Most dangerous fuel (SE)

Steve Ebels

Steve Ebels

Most dangerous fuel (SE)

A customer asked me today what fuel I considered the most dangerous in all respects. I had never really given this a lot of thought and told him that LP gas was. This was an off the cuff answer and I didn't have time to think it all the way through.

My thoughts were, from most safe to least, fuel oil then natural gas with LP trailing a distant third. This would be solely on the explosion hazard of each. Later in the day I was considering this whilst tooling down the road and I have to say I agreed with my knee-jerk response. I would have to say from a CO standpoint, oil would rate number one also because if you are leaking flue gas into an area, you would pick up the odor of the oil exhaust before either of the gaseous fuels.

What do you guys think and why?

heatboy

The most dangerous fuel is..............

the one in the hands of a know nothing. They are all safe if installed properly. I get tired of hearing the "Go gas, go boom" and "Oil heat is so dirty" lines of crap.The situation and application should be the only thing that dictates which fuel is to be used. Oil, gas, propane, who cares? There are advantages to all of them. Heck, we're doing a small radiant/electric boiler job next week. The electric is probably generated by a nuke. Is that safe?

hb

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Jack, CVMS

Most Dangerous Fuel

(I'm writing this only partially tongue-in-cheek) It could be wood.

Overheated wood stoves have probably been the cause of more housefires than any other fuel. But again, just as with the other fuels mentioned, it depends on how it's used. The question really might be "The Most Dangerous Fool".

Dale

Wood

Ask someone who pays claims, and you know how the insurance companies hate to part with money, Wood by far is the worse. In my state the wood burners are 90 percent of the heating structure fires and 10 percent of the units. In some areas in N Wisc. there is a $1000 a YEAR insurance add on for wood heat. I'm sure the insurance can tell you to the 100th of a percent which fuel costs them the most money.

hr

Took my LP

State required renewel test recently. The instructer placed a lit cigarette into a container of LP in front of the classroom.

He thinks Lp gets a bad name due to it's charteristics, while more dangerous, common, and mishandled gasoline gets ignored.

He puts gasoline way above LP due to it's flash and ignition point. It gets abused much more than Lp, probably.

Demonstrated daily by fools fueling while smoking. Or washing parts in gasoline. Or static electric sparks from cell phones of interior fabrics, causing fires at gas stations. Or water heaters in garage explosions, caused by gasoline fumes.

hot rod

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gehring

Propane


In my opinion propane is the most dangerous because it is heavier than air so if you have a leak it won't rise up to your nose level to warn you before it has already filled the lower spaces of a room (or the basement). For this reason I feel it is less safe than natural gas.

J.C.A._3

3 years ago.....

While filing for liability insurance, first question from the agent was if I dealt with LP. That must be for some reason. Chris