Subj : Rebuilding Battery Packs
To   : JIM HOLSONBACK
From : WAYNE CHIRNSIDE
Date : Wed Oct 04 2000 12:57 am

-=> JIM HOLSONBACK wrote to WAYNE CHIRNSIDE <=-

 WC> a very long three or four seconds I manage to dislodge a main
 WC> wire and disconnected the battery. The gas fumes were so thick
 WC> it looked like a CO2 style special effect for a few seconds.
 WC> Why that gas never caught fire or exploded I'll never know but that

 JH> I'd have to say you were lucky that day, my friend.  From the few times
 JH> I've had to (on 'emergency' basis) use gasoline to try and get damp
 JH> charcoal brickettes to light, I know that "fog" is pretty explosive.
 JH> When it goes up, there's a big "WHOOF!" noise and a brief ball of fire
 JH> (the kind that will burn off your eyelashes, eyebrows, hair on back of
 JH> your hand and on your arm, etc.  In the charcoal case, best stand back
 JH> 5 or 6 feet and throw a lit match at it, and then turn tail and run.

 You aren't kidding I was lucky and don't I know it. I'll never understand
 why it didn't go up taking both of us with it.

 JH> Propane gas grills are about as bad, when they don't light right off.
 JH> Teenage son of friends of ours back in Jacksonville, FL burnt most all
 JH> of his facial hair off, and BIR even got some first degree facial burns
 JH> as he was bending over and peering down into the gas grill, wondering
 JH> why it wasn't lighting.  No lasting damage, but he darn sure knew
 JH> better the next time, (if he ever tried again).  :-).

Also the warnings on those oil fired gun type furnaces are to
be taken seriously. Impatient with a balky unit I was repairing
I did not follow the directions regarding the time you must wait before
attempting a relight, lost some of my eyebrows and was suitably impressed
with whe WHUMP, after that I believed the warning. I think it's that
the hot furnace evaporates the lighter fractions in the kerosene
causing it to be much more dangerous than either a cold start or 
continuous burn.
 
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