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Re: Today Tonight Exploding Petrol Stations

I quite often take a very dangerous device into service stations.
It has 6 special units whose sole porpose is to create sparks.
It has a very high current battery & alot of wiring, much more dangerous than
any cellphone battery.
Sparks can come out of the end of it, especially if it misfires.
It hold 10 gallons of highly flamable liquid.
& when I get out of It I get a spark from a build up of static from bum on
seat.
Surely such a dangerous device is more of a danger to petrol stations than
cellphones etc & should be banned.

Re: Today Tonight Exploding Petrol Stations

They don't just watch it, they have the rights to it. They claimed it's
the "Channel 7 Mythbusters" this time and re-ran all the Mythbusters
footage.
Loved the host saying "static causes even more explosions than mobile
phones" at the start, and then the segment goes on to say mobile phone
don't do anything.
ROFL!
Dave :)

Re: Today Tonight Exploding Petrol Stations

Yeah exactly..what an idiot!
And later on in another story they were whining about the Americanisms
creaping into our language and their stupid reporter in the exploding servo
story referred to "gassing up" a car (i.e. filling it with petrol)
Geez I wish I hadn't been too involved to stop assembling my computer, walk
into the other room and change the channel to something sensible like SBS
news.
Charles
--
If some days are diamonds & some days are stone --
Then some days I live in a quarry!!
If some days are diamonds & some days are stone --
Then some days I live in a quarry!!

Re: Today Tonight Exploding Petrol Stations

As anyone who's worked in the hydrocarbon industries will know, all this
stems from the regulatory framework that's involved. In order to get
insurance, a company needs to comply with the CENELEC, or SAA (ergo CENELEC
rebadged), or whatever standards. These standards define various levels of
hazard, depending on, amongst other things, the probability of flammable
vapour mixtures being present. A petrol tank being filled turns out to be
something around 'Zone II', or maybe 'Zone I' very close to the fill point.
Within both those areas, electrical devices or other potential sources of
ignition are subject to some degree of restriction. Whether they can really
cause a bang is irrelevant, it's the rules.
Yes, given the right conditions a static electricity spark could cause an
explosion while you're filling your tank. The risk is a lot lower than that
of having a fatal prang on leaving the station. And you could smash your
cellphone with a hammer a foot from your fuel tank filler and most likely
get away with it 9999 times out of 10000. But rules are rules ........
Something I've never followed through, does anyone know what the legal
basis is behind hazardous area standards??

Re: Today Tonight Exploding Petrol Stations

If I remember rightly, on the Mythbusters episode they interviewed some
head guy from the US petroleum association or some such who
investigates all these things. He said there are at least a couple of
incidents a year where fires start at gas pumps due to static
electricity. Zero due to mobile phones of course.
A pretty low number sure, but it does happen.
Dave :)

Re: Today Tonight Exploding Petrol Stations
Kissing Lettuce wrote:

Seems likely. Also, surprise, surprise, ACA and ray dickweed did
exactly the same story, using the exact same yank video clips. A couple
of years ago it was the same ray dickweed who "exposed" the danger of
using cell phnes at servos.
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