DUMB AND LUCKY RANT!

guido

Well-known Member
Hello,

A pick up truck just stopped in front of my house.
The driver got out, smoking a cigarette, he reached behind the cab bed,and pulled out a gas can, opened the gas filler cap, put gas in it. YEAH! he was still smoking. Put the gas can back in the truck bed, got in and drove away flicking ashes out of the window! I hope his luck olds out, BUT...... I have my doubts, Thanks for letting me vent,

Guido.
 
So you were offended by someone"s pursuit of the Darwin Award in the "self-immolation" category?
 
(quoted from post at 15:53:42 07/21/13) Hello Bob,

No not really, Just another day in bedrock,

Guido.

A few years back, the guy at the local gas station would always smoke while pumping gas, which freaked my wife out and she would snarl at him to not much avail.

One day, he was (for once) NOT smoking and grabbed the nozzle and flipped on the pump. The automatic nozzle was latched and hadn't tripped closed and, when the pump came on 'cuz of the way he was holding the nozzle, he got a face full of gasoline, up the nose, and in the mouth!

I happened to stop by right after it happened, and he was sitting in a chair feeling sick. I offered to drive him to the doc, but he didn't want to go, and, it apparently didn't kill him!

Nor did he quit smoking while pumping gas.
IMAGINE what would have happened had he been smoking when he got the gas in the face!
 
I walked in a repair shop about 50 years ago and the mechanic was draining gas from a tank under a car, yes he was smoking. I told him that was probably not smart and he said a cigarette wouldn't light gasoline and put it out in the stream of gas. Yes he is nearly 90 now and still scares me. DON"T TRY THIS AT HOME!!
 
There was an old guy in our neighborhood when I was a kid who was a roughneck, always getting into tavern brawls, was a section hand on the railroad, loud and obnoxious, just the kind of guy you watched to see what he was gonna do next. He was gassing an old F-?? Farmall from an overhead tank, and had a stub of a Pall-Mall dangling from his lips when I told him he shouldn't be smoking around that gasoline. He gingerly pinched the butt out of his mouth and dropped it right in the tractor tank, before I could even think to run. I heard it sizzle. I must have had a terrified look on my face, 'cause he throwed his head back and laughed 'til he had tears in his eyes. I didn't think it was a bit funny. I could write a book about old Orville and his escapades.
 
Years ago I saw a person smoking while drawing gas out of a tractor gas tank to get down to weight for a pulling class. The gas was being drawn into a open five gallon pail. Someone said you should not have a lit cigarette around gas when he promptly dropped the cigarette into the open pail of gas. It was like dropping it into water. He said it takes an open flame. I am not about to try it but it worked for him that time.
 
I saw a woman one time smoking while pumping gas. And her car did not blow up and neither did she.
Has anyone heard of gas stations catching fire cause of such stupidness?
 
Cigarette does not burn hot enough to ignite gas. Back when I smoked I threw many on them in a pan of gas and all that happens is they go out. Now if he had tried to light it that would be a different story. Had a friend years ago try many many things with cigs to see what would and would not light with one he was smoking and gas was one and leaves another. Gas was never unless he lit the smoke leaves some times but not real often
 
As a volunteer firefighter years ago we had a gasoline tanker roll over and spilled 5000 gallons of gasoline. It ran down along side the road in the ditch. When the big wrecker got there to flip the truck back up ,the first thing he did was pull out a pack of smokes and a lighter. About 4 of us just about tackled him. I think a lot of times it is just habit for people to light up a smoke.
Martin
 
My high school buddy worked at a body shop and I said he should not smoke while cleaning paint gun. He promptly dropped his lit cig in a open 5 gal pail of lacquer thinner it fizzled out.
 
I agree. Gas doesn't burn, but the fumes or vapors it gives off as it evaporates into fumes sure do. Drivers of fuel trucks don't smoke in or around them or while filling tanks at gas stations, and I often go into refineries that clearly don't allow smoking in or around them. I can't say that I blame them.

Mark
 
Every now and then, a person catches their vehicle on fire while fueling up. However, it's not from the cigarettes, it's from them opening the door after they start to pump gas. It's the spark from static electricity that starts the fires, not from the cigarettes. I used to have a car that would give static electricity during the winter time if I wore a certain coat. It' was enough of a spark that it could easily start gasoline vapors, should the vapors be strong enough.
 
Growing up I watched out neighbor put out a cigarette in a bucket full of gasoline many, many times. While it's true that liquid gasoline will not burn, the vapors will ignite at an extreemly low temp, given a favorible fuel/air ratio. Below is a link to a site that gives the specs needed to ignite gasoline.
Poke here
 
(quoted from post at 17:50:27 07/21/13) Gas won t burn, but the vapor sure will.

When I was working road construction in the summer years ago, in the morning before the workday started, we'd clean our shovels full of dried, cold asphalt from the previous day by pouring a little gas on them and lighting them. That'd soften the asphalt and get the shovels hot. We'd finish cleaning them by dunking them into a bucket of diesel that was kept to clean the rakes and shovels during the day while paving.

One day we heard a "Whomp!", turned around and saw a new guy had put some gas in a bucket and tried the same thing. He was sitting on his butt with the bucket on its side flaming gas running down the street. Singed his arm hair, eyebrows and a goodly amount of hair on his head. Must of been a real shock when he tried to put that flaming shovel into the bucket. Never made it past the vapors. :shock:
 
That is more common today with all the plastic that's in/on cars. It used to be that getting out of a vehicle you had to grab metal, which dissipated the static. Look at a new car, you can get out and shut the door by the outside handle, and touch nothing but plastic, keeping yourself charged up and ready to start a fire when you grab the nozzle.
 

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