Date:         Tue, 01 Nov 94 15:35:03 CST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "J. Walker" <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: for campers: Propane Safety

On Tue, 1 Nov 94 15:26:26 CST Jim Macklow said:
>Does anyone have any first-hand knowledge of incidents where propane
>caused a horrendous explosion?  I think that the our schnozzes are
>pretty good at detecting the rotten egg smell, so good that it's
>pretty hard to stay where there's a big enough leak to cause an
>explosion.  My experience:

it's pretty much the same thing as coal dust or methane in coal mines, or
corn dust in silos or flour dust in grain mills ... you have to have pretty
much exactly the right mixture of air-fuel. too much fuel, and it won't
explode. too little, and it just flashes, if at all. but you can't be tooooo
careful. if you smell the stuff, get out FIRST. then come back and check it.

of course, like gasoline, we all get complacent about things with which we
become familiar. ;)

however, two stories:
1) a house trailer near here, and an area about 50 yards in radius, was
   destroyed by a propane cylinder explosion. at least that's what the fire
   department finally decided. they never did figure out what set it off.
   but it completed obliterated the trailer and everything within that 50
   yard circle ... the only thing left of the trailer was the frame ... and
   it was pretty mangled.

   now, remember: this was only SUSPECTED of being a propane explosion. it
   was never proven. and one fireman said it looked more like 20 lbs of
   TNT had gone off.

2) the u.s. air force had a propane (or was it butane?) bomb that worked with
   rather terrible efficiency. rather like napalm, but without the flames and
   the lingering fires. one detonator ruptured the propane tank, which caused
   the gas to disperse over the target area ... then a delayed 2nd detonator
   ignited the mess. really bad shock waves, doing serious damage.

    but i think they gave up on it because it was a bit unpredictable ...
    rather dependent on the weather conditions at the target.

i think the whole point of the article was to remind everyone that propane is
at least as dangerous as gasoline ... and the gas (and the plumbing systems)
should be treated with at least as much respect and caution.

something they did NOT mention is that you do NOT want to let liquid propane
spray/spill onto your skin: it can cause severe skin damage (due to the low
temperature). or so i was told ... and it made sense to me. just like you do
not want to spill gasoline on your skin at temperatures below zero ... it
can also hurt you rather badly.

joel