Just a litle reminder about the danger of static electricty and fueling up your car. Take a look at this video.

This clip shows the hazards associated with static electricity while fueling a car and specifically shows the risks associated with re-entering your car during fueling. This is an actual incident that happened at a Conoco station.

In addition, and I know a lot of people laugh about this and shake their head in disbelief whenever I bring this up, this is also very relevant to the use of cell phones while filling up with gasoline. Since moving here from Europe, I have been amazed by three things;

1. How many people I see locking the pump on and getting back into their car during filling, what would happen if the nozzle fell out ? Not only the static electricity issue highlighted below from getting in/out.

2. How many people use their phone while filling up? After they have had their face burnt from the flash caused by the static emitted by their phone I doubt they will do that again. Think about where that flash will start if you have the phone glued to your ear?

3. Lack of warnings about these issues at the station. You cant go to any station in Europe without seeing mobile phone warnings or warnings about leaving the filling nozzle unattended. And if there are signs, they are generally disregarded.

Working in the industry, I feel rather strongly about these issues and don

 

woah.. good thing she didnt get hurt

 

 

good post.

I have a seen a similar video with terrible results

 

I get into my car during filling and also use my cell phone. *shrug* It's not a big deal IMO. Sure, random things can happen, but that's the case with anything. The chances of something like that happening are rather low. Hell, the probability of getting killed en route to the gas station is probably a lot higher than the chances of static electricity causing a fire while filling up.

Btw, most gas stations do have warning signs about cell phone use now. Personally, I think that's aimed more at mitigating lawsuits than anything else. But thanks for the warning and the interesting video.

 

Cyber x, its become more common than you may think. So dont put yourself at risk by avoiding this and becoming a statistic. Thanks for the good reminder Ulrich

 

How common is it?

There have been a number of documented cases of static electricity (from getting in and out of the car) igniting fires at gas stations, so I definitely believe that.

However, I've never seen any conclusive evidence that cell phones caused fires at gas stations. Personally, without further evidence, I'm inclined to believe it's an urban legend. Does anyone have concrete, documented cases of this happening?

 

If you look at the girl, she caused a lot of static while pumping.

- Rubbing her shirt.
- Tugging at her shirt
- Getting int the car and sliding around
- And getting out of the car without grounding herself before the touched the pump.

If you want to be safe about static electricity, touch the door of your car or the paint of your car to release that charge.

PS: The cell phone myth is

 

myth busters on the discovery channel just did a show on this. Cell phones CANNOT cause a spark to ignite gas fumes. All the fires come form static electricity. Myth busters is actually a pretty neat show.

 

Sorry couldn't help it. Extreme weathers are a great cause of this. If its way to cold or way to hot and dry. I remember hating Las Vegas because of the static. Oh well I had fun with it too