NOT OT - gas can explosions!

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2013: NOT OT - gas can explosions!
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Holzschuh - Panama City, FL on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 08:59 am:

I was very confused about a story which was just aired on NBC's today show. It concerned 4 deaths and many more injuries from plastic gas cans. Here's the video. (Sorry about the commercial).

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nbc-news/53731385/#53731385

Now, as I read it, this story seems to be about using plastic gas cans to pour gasoline on an open flame or in a fuel tank immediately adjacent to a hot engine.

Am I missing some point here or should the common sense thing have kicked in, and made this a non issue?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kevin Whelihan on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 09:04 am:

Never underestimate the resourcefulness of stupid people. Natural selection helps deal with future issues.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dave Dufault on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 09:20 am:

Bud,

Common sense is one of the great mysteries of life that I cannot comprehend - why has it disappeared from the lives of so many?

It's not so much the fault of a plastic can - I'll take a wild guess here, and posit that pouring gas from any container onto an ignition source will produce a rather violent burn event.

All gas stations that I have visited have signs on or near the pumps advising folks to not use cell phones while dispensing gas, as well as cautions about turning off engines as well as putting portable containers on the ground to fill them. Folks ignore these words of advice frequently. .....no common sense anymore.

Such a shame. Maybe our species will go the way of the dinosaur.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Val Soupios on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 09:25 am:

It confirms the notion that you can't fix stupid despite the fact that our government seems to think that it can protect every idiot from his own stupidity. The problem is that by doing that you upset the balance inherent in natural selection and the result is just more stupid people.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jeff V on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 09:35 am:

When I was in collage taking a course on engineering ethics, there was a case discussed of a father and son who both lost their fingers. They wanted to trim the top of a hedge so they decided they best way to do that would be to lift up a lawn mower and hold it over the hedge. They lost their fingers when they reached under the mower to pick it up. They sued the mower manufacturer and won because there was a clear warning sticker on the mower warning against sticking you foot under the mower, but it said nothing about hands. Look at your mower and the warning sticker will now warn against both feet and hands. Never underestimate the power of stupid.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Robert E. (Bob) Blackbourn, Gautier Ms. on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 09:36 am:

"Common sense" is not common!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Seth from NC on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 09:48 am:

Hey Jeff - I blame a lot of this on a ton judges who have the patience (patience? gall? I don't know what to call it) to even hear these cases. If I was a judge and that father/son duo presented this to me, even just reading the paperwork before ever seeing them, I would just crack up laughing and then hold both of them in contempt for wasting the court's time.

The idea that any lawyer could argue their "case" in ANY way that could result in anything other than laughing them all the way to the lady who collects your payment for a fine, is just absurd to me. Much less that they could win and GET MONEY FOR BEING STUPID. If anything they should be paying the company for so blatantly abusing their product. I hate our litigious, no-personal-responsibility society.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dave DeYoung on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 09:55 am:

I have told my girls many times that one of the most important tools in life is the only thing they cannot teach you in school. It's called Common Sense.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Jablonski on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 10:25 am:

Guess our assumption that common sense is alive and kicking.... correlates to the economic downfall led by the younger generation.

This may be the generation that will not learn from history, only to replicate the mistakes.

Sad indeed.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kenneth W DeLong on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 12:06 pm:

Even dumber in mhop is people pumping gas while smoking!! Not only do they not care about themselves they do not care about anyone else!!Bud.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jeff Hood on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 12:18 pm:

Jeff, I have read about the hedge trimmers before, and it reminds me of this guy trimming a big hedge.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Norman T. Kling on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 12:36 pm:

A gas can inside the car can be a hazard. A friend of ours lost their son when a group of teens had a can of gas inside the car and it exploded. Perhaps someone lit up a cigaret or a joint? I don't know the cause of the explosion, but it happened and he got killed.
Norm


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dick Lodge - St Louis MO on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 12:40 pm:

Dave, my favorite sign on gas pumps is the one that reads, "Caution! Can be harmful or fatal if swallowed." Can't tell you how often I have been about to take a few swigs while filling the tank and been saved by spotting the sign at the last minute.... :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jeff V on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 12:50 pm:

Dick, reminds me of another college story, a friend of mine ran out of gas and went to a frat house where some mutual friends lived to see if they had any is could use. They didn't but syphoned some out of one of their cars into a plastic cup. While this was going on, someone handed him a beer in an identical plastic cup for the other hand. Well, nature just took its course on that one and the next thing you know he was in my apartment explaining how he drank gasoline.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jerry VanOoteghem on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 01:03 pm:

Jeff,

How did the beer perform in his gas tank?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dick Lodge - St Louis MO on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 01:37 pm:

Now I'm reminded of the story about the two nuns who ran out of gas along a country road. One waited with the car while the other set out on foot to get some gas somewhere. Since they were nursing sisters, the only container they had in the car was a bedpan, which the nun took with her. When she found a gas station, she put a gallon of gas in the bedpan and headed back to the car. As she was pouring it into the tank, a fellow passing by stopped his car and said, "Sister, I wish I had your faith...." :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Paul Grohsmeyer on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 04:25 pm:

Leave it to the media to blow something out of proportion. If it can be sensationalized, they can do it.
But then maybe we should ban ALL gas cans - just in case ! After all, doesn't one idiot incriminate everyone ?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mark Strange on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 04:40 pm:

I actually learned something reading this NBC report:

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/04/21743922-is-my-gas-can-safe


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dick Fischer on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 05:31 pm:

Mark,

I learned something from the nbc news link as well. Never, NEVER, hold the gas can at a 42° angle while filling your hot Model T with the engine running. It's that 42° angle that gets you every time !

Also, remember to keep your gas can full until it's empty !

Dick (sarcasm intended)

P.S. Really, I didn't lean anything new. I was already aware of the fact that most news people lack common sense.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Norman T. Kling on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 05:48 pm:

I wonder why Henry didn't put a filler neck on the gas tank? It seems to me that it would be much safer than having the opening on the tank almost directly above the hot exhaust pipe.
Norm


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Stan Howe Helena, Montana on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 05:51 pm:

Well, I guess I'm not as smart as some. I had never thought about the can being full of oxygen and the fuel vapor being heavy. From experience I can tell you it doesn't take much gas to make a lot of fire. I thought the video was worth the time to watch and such good information I sent it to several of my friends.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By kep on Wednesday, December 04, 2013 - 07:54 pm:

Natural selection is outlawed yet popular culture loves it. On the topic of model T's why does everyone install their gas tanks with the filler over the exhaust? You can turn the gas tank the other way.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dennis Halpin on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 02:43 am:

Common sense is like deodorant. The people who need it most, don't use it. :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Fred Dimock, Newfields NH, USA on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 07:41 am:

If natural selection really worked we would have fewer politicians :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hal Davis-SE Georgia on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 12:47 pm:

I we had fewer lawyers, we would have more natural selection.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By G.R.Cheshire on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 01:01 pm:

Hal did you know in the original charter for the Georgia Lawyers were forbidden? What happened?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kenneth W DeLong on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 03:52 pm:

I agree with the filler neck idea as one would not have to remove the seat cushion!Bud.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ted Dumas on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 06:01 pm:

I vote with Stan.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Manuel, Lafayette, La. on Friday, December 06, 2013 - 08:54 am:

I just don't get it. Is this some scientific breakthrough? Gasoline burns when exposed to an open flame? Really? Some guys are getting paid to do this? Let's see if an unsupported piece of single strength glass will break if struck with a 16 oz. hammer at 40 fps. Will fire ants bite if you stick your hand in the mound? Will a lawyer charge you a hundred bucks to send someone a letter and and add ?the cost of the stamp to the invoice?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dave Dufault on Friday, December 06, 2013 - 09:18 am:

Yes, John, our wonderful government supports science in many ways....

http://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/flatview?cuecard=40160

"tongue in cheek" - your tax dollars at work!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By keith g barrier on Friday, December 06, 2013 - 09:41 am:

99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name. KGB


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