to the crowd and most are 10 shots. I know there are a million and one things that can go wrong but I would prefer to take a few of those out of the equation.

[tinymagget]

That reminds me of a line from the movie "Let it ride". "Even when you know, you never know" Be safe mike

[Blam Blam]

I was really shocked at how far it landed from the mortar since it was vertical. Is there any way to prevent this other than wind factors? I cant angle my racks because they are perpendicular to the crowd and most are 10 shots. I know there are a million and one things that can go wrong but I would prefer to take a few of those out of the equation.

It's not the wind at ground level that is the concern, it's the winds 100' and above that you are dealing with. The wind is likely to change several times between setup and show time and it may change during the show as well. Don't forget that wind speed and direction may be different at various altitudes.

This risk is why you should have spotters during your show. A spotter may have noticed fallout coming down around your fire pit and could have made everyone aware. You could also up your safety area to 200' vs. 150'.