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Warning about using portable gas appliances on boats


Rob@BSSOffice

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Those of you in the North West may have caught the news that two teenage campers are suffering serious facial burns after a portable gas stove they were using exploded on Thursday evening. North Wales Fire and Rescue is warning holidaymakers not to use such equipment inside tents and caravans, saying that the inherent risks are greatly magnified in the confined space of a tent or caravan compared with use outdoors.

 

We are echoing that message. It was only in 2010 when two boaters were hospitalised with very nasty injuries after changing a a small stove cylinder went horribly wrong.

 

You may think these stove canisters are very small, but if the liquefied gas inside escapes, it will re-gasify and expand 250 times and it has enough energy to cause a seriously harmful explosion.

 

gas%20canister%20explosion%20hickling%20 this stove caused an explosion so powerful it put two Norfolk Broads boaters in hospital

 

We have more information on this web page www.boatsafetyscheme.org/stay-safe/fire-safety-for-boats/portable-gas-appliances .

 

Go boating this weekend; Stay-safe

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Many years back...I saved two people from one of these stoves.

They didn't read the instructions... didn't realise that you unscrew the puncturing top part...insert the cylinder into the frame...retain it.. and then screw the top in to puncture it.

 

They 'thought' that you pushed the cyclinder in..punctured it..then clipped it in.

 

I 'guess' it would have shot off like a jet engine.

 

Bob

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Many years back...I saved two people from one of these stoves.

They didn't read the instructions... didn't realise that you unscrew the puncturing top part...insert the cylinder into the frame...retain it.. and then screw the top in to puncture it.

 

They 'thought' that you pushed the cyclinder in..punctured it..then clipped it in.

 

I 'guess' it would have shot off like a jet engine.

 

Bob

The pressure is very low, so that would not happen.

 

Camping Gaz type cylinders have no valve so once the cylinder is pierced, gas or liquid gas will be expelled if the stove or other appliance is dismantled or dropped. I have seen this happen when a Camping Gaz blowtorch was dropped when in use indoors. Thankfully the flame went out before the escaping liquid gas caught fire.

 

If I recall correctly, the well known lock keeper at Bingley Five Rise was badly burned when using a portable LPG lamp aboard his boat Adder.

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Many years back...I saved two people from one of these stoves.

They didn't read the instructions... didn't realise that you unscrew the puncturing top part...insert the cylinder into the frame...retain it.. and then screw the top in to puncture it.

 

 

Yes the act first, read later when disaster strikes really doesn't work for gas safety.

 

However, just to be clear, it's not just that sort of gas canister, our advice equally applies to equipment containing the screw in canisters

 

do-not-use-portable-gas-web_99x91.jpg

 

Lamps, heaters as well as cooking (and DIY) equipment all have the potential for risk. As North Wales Fire and Rescues Service says, 'Don't drop your guard

 

Rob

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The pressure is very low, so that would not happen.

 

 

Oh yes it does! When I were a yoof in the Air Cadets umpteen years ago, some clot at a summer camp put a new GAZ canister into the clamp with the piercing screw extended and then lit it. Bloody thing went off like a hand grenade and he was lucky not to lose his arm. As it was, the ambulance service was called to cart him off with severe burns where his jacket melted onto the skin. ohmy.png

The pressure inside a liquified gas canister is only "low" (and that as another poster has already said is "relative") while it is still liquid, it's high enough to do a lot of damage as that pressure is released, especially if the proverbial naked flame is around.

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Some years ago, I was working as factory fireman, and during a training course with PETANS (North Sea Rigs fire training), these GAZ canisters came up for discussion.

 

The small disposable type, which rely on being pierced by the lamp or burner assembly seem particularly dangerous, as at that time, apparently, they were suffering from corrosion, at the joint between the convex base and the top pressing. This could only just be seen, if you turned the cylinder upside down and examined this joint.

 

What happened in several incidents; was the sudden drop in pressure, caused by the cylinder being pierced by the insertion of the top of the unit, "flexed" the bottom plate , the corroded joint started to come apart and leak, causing the unit to explode when lit, even when assembled correctly.

 

As part of the course, we "set off" several of these corroded cylinders; quite an explosion they produced.

 

The thing was, at the time I was quite a keen hill walker, and had several of these GAZ containers stored in my shed !w

 

Sure enough they were all corroded, so were set off at the next session.

 

I've not used this type of appliance since, as I believe the "spraycan" gas containers are safer to use, provided the rubber O rings fit properly and are in good condition.

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do-not-use-portable-gas-web_99x91.jpg

 

 

Lamps, heaters as well as cooking (and DIY) equipment all have the potential for risk. As North Wales Fire and Rescues Service says, 'Don't drop your guard

 

Rob

 

By a tragic co-incidence this story in the Manchester Evening News about carbon monoxide poisoning has just reached my news feed

 

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/stockport-biker-died-after-putting-4750062

 

Another terrible event - there lots of fellow bikers on this forum - some of whom may have been on the Dragon.

 

However please keep the idea in mind that these stoves are not suitable for running in relatively small spaces of a boat cabin.

 

It is best if we can avoid the coroner's prediction in the article coming true.

 

Rob

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I wont let my daughters bring gas fired hair curlers onboard. I know the gas cylinders are tiny but I would rather hammer my batteries/inverter with their 240v curlers than make my own indoor fireworks.

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With regards to the stoves using screw-in canisters, here's a rather sobering video of one of them exploding:

 

http://youtu.be/0IpNnPdMCIg

 

This happens when the canister reaches a temperature of between 95 and 105 degrees centigrade (approximately), something that can easily happen if a large pan like a frying pan is placed on the ring, overhanging the compartment containing the canister.

 

Personally, I wouldn't be happy using one in any circumstances, let alone on a boat.

 

What is quite disturbing is that I've seen comments from other surveyors that some manufacturers of small yachts and motor cruisers are supplying these cookers (albeit sometimes the slightly more expensive models with flame failure devices) as standard equipment on new boats, because portable gas appliances fall outside the scope of the RCD, and therefore they don't need to go to the expense of fitting a proper gas locker (albeit that if the boat's ever surveyed or needs a BSS examination, it's not going to pass with one of those on the galley counter).

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