do not smoke at the gas station......

[flytire 0]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IflplQ9pPW0

[Hatchet Jack 0]

Good on Extinguisher Man!

 

Years ago during a dark winter evening at the pumps (a balmy -15ºF or so), I saw a young inebriated woman examining her car's gas tank port with a lit Bic lighter. Just a small flame, mind. She evidently was trying to stuff a diesel nozzle into her petrol car and couldn't figure out what was the matter. Nothing blew up but I left there rather quickly in a cold sweat. Best guess is the cold temps kept the ignition point suppressed.

 

 

[fshng2 0]

Good for the Gas Station Worker.

Too bad our laws don't put idiots like this in jail and required them to do hard labor for a month.

[mikechell 0]

Well ... I am going to take the opposing view on this one. I'd have fed that extinguisher to that gas station jockey! Perhaps, if he'd told the guy to put it out first ... but even then, he's in the wrong.

 

A cigarette cannot ignite gasoline in that situation. Even if the fuel/air mixture was perfect, a cigarette "ember" is not hot enough to start combustion. It requires as open flame or equally energetic heat source (like the "lightning bolt" of a spark plug).

 

You can hate cigarette smokers all you want. Doing that ... no.

I hope those guys in the car called the cops, went to the hospital and sued that guy and that gas station for pain and suffering from respiratory ailments.

 

Now ... Jack's story is one to fear. And you're correct, it was only the cold temps that kept the fuel vapors thin enough to not light off.

[vicrider 0]

I'd have to side with Mike on this. No way should he have pulled that stunt and yes, they should have a right to sue for damages. I quit years ago and hate smoking and hate to see idiots smoking a gas pump but what is even MUCH more dangerous is people who plug the nozzle in, then go sit in their car. Many times fires have gone up because the person makes his first metal contact with the gas nozzle and static electricity can fire a spark, which is a very good igniter of raw fumes. As for a cigarette, there's still some dissenting opinions out there.

 

"A cigarette can and will ignite the vapor, if the conditions are right."

 

"It seems the vapour is more flammable than the liquid. The liquid will douse the cigarette. A lit cigarette isn't hot enough to ignite the gasoline. A smoking cigarette on the other hand may get hot enough to be able to ignite the gas however."

 

"When the cigarette was was smashed into his left shoulder and the sparks "rained" down to his belly area" this is all it would talk to ignite the gasoline fumes. When the sparks "rained" down they got hotter due to the extra air they were exposed to. This was all that was needed to ignite the gasoline vapor and start the fire."

[Poopdeck 0]

I am not a proponent of smoking at gas stations and believe an over abundance of caution should be exercised when standing over a few hundred thousand gallons of gasoline. However, I think the attendant was a bigger idiot and I would have fed him that extinguisher. No way no how can a cigarette ignite gas fumes in an open air environment. I'm amazed at how calm the guy was after he and the car just got a good coating of whatever is in an extinguisher. I'm pretty calm by nature but I would have lost my marbles on that guy.

[mikechell 0]

Gasoline, as a liquid, isn't flammable at all. There is no such thing a flammable liquid. ALL liquid fuels must be vaporized before combustion.

 

It is only the vapors that combine with oxygen. The easier a liquid evaporates, the easier it is to burn and the more flammable it is rated. Gasoline requires a temperature of 495 degrees F. While the end of a cigarette is measurably hot enough to ignite gasoline vapors, the surface area of the ember is a very poor combustion environment (heat and "exhaust" fumes flowing out prevent air/fuel form flowing in) and cannot ignite the fuel.

 

If the conditions are just right ...

1. Air/fuel ratio is correct at the heat source

2. Heat source is sufficiently exposed to the air/fuel mixture.

... then it is possible to ignite gasoline vapors with a cigarette.

 

But to achieve those conditions:

1. The fuel vapors need to be much more concentrated than you can expect even a few inches away from the open fill cap.

2. The cigarette ember needs to be exposed, broken up to allow oxygen and fuel vapors to penetrate past the heat/exhaust barrier created by the burning tobacco.

 

Last word, then I am done. The guy was standing by the open car door. It seemed to me that he was finishing his cigarette BEFORE starting to fuel the car. It's not like he was getting ready to smoke one with fuel already pumping in.

[Bimini15 0]

I would install remotely operated shower heads. See the guy smoking, turn them on as soon as he gets out of the car.

[Steeldrifter 0]

The technical details on whether or not a cigarette can light a fire at a gas station is irrelevant IMO. A lit cig at a gas station is just plain stupid and there's signs on every pump saying not to smoke. I don't give a crap about all the technical bullshit about how far away it takes a certain temp cigarette to ignite a vaper blah blah blah. You smoke at a gas station you're a dumbass and you deserve what you get.

[Rocco 0]

It is usually only the terminally adolescent; card-carrying dim; or fully inebriated who do such things. There are no limits to the possible range of their actions -- dropping the lit items on the ground, snapping them off to look cool, and then relighting another are just the most obvious potentials.

 

Most states have laws against creating a public hazard and any cop called in would not have to get too creative to slap the smoker's tail in jail.

 

wunbe