Prove me wrong
I invite you all to help my girlfriend win an argument and prove me wrong.
Is it dangerous to pump gas while your car’s engine is on?
(by danger, I’m referring to fire risk, not the risk of the car being bumped into gear or being stolen…)
For the sake of argument, please cite things such as “facts” and/or “examples” when making a point. So far, referring to facts ahsn’t helped me much, but I am convinced that they are worthwhile rhetorical devices…
Comments
Oops, I forgot that most of you guys live in a state where you aren’t allowed to touch mean nasty evil gas pumps. Prove me wrong anyway.
I may not have the level of “facts” and “examples” you wish for but here goes.
No.
Why would it be? If anything it’s inefficient, because the amount you burn sitting there still needs to be replaced, but its not like theres a superheated, electrified, or otherwise volatile engine part somewhere on the pipe from your fuel door to your gas tank. If there were, you’d be in just as much danger while driving with a full tank.
Example: I’ve done it before without realizing it, and yet I’m posting this.
Sounds like an old wives tale.
My dad usually leaves his engine running while getting his gas pumped.
i think it has an increased risk of fire, but that risk is not necessarily that high. it’s not so much the gas itself catching fire, but the fumes (which will then make the gas catch fire).
oh here, some dude talks about it.
my dad and his friends drove a motorhome from jersey to california in the 70s without ever shutting off the engine. yeeeeaahhhhh.
and here is what the national fire protection association says about it. (i hope that link works. site is kind of weird.) is that facty enough for you?
I’d say it’s probably an increased risk like Maggie says but still not what I would call dangerous. I mean the car has things sparking and firing and wiring just by it’s very nature, and if it’s on there’s obviously SOME chance of that sparking the gasoline, at least more so than if the car is off. But I can’t imagine it’s that much of an increased risk at all.
Right there in Maggie’s second link, rule number one is turn the engine off. But why??? I can’t find any examples of cars suddenly exploding because of this. I found a whole great big report ( link ) about the dangers of starting to pump gas and then sitting back down in the car while pumping, but nothing about the exactly why it’s dangerous to have the engine on.
If it were that dangerous, why would they let the guy behind you drive up to his pump with his engine on? His engine is probably closer to your gas tank than you engine is…
I read somewhere that the sitting down in the car was dangerous with the engine running because it could potentially give off static electricity. I’d doubt it though.
because he’s going to pull up and shut his engine off. it’s only a couple of seconds, whereas filling up can take a few minutes. that’s wayyy less sparky potential. (though i imagine the greatest chance of a spark is when you turn the car back on. ha ha, IGNITION!!)
re kevin.. your car generally isn’t going to catch on fire while you’re driving around because of the gas cap and the little door thing. fumes or a leak are the things that catch on fire. gas that’s properly sealed up in a tank is probably not going to go poof.
think about this. gas stations. there are GIANT TANKS OF GASOLINE under them. those tanks are connected to the pumps. the nozzle of the pump is in your car. the air is filled with delicious, flammable fumes.
anything sparks in that area, and your car, the pump, the tank the pump connects to, the OTHER pumps connected to that tank, the OTHER cars connected to those other pumps.. could ALL go up in flames.
if you own one of these stations, or are a state that has THOUSANDS of them on your land.. wouldn’t you want to reduce the chance of that happening as much as you possibly could? that’s why they ask you not to. that’s why it’s outlawed in every state.
mythbusters DID do a thing on static, reggie. and it has actually happened, myth confirmed, etc. petroleum equipment institute on the subject.. includes a link to a pdf report on it. it’s not just “sitting down in the car,” it’s getting in and out of the car, building up static electricity, and it discharging when you touch the nozzle again.
This is only tangentially related, but one of my pet peeves is dudes who at NJ gas stations where you can’t pump your own gas, still insist on getting out of the car and standing there by the pump as though they’re doing something. I always imagine this to be infuriating to the guys who work there who actually do have to pump the gas.
Reggie, read the link on my last reply – it actually freaked me out. There were dozens of reports of static electricity-caused fires. Apparently sliding your butt across the seat is quite dangerous.
Maggie, I’m just not seeing it… Why aren’t there examples or news reports or something like “guy leaves car running, starts huge explosion.” The fumes need to be pretty concentrated, and the spark needs to be near the fumes. The engine is like 12ft away and shielded by layers of metal (and the engine block itself…). I’m just not seeing this angry little spark magically jump out of the engine, crawling through the gap between the hood, flying around the side of the car and the POOF!
In theory, yes, there is probably some theoretical risk posed by running a combustion engine in the vicinity of gas fumes, but on what scale?
i have no idea. i think it’s really low.
i know a guy who never turns his car off when filling up. he has not died yet.
his rational is something like idling for a few minutes consumes less gas then starting back up, so why start back up.
while this is true, i think the idle time has to be under two minutes, after that you end up wasting gas just sitting there.
i think the only real way to solve this debate between you and your girlfriend is to submit it to mythbusters and wait.
I should call Car Talk, too.
(Someone already put it on the Mythbuster request board)
BTW, I’m totally prepared to be proved wrong, I just want something I can wrap my head around. TheScrabbled is the most critical group of people I know, so I figured if I was going to get taught a lesson on this one, it was either here or at the Chevron in a huge ball of flames.
YOU SHOULD.
I bet they make you turn off your engine so people around you don’t pass out from exhaust inhalation.
Derrick said:i know a guy who never turns his car off when filling up. he has not died yet.
his rational is something like idling for a few minutes consumes less gas then starting back up, so why start back up.
while this is true, i think the idle time has to be under two minutes, after that you end up wasting gas just sitting there.
i think the only real way to solve this debate between you and your girlfriend is to submit it to mythbusters and wait.
see the comment conversation in this post about fuel use during idling. there are a bunch of links. TEN SECONDS.
im sorry but since some of their info comes from canada, im going to have to declare this 10 second rule false.
The idle vs. restart thing is a whole different thing. I’m willing to admit that you may save gas by turning the car off. Usually I do turn the car off – there are good reasons like:
- My dog could bump the car into gear
- Someone could drive off in my car
- In theory I could be wasting gas (in Canada)
..But none of these reasons involve explosions, which is why GF was mad at me.
On the day in question, I should note that it was about 112 degrees outside, and I left the car on so that the A/C would keep said girlfriend cool.
see, even when your thinking of them your failing.
The only time I ever saw a gas staion explode was on one of those craziest video shows, and it was because a gas tanker truck crashed into the staion and burned for a while, or something similar. Unless you see Robocop walking by, nothing to worry about.
That reminds me of a gas station attendant that told me I had to put out my cigarette because the fumes were going to cause the staion to explode. I asked him if he thought that was possible, wouldn’t the literally thousands of hot and/or electrified surfaces that had passed in and out of the station every day on cars have already caused that? He wasn’t amused, or convinced.
A friend of mine that is very knowledgeable about cars said that while it is dangerous, it’s not really something you have to worry about. He said that it is possible to cause an explosion, but it is very rare AND it is similar to the other points you brought up about other cars etc, potentially being just as bad.
Basically, it’s like using a water cup in Beer Pong. It acts like a minor step in preventing something. Unfortunately, in the case of an argument, it’s a never ending issue. And it only ends when the cars on fire and the words, “See? I told you so.”