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Old 14-12-2013, 05:11   #46
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Re: Gas explosion

Hopefully the man comes out all right, anybody can make a mistake in judgement.
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Old 14-12-2013, 05:25   #47
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Re: Gas explosion

The stove in pic is one of those cheapie butane jobs, I think. Dunno if it's more or less explosive than propane or if it has the odorizer added, but seems odd the explosion didn't take out the stove's tank or the big empty propane tank either.
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Old 14-12-2013, 06:44   #48
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Re: Gas explosion

Propane still scares me....I blew up a kitchen oven as a kid when I tried to light it several times with a match (pilot light did not work). I was fortunate in that I only ended up across the room with singed hair and eyebrows.
I try hard to keep anything propane in very good condition and minimize risk.
Don't know if our boat has a propane detector, but the bottles are in an outside locker that is vented.
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Old 14-12-2013, 07:38   #49
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Re: Gas explosion

If you shut the bottles off at the box, when not in use, you shouldn't have too many problems as long as the hoses and connections are in good shape. Soapy water can show you any leaks. If you don't have a propane detector, I would suggest you get one, they are not expensive.
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Old 14-12-2013, 08:01   #50
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Re: Gas explosion

Every propane installation on a boat should have a proper, approved installation that includes a pressure gauge to check for leaks, proper chafing protection where the hose passes through any wall or bulkhead, a locker venting overboard with solenoid switch located near the stove in the galley, or an external mount outside the vessel. Wiring done to code for the solenoid, ect. On our boat, even the disposable cylinders are stored in the locker. I opened it once to find a disposable cylinder hissing away, venting propane like crazy. Boats and mickey mouse propane installations are a recipe for disaster.
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Old 14-12-2013, 08:03   #51
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Re: Gas explosion

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Every propane installation on a boat should have a proper, approved installation that includes a pressure gauge to check for leaks, proper chafing protection where the hose passes through any wall or bulkhead, a locker venting overboard with solenoid switch located near the stove in the galley, or an external mount outside the vessel. Wiring done to code for the solenoid, ect. On our boat, even the disposable cylinders are stored in the locker. I opened it once to find a disposable cylinder hissing away, venting propane like crazy. Boats and mickey mouse propane installations are a recipe for disaster.
Did you see the large propane cylinder on a stand in the galley, in picture 3? I'm speechless.
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Old 14-12-2013, 08:24   #52
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Re: Gas explosion

I did, and its sad someone can be so careless. I hope he recovers but it sounds like it isn't going to end well. Not to wander to far off the topic, but it brings up, again, the issue of "derelict" boats, and the dangers they can create, to themselves, to others and to the environment. A well discussed subject on many other threads, but this incident may be another reason to call for mandatory insurance on boats, which, in turn, would require periodic surveys. Not advocating for it, just sayin.'
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Old 14-12-2013, 08:30   #53
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Re: Gas explosion

A little common sense goes a long ways with propane. We are in Turkey and rented an apartment for a couple of months while we were having some big boat jobs done. Brand new place...opened up the kitchen cabinet below the sink and there sat a large propane bottle with a little screw on regulator. Seems there is no natural gas here so every house and apartment restaurant hotel in a large city is set up this way. If this was in North America we might be hearing the odd boom but not around here, seems no one blows themselves up.
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Old 14-12-2013, 09:14   #54
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Re: Gas explosion

Gas in a house is probably a different beast - few, if any, chafe points, no motion to agitate the lines, etc. In France, the house I was in had one 50 lb tank in the basement with a hose that ran up two floors. I assume that's pretty normal for the region.
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Old 14-12-2013, 09:26   #55
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Re: Gas explosion

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Originally Posted by robert sailor View Post
A little common sense goes a long ways with propane. We are in Turkey and rented an apartment for a couple of months while we were having some big boat jobs done. Brand new place...opened up the kitchen cabinet below the sink and there sat a large propane bottle with a little screw on regulator. Seems there is no natural gas here so every house and apartment restaurant hotel in a large city is set up this way. If this was in North America we might be hearing the odd boom but not around here, seems no one blows themselves up.
I spent a few weeks in Seoul, South Korea, where they use propane a lot for cooling, and I can tell you that explosions and fires were commonplace. On one Sunday afternoon I could see 2 at once from my hotel room.

When I was there, this had just happened :

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/29/wo...-students.html

Didn't seem to make anyone more careful, though.
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Old 14-12-2013, 09:48   #56
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In 2008 at Cat Harbor, Catalina Island, I was changing the lines over from an empty propane tank. Just as I was torquing the fitting to the calibrated click of my elbow, I felt (and heard) a LOUD explosion behind me and to my left. Flashbacks of the sandbox; What? No klaxon? No loud "incoming! incoming! incoming!" No C-RAM ineffectively spitting projectiles in an almost straight line? I looked over my shoulder and saw a large fireball with flaming debris flying in all directions a couple hundred feet away. My family thought I had blown myself up, but it turned out to be the SWAT team blowing up in place some navy ordnance that had washed ashore.
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Old 14-12-2013, 10:23   #57
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Re: Gas explosion

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The taped up galley drain ??????? To stop mosquitoes he told me
... Stupidity with a capital S...
Chances are very low that he was stupid, but very high that he was oblivious to the dangers of using a camp stove on a boat. A contributing factor is that he had the boat sealed up tight to keep out mosquitoes. Without air circulation, propane (worse, butane) will gradually over time accumulate in the bilge. Every time you turn that camp stove off there is a tiny "pffft" of gas escaping. That gas has nowhere to go but the bilge. Over time there will be a gradient of concentration (high in the bilge, low at nose level). Somewhere along that gradient the concentration will be at the explosive level. It's just a matter of time. Word to the wise. Others, well.........good luck because you will definitely need it.

People wishfully state that propane explosions on boats are not common, but in fact reports of them are very common.
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Old 14-12-2013, 10:24   #58
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Re: Gas explosion

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Originally Posted by brownoarsman View Post
Gas in a house is probably a different beast - few, if any, chafe points, no motion to agitate the lines, etc.
Ummmm...not necessarily...

Propane and Odor Fade | Bruce Goldfarb
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Old 14-12-2013, 10:30   #59
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Re: Gas explosion

Yes, now I see how this could happen with a little can of butane. Thanks for posting this, always good to be reminded what we are dealing with.
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Old 14-12-2013, 12:10   #60
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Re: Gas explosion

There are apparently no central records kept in the US of "gas" (natural or propane or otherwise) explosions in the US, but plenty of nooze reports every month for businesses, homes, pipelines, exploding with great damage and regular loss of life.

Letting the average untrained uneducated person play with fire and explosives has predictable consequences.

Fuel is, after all, often supposed to explode. The only question is how controlled a manner it is going to explode in.

One gallon of gasoline can "throw" a VWBug weighing one ton, thirty miles down the road. And it does that in a series of small explosions in the engine.

Something to be said about cold dinner.
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