Water heater causes nearby spray can to explode?

Jells

This sounds farfetched to me, I do not believe a properly functioning water heater throws off enough heat to cause a can to explode no matter how close you put it! Am I wrong?



<em>It was the solution to one problem, and unfortunately, the cause of another.

A Jersey City apartment was damaged when a bug spray can overheated, exploded and caused a fire Monday evening, officials said.

Firefighters responding to the six-family building at 125 Brunswick St., on a 4:59 p.m. alarm found a can of bug spray left too close to a hot water heater had exploded, Fire Director Armando Roman said.

Firefighters put out the fire quickly, but not before the flames damaged the kitchen area, Roman said, adding that the rest of the apartment suffered moderate smoke and water damage.</em>



<a href="http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2013/01/exploding_bug_spray_blamed_for.html">http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2013/01/exploding_bug_spray_blamed_for.html</a>

Bob Harper

depends

Location, location, location. If the can was close up to raise the surface temp. on the can above 120F then yes it could have led to a rupture of the can. The question is, what part of a properly installed and operating WH gets that hot? Well, for one, on a gas WH, a single walled vent connector has a 6" clearance to combustibles. If there was a chimney blockage or other venting failure then yes, sufficient heat may have spilled out in an abnormal way. Regardless, it should be inspected by a professional.