My Father (jet engine designer, so knew a bit about burning stuff) had a 'party trick' where he used to take off the cap of his motorbike's tank and light the open hole. With a full tank it's perfectly safe.I think folk get a bit worked up about this for no good reason. It is only the fumes that are dangerous and as long as you are sensible and ensure the containers are well sealed there should be a problem. Obviously this is for the odd 20L can and not whole vans worth of plastic bottles!
Think back to the Glasgow Airport attack, this was a vehicle loaded with fuel and run into a door and set on fire, it didn't explode!
A little bit of common sense and good ventilation is all that is really required and if you think that you are on a death defying roller coaster ride that may result in instant death at any time driving a few miles home with a 5l plastic jerry can full of petrol in the car then maybe you really need to go and lie down in a dark room for a little while.
I didn't let him do it with my bikes, and have never actually tried it myself....
Dr Strangeglove
Well-Known Member
I had an uncle, not an educated man - he could not read or write, who on occasion used to weld fuel (petrol) tanks. He knew that you never did this due to lingering fumes exploding, so he assessed if it would be possible. He decided that to remove the risk you had to remove the fumes. He figured out that if you filled the tank with water then you can't have fumes. Also if you burn fumes you remove the risk of explosion. So he filled the tank with water, introduced a flame to the neck to ignite any fumes, then gradually tipped out the water whilst keeping the burning torch in the tank. He removed only enough water to let him undertake the weld.
Not something I would do myself though!!!
Not something I would do myself though!!!
heard about this before, my dad had a tank repaired years ago, full of water, flame still managed to burn from the neck
My eldest brother used to weld diesel lorry tanks. They have a foam that gets sprayed into the tank first. You weld up the (usually a seam) holes then rinse the tank back out. That was in the late 70's I don't know if it is still done these days?
Probably considered too risky by someone who has never done it
'DERV' isn't a fuel. It's what you put fuel into.
DERV stands for Diesel Engined Road Vehicle
that does sound rather good, however, derv is fuel;
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/derv
I've welded patches onto a couple of petrol tanks. Removed them from the car, drained them of fuel, then filled them with water. Drained that out then welded.
I can't find it now, but there's a clip of a guy in Africa welding a petrol tank with fuel in, he puts a rag in the filler and lights it, then does the weld. Its the same aide as flare towers at refineries and there was once a proposal to put flares around Canvey Island to ignite any leaking LNG before it reaches residential areas. You are aiming to prevent oxegen+fuel+confined-space. as that means explosion.
flat
Well-Known Member
brianp38dse
Well-Known Member
I remember watching the full video of that he took it over to France and on the way to the ferry had it up to 70
iirc
Well, if anybody here enjoyed the clip of the tank, have a look at this show. It's bloody entertaining!
August Bank Holiday, Warwickshire
SATNAV POST CODE: CV22 6NR
https://www.tanks-trucks-and-firepower.co.uk/
August Bank Holiday, Warwickshire
SATNAV POST CODE: CV22 6NR
https://www.tanks-trucks-and-firepower.co.uk/
