Propane Safety

[Chris_Bryant]

Or- what not to do- A propane tank being hauled in an SUV exploded Sunday afternoon when a passenger lit a cigarette whi...

[mowermech]

Cloud Dancer wrote:
So, is there a safe method of fetching a 5-gallon propane container in my SUV?

Sort of, yes. Open all the windows, and (here's the biggy) DO NOT SMOKE OR LIGHT A CIGARETTE OR CIGAR!!! If it is too hot or cold to have the windows open, do it anyway. If you just absolutely HAVE to have a smoke (been there, did that), pull over and do it outside the car.

A similar occurrence happened in Great Falls, MT many years ago. A guy had a 20 lb. cylinder filled, loaded it in the back of his Jeep Wagoneer and headed for home. On the way, he decided to light up a cigar.
BAD mistake, with similar results!

[Fbx-Ak]

A propane tank can vent if it is filled in a cool place then moved to a warmer place. A renter burned down a cabin of mine that way once.

[Veebyes]

I have some product that should buff that right out all ready for the use car lot.

[CavemanCharlie]

OK, Now I know, there's a lot of power in one of those little tanks.

I still carry them inside my camper though. I did buy some metal caps to screw on them and threw the plastic ones away.

Personally, I always though that those camper stoves where you can accidentally turn on the burner by bumping it look unsafe. All the newer house gas stoves are auto lighting.

And, on my oven you could leave the pilot light on with no flame and you would never know. But, it is such a small flame it would take a long time to fill the camper with enough gas to cause a problem.

[mich800]

No hanging chads left in that vehicle.

[SCVJeff]

I'd be willing to bet that it didn't take much to do this. That heat was there and gone in 250ms, hence the survivors. You could likely get the same results on the average house with a small LP bottle since the gas will pool anyway. I've seen all windows and doors blown out twice, and one even blew the roof loose and dropped it down but rotated. Both from excessive Bug Bombs

[Grit_dog]

Theres absolutely enough gas in a disposable propane bottle to blow up a car. Buncha years ago, a buddy, living in his camper, wintertime in the mountains, lights his little propane radiant heater after coming home from the bar. He passes out. Heater goes out. He wakes up cold...click, click boom!

Showed up the next morning and he's outside with a camp fire tinkering with his snowmachine and his camper is missing a back door and a window and he has no eyebrows!

But yeah.......Flo rida!

[srt20]

So a guy wanted on warrants, was driving a rental (that you arent supposed to smoke in), hauling a grill with propane attached to it yet, and his passenger (wife) lights a smoke......


Good stuff!

[srt20]

RedRollingRoadblock wrote:
Why is there so much stupid in Flordia?

LOL if you are going to make fun of people for being stupid, you have to at least spell correctly...haha

[slickest1]

At least they weren't texting! Were they?

[RedRollingRoadb]

Why is there so much stupid in Flordia?

[Old-Biscuit]

CavemanCharlie wrote:

NRALIFR wrote:

otrfun wrote:
"ORLANDO, Fla. - A propane tank being hauled in an SUV exploded Sunday afternoon when a passenger lit a cigarette while the vehicle was in front of the entrance to the Central Florida Fairgrounds, Orlando police said."

Seriously doubt the propane tank itself exploded. If it had, gotta wonder why these folks weren't killed instantly with deadly shrapnel.
IMO the leaking propane itself caused all the damage and injuries---leaving the propane tank intact.

My thoughts exactly. I also think this was most likely a one pound disposable cylinder, not a refillable 5 pounder. It was connected to the grill, and the knob was inadvertently opened when they loaded it in the SUV. The tank DID NOT explode. The propane inside the vehicle did.

:):)

Could a one pound cylinder get enough propane into a SUV that size to cause that big of a explosion ? After all vehicles are not air tight. It might well be able to, I don't know that is why I'm asking.

1 gallon (US) is equal to 0.13368 ft3

The ratio of expansion for propane from a liquid to gas is approximately 277:1, so 0.13368 ft3 liquid converts to 37.03 ft3 of gas

[CavemanCharlie]

NRALIFR wrote:

otrfun wrote:
"ORLANDO, Fla. - A propane tank being hauled in an SUV exploded Sunday afternoon when a passenger lit a cigarette while the vehicle was in front of the entrance to the Central Florida Fairgrounds, Orlando police said."

Seriously doubt the propane tank itself exploded. If it had, gotta wonder why these folks weren't killed instantly with deadly shrapnel.
IMO the leaking propane itself caused all the damage and injuries---leaving the propane tank intact.

My thoughts exactly. I also think this was most likely a one pound disposable cylinder, not a refillable 5 pounder. It was connected to the grill, and the knob was inadvertently opened when they loaded it in the SUV. The tank DID NOT explode. The propane inside the vehicle did.

:):)

Could a one pound cylinder get enough propane into a SUV that size to cause that big of a explosion ? After all vehicles are not air tight. It might well be able to, I don't know that is why I'm asking.

[wa8yxm]

bobsallyh wrote:
As I post this, there is no known cure for stupid at this time!

There is indeed a cure for Stupid.. It goes like this
Brothers and sisters we are gatherd to day in honor of our Dearly Departed (Inswert Stupid's name here) who has....

Or you can just go to www.darwinawards.com and read up on 'em.

My favorite Darwin story is mistitled. "Living on Zionist time"

YOu see.. They did not live.