Does some hambr know about static electricity , can it cause an explosion if your filler tube is in the trunk when inserting nozel to fuel up?
It would seem so... http://www.aces.edu/dept/extcomm/newspaper/nov11b03.html http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/static.asp Bill
Ah , wouldn't it do the same when it's on the outside , Like touching the nozzle and grounding it to the filler neck !
This static thing has nothing to do with the filler in the trunk. You need a non vented cap and an external vent from the tank to somewhere under the car to stop fumes from getting in the trunk. I think Mythbusters did something with this already, maybe the gas cans in a bedliner pickup?
I suspect that carpeting, etc in the trunk area might be a contributor. It would seem opening trunk, etc would ground any charge, but stranger things have happened. Static is a strange critter -- it stays on the outside of a body, then flows to ground. (retired physical science teacher -- seen some wild stuff involving static electricity)
No bull, that's why I have seen stickers on fuel pumps instructing you to place one hand solidly on the pump before grabbing the valve and nozzle. Possibly your *** slid out of the seat like dragging your feet on carpet to generate static electricity. Possibly why you have instructions to put both hands on the traveling handrails on an escalator too. Numbnuts occur on a regular basis.
I had a fellow at the service station mention that if you drag a piece of chain or cable of your frame to the ground,this would eliminate any chance of a big boom.true or false?
I used to dispatch fuel trucks, and static was a huge deal, we had solid br*** posts all over the trailers that the driver would clamp a parrot style batery clamp, attached to stainless steel cable attached to a stainless steel bucket.NO PLASTIC ! one of the guys told me something like if you put your arm slowly into a plastic bucket without actually touching the sides or bottom, and draw it back out the same way the static charge is imense. We also has grounding cables that ran inside the delivery hoses and were attached to the connectors at the end, if a cable became detached, it was put OOS - out of service until repaired. static is dangerous and all, but so were the kids on the far side of a B-train tanker loaded with 49,000 liters of gasoline at an Esso station that one of my guys was just setting up for delivery....the kids were starting fires right next to the gas station and tanker in the dry heat, lit matches into dry dry gr*** piles......my driver shut the station down, extinguished the flames, called 911 and changed his underwear. stupidity reigns supreme. BTW, I just saw someone filling jerry cans in the back of their truck without placing them on the ground last week.
you'll be fine as long as you touch something grounded before you fill the tank, and keep your hand on the pump handle. most of the static explosions were caused by women, especially wearing hose, who clicked the little holder on the nozzle and walked away, they come back, touch the nozzle surrounded by fumes and BOOM!!! the little holder that allows you to fill the tank,without being there, needs to be removed from pumps for this reason, how much would it cost to get rid of it? if that was removed, you would have to stand there and keep your hand on the nozzle, no more static problem. I've never been a fan of unsupervised filling, I could see it in use on diesel pumps for big rigs, thats a lot of fuel, but how long does it take to fill the average car tank? less then five minutes? if someone can't stand there for five minutes..........also those plastic gas cans need to go. ought to be illegal. a good metal safety can with an auto shutoff, really doesn't cost that much. the idea of the auto shutoff, if when your done,it's closed. also if you get a gas can fire, let go of the handle, air is cut off, fire goes out. no one ever thinks, if you had an average five gallon plastic gas can, gas catches fire, the can melts and you have an inferno. a metal can doesn't melt in 2 seconds.
The tank AND the filler neck should be grounded to the frame. Remember, sometimes the filler neck itself is connected to the tank with a short length of hose. When you go to fill the tank, touch the car with your hand FIRST. Then keep the nozzle in contact with the metal on the filler neck when filling. This procedure should bleed off any static.
Believe it or not (credit Ripleys), I had an OT VW GTI that shocked the **** out of me every time drove it, got out of it, and then back in, like at a gas pump. Dry weather made it worse. It got to the point where I anticipated the shock and tried to let it happen in a way that hurt less, like hitting my palm instead of my fingertip against the car. My wife had a similar VW Jetta (one model year apart) that didn't do it. When I got new tires on the GTI the problem went away. Seems like some tires must have different compounds that generate more static.
I believe this to be true..I have 3 GM pick up trucks 02, 09, 10..the ones with Michelins dont do this..the one I have with Wrangler GoodYears nails me all the time..or maybe its the interior choice of fabric on the seats? and a combination of the tires?
It only happens at BP stations. Avoid BP stations. Of course if you're in the Gulf South, you're already doing this.
Yup, this is true here........................Some tire compounds are formulated with more "carbon black", which alters the "conductivity" , of the rubber..........................Which sounds contradictory in itself.............................( conductive rubber)
Gas stations here used to have a static wire in the ground sticking up about a foot in the drive way. all the cars would p*** over it. Toll booths, too. Buses and trucks used to HAVE to have a rubber with metal in it strap from the frame that dragged on the ground, The state guys would check them at inspection time. And this was back when the tire cords were fabric, I think the fabric tires did generate a lot of static electricity. Modern tires with steel belts in the thread area can have fabric in the sidewall. Not all ateel radials are all ateel.
I hate getting shocked and that happens to me all the time. I always hit my cars with the back of my hand to avoid getting shocked on the fingers. Cloth interiors seem to be worse that leather or vinyl.
exactly, and since almost all the fires involve the auto nozzle, all they need to do is remove that little tab. the main issue is no one takes filling up serious enough, as demonstrated by that woman, you should be required to keep your hand on the nozzle at all times, notice fuel kept pouring out when it was on fire because it was locked on? she's also lucky it clicked off when she yanked it out of the tank. they didn't realize this before? a six year old with their hair sticking straight up could tell you those jackets cause static. i know at these fireworks factories the cotton clothing rule has always been in force.
This is a little OT but we where installing some 8,000 gallon fuel tanks for race fuel in AZ and a tech instructed us to fill from the bottom of the tank rather than the top. He said the flow of fuel dropping through the air in an empty tank could actually cause a static spark friction from the fuel making the 10' drop at high pressure. Kind of interesting. -Don
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