How Not to Blow Yourself Up at the Gas Station

re: How Not to Blow Yourself Up at the Gas Station

MichaelsPSP — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 03:34:37 GMT

the myth busters episode was in a GAS STATION. They tried every way possible to ingnite the "fumes" with static electricity and failed. One my emlpoyees saw this episode too.

re: How Not to Blow Yourself Up at the Gas Station

MichaelsPSP — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 22:03:35 GMT

seems to me the myth busters did a great job of showing static electricty and cell phones cannot cause gas stations to blow up.....

re: How Not to Blow Yourself Up at the Gas Station

mmc88121 — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 22:49:23 GMT

Although I agree static electricity is the most probable cause of gas station fires the reason they are more common now then when we grew up is because more people are pumping their own gas. And many people do not think about how the car engine works and what it takes to ignite the fuel. It still makes sense to leave your cell phone in the car while pumping gas as it can be a distraction while you are pumping gas.

mmc88121

re: How Not to Blow Yourself Up at the Gas Station

Russ Bianchi — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 16:46:00 GMT

I agree static electricity is in part, or whole, the probable causal connection here, but this has not stopped companies such as Shell Oil from issuing company wide warnings to station operators to insist cell phones are turned off while folks are refueling.

Whether 'urban legend', or paranoid insurance liability adjusters, there still would seem to be a causal connection back to cell phones in all of this, when one reads the fire department reports on the subject, and the LACK of such fires or explosions, or significantly less such incidents, prior to the cell phone era.

I have personally been asked to turn my cell phone off in a Chevron refueling stations in California, and have seen and heard personally of at least a half dozen such cases, while in refueling stations in the last 5 years in California.

Whatever the root causes, playing Russian Roulette in a refueling station, considering the incredibly explosive nature of gasoline, is no joking matter.