Gasoline As An Acclerant?

[Tubby]

Why oh why don't people learn that gas will explode and set you on fire if you are not careful. I saw a guy ALMOST get it this last weekend. He decided he wanted his fire to be bigger so he siphoned gas from his old truck into a mason jar and then tossed it on to the existing fire. Talk about explosions! It almost got him. He was shaking when it was over. People like this shouldn't breed.

 

[Michael]

When my brother and I were young, we learned this lesson in a spectacular fashion. He tried to get a fire to burn more with a splash of gas.

My grandfather had to tackle him and roll him on the ground to put him out.

Gas: Keep it the Hell away from your fire. Seriously.

 

[twilight]

It is a seriously flawed way to start a fire. There are so many effective options without having to resort to the atomic bomb. You can use pine needles, fuel tablets or bring along some lint from the home dryer, then just add matches.

 

[Lamebeaver]

Did he give the required incantation:

"HEY BUBBA, WATCH THIS!!!"

first?

 

[rockytibby]

Wow what a idiot,was he camped next to anybody? I dont care if people kill themselfs, but to harm others or nature is more than I can handle. Good grief.

 

[ChadTower]

The ironic thing here is if you drop a match into an open puddle of gas it won't explode. It will barely burn. Yet take it and splash it on your fire and WHOOOOF there goes your future.

 

[Michael]

The ironic thing here is if you drop a match into an open puddle of gas it won't explode. It will barely burn. Yet take it and splash it on your fire and WHOOOOF there goes your future.

Sitting puddles of gas don't burn well unless their fumes have had time to build up and haven't blown away. Splashing it through the air also sufficiently increases the surface area:volume ratio for it to burn; it's the same reason that fuel injection got invented.

 

[freedommachine]

I have seen a lot of people say they mastered starting fires with gasoline. They say you have to mixed it with motor oil to get it to burn. I havent been around to see if their right, I dont care because I wont use gas to start a fire in any situation.

 

[ChadTower]

Sitting puddles of gas don't burn well unless their fumes have had time to build up and haven't blown away. Splashing it through the air also sufficiently increases the surface area:volume ratio for it to burn; it's the same reason that fuel injection got invented.

It's lack of oxygen that prevents a puddle from going up completely. The surface layer of liquid has oxygen, fuel, and ignition so it burns. The layer of liquid underneath that has no oxygen. Splashing it through the air increases the surface area, true, but really it's spreading the liquid out so that oxygen is mixed in and thus it has all three elements needed for fire.

I forget the exact ratios but it's something like 2% gasoline to air before it will start to burn and 8% before there isn't enough oxygen involved.

Note that A LOT OF LIQUIDS will explode if you mist them. Try spraying aerosol cooking oil on a fire and it blows up just like gasoline would. I use that trick to sear shark steaks all the time.

 

[Michael]

It's lack of oxygen that prevents a puddle from going up completely. The surface layer of liquid has oxygen, fuel, and ignition so it burns. The layer of liquid underneath that has no oxygen. Splashing it through the air increases the surface area, true, but really it's spreading the liquid out so that oxygen is mixed in and thus it has all three elements needed for fire.

Spreading it out so that the oxygen and liquid are mixed is exactly the same thing as increasing the surface area. More surface area = more oxygen touching more gasoline = more combustion. It's exactly the same reason a pile of flour won't burn but clouds of flour in the air will explode. This is all just a simple fact of chemistry.

This is also, incidentally, why it's safe to carry a block of magnesium. It will burn if you shave it down and increase the surface area relative to the volume. But you need a fire so hot that you're already in a lot of trouble before a solid block of magnesium will catch.

 

[sailorman]

I was camping once and the guy next to me was clearly about to make the mistake of pouring gasoline on the fire. I very nicely suggested he not do that and told him why. He got all macho and basically told me he knew what he was doing and to mind my own business. After he nearly lit himself on fire he packed up his camp and moved to another site that wasn't next to me.

 

[CozInCowtown]

I was camping once and the guy next to me was clearly about to make the mistake of pouring gasoline on the fire. I very nicely suggested he not do that and told him why. He got all macho and basically told me he knew what he was doing and to mind my own business. After he nearly lit himself on fire he packed up his camp and moved to another site that wasn't next to me.

ROFLMAO!!
Gene Pool is self cleaning sometimes, not self cleaning enough other times.
DC

 

[ChadTower]

Nobody wants to have "watched a man burn to death" in their memory bank. Even if the guy did it to himself you just don't want to remember something like that.

 

[wvbreamfisherman]

28 years as a volunteer firefighter- trust me, there are few things worse than a badly burned victim. I used gasoline a few times when I was young and stupid. There are ways that are (relatively) safe, but I won't go into them here lest someone try it.

Gasoline is best avoided as a firestarter.

 

[rockytibby]

Nobody wants to have "watched a man burn to death" in their memory bank. Even if the guy did it to himself you just don't want to remember something like that.

Amen to that ChadTower. I Believe a sight like that would stay with me for a very long time.

 

[dinosaur]

I've seen this before but gasoline is not a very effective accelerant for starting a wood fire. The flash point is too low and it burns up too quickly to have much of an affect. A little cooking oil soaked into some paper towels placed with a little more paper and some dry twigs works better because it burns longer and gets the wood hot enough to flash. Gasoline is only good for something like pine needles or dry leaves in which case, a quart is a bit excessive.

 

[ChadTower]

A little cooking oil soaked into some paper towels placed with a little more paper and some dry twigs works better because it burns longer and gets the wood hot enough to flash.

My favorite fire starter is paper towels soaked in the leftover bacon grease from breakfast. My family likes a lot of bacon in the morning when camping and it leaves enough grease to saturate several paper towels to use as firestarter later in the day. It catches instantly, burns long, and works great. You can also take the extra grease and pour it right on your gathered twigs for later use.

Of course, this is not the best of ideas if you're in bear country.