Gas blew up in my face today

[gwstang]

After reading all the threads/horror stories on here about gas igniting and knowing that I have gotten away with it several times...God watches after little children and fools like me. I don't think my bung hole will ever
un-clench, after reading/seeing in my mind all this stuff.

 

[JamesHW]

Charcoal..... great point.

Back when (I still like charcoal bbq....), I used an electric resistance element starter - bury it in the coals, and plug it into 120vac. Never failed, no boom.

I used a basic one (single loop, it's in the basement somewhere...), even a bigger 600watt one is not big $$$ now....

My MIL made my Dad get one of those after he singed his eyebrows one holiday and it worked well. The thing I like about metal charcoal starter chimneys are is you just need a match, the chimney (can easily be homemade or cheaply purchased) some crumpled paper (soak in some vegetable oil is best, but not necessary) and charcoal (another item easily homemade). Quickly started many a pile of damp camp wood on a chilly night to warm shivering guests.

 

[muddstopper]

While in high school I went to a pep rally/bonfire. They had piled up a bunch of old pallets, cardboard boxes and other trash to make the bondfire with. A couple of older guys, propably 20somethings at that time, started pouring 5 gal cans of gas on the pile. Even way back then I knew that was a bad ideal and told everyone around me that we needed to move back. Some listened and some didnt, but I moved way back. To start the fire they poured a trail of gas a few feet fro the gas soaked pile and threw in a match. You guessed it, big whoose and the pile exploded sending burning piles of trash everywhere. It flattened the burn pile. Lucky, no one was hurt, but the bon fire turned into a bust.

I replied to a continuation of this thread over on arborist site. I see some here also start brush piles in a similar method as I what I use. I have a propane weed burner with about 20ft or so of hose. I simply light the burner and place it under the pile of brush. I then take a backpack leaf blower and aim the air blast at the flame. This will start any brush pile, no matter how wet in just a few minutes. No danger of explosions, no petroleum byproducts left soaking in the soil. I dont know how long a 20# bottle of propane will last using it to start brush piles. I just borrow the bottle off my gas grill when I need to burn a brush pile. The weed burner cost me about $20 at Harbor freight several years ago. With the price of gas, I suspect buying a weed burner would be a cheaper method of starting brush piles than pouring out gallons of gas, diesel or oil mixes, I know its a lot safer.

 

[Soldier415]

After reading all the threads/horror stories on here about gas igniting and knowing that I have gotten away with it several times...God watches after little children and fools like me. I don't think my bung hole will ever
un-clench, after reading/seeing in my mind all this stuff.

If just one person reconsiders using gasoline, the sharing of our misfortunes is worth it

 

[k0ua]

If just one person reconsiders using gasoline, the sharing of our misfortunes is worth it

Agreed, there is no telling how many lives or needless injuries might have been prevented just by people reading this. Keep in mind for every person posting here, there are probably a 100 that are reading this and saying nothing or they are not even members at all, just the general public. But hopefully they have learned something useful here..

 

[jerrybob]

Agreed, there is no telling how many lives or needless injuries might have been prevented just by people reading this. Keep in mind for every person posting here, there are probably a 100 that are reading this and saying nothing or they are not even members at all, just the general public. But hopefully they have learned something useful here..

I agree.....even told a few buddies over coffee about this thread........wow......glad you guys are OK but.....be careful out there!!

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I use fire starters (those things that are like miniature Duraflame logs) to burn my brush pile. I pour some diesel on the pile, and then put a fire starter on each side of the pile. They light slowly and then get the diesel burning. In a minute or two, I've got a good fire going.

I'm glad you guys are all ok. I made the mistake of lighting a burn pile with gasoline ONE TIME. I escaped with no injuries, but it scared the crap out of me, so I'll never do it again.

 

[check]

I use fire starters (those things that are like miniature Duraflame logs) to burn my brush pile. I pour some diesel on the pile, and then put a fire starter on each side of the pile. They light slowly and then get the diesel burning. In a minute or two, I've got a good fire going. I'm glad you guys are all ok. I made the mistake iof lighting a burn pile with gasoline ONE TIME. I escaped with no injuries, but it scared the crap out of me, so I'll never do it again.

I also use those things. They work great!i

 

[dstig1]

OK, I'll admit to having used gas too. When I cleared our land I had generated several enormous brush piles over the space of 2-3 yrs to burn. I tried diesel once first, but it would not light the pile. Started using gas, and the one thing I knew for sure was that the vapors spread fast so you need to dump and move FAST. And that was what I did. I would pour on part of the pile and then back out quick leaving a trail to light it from, and then light it FAST after capping the gas can and setting it back a bit. WHOOMP! Not much risk of the can lighting up in reality as the mixture is way too rich inside a can with gas in it to ignite. Learned a lesson on one fire where we were slightly downhill from where we were pouring gas, and it got "a bit warm" when the gas was lit as fumes had rolled downhill a bit (eyebrows singed a bit). Learned from that a bit more, but still did it - only with a bit more caution. I think working fast was all that kept that from being a real problem. My final burn I started with some gas initially but then had a weed burner and a back pack blower to really get it going. That worked great. I wouldn't use gas going forward. Starting with either the weed burner or diesel (and weed burner) and then the backpack blower are the way to go.

Some pretty gruesome injuries on this thread, and I am glad things have healed well for those injured. While I think it is possible to start a burn with gas, safely (as I did several times), I think it is too easy for something to go wrong and the risk is not worth it. Work fast for sure, but what if you trip or spill gas on yourself? <Shudder> There are safer ways that work great too. That is my plan going forward, if I ever need to burn again. ...And I may not need to as there is really no good place to burn much of any size as we are pretty well all forest here. I suspect the only time I would really need to burn brush now would be if we got significant storm damage to trees.

 

[scdeerslayer]

I think about other fire starters, like the 'Fatwood' sticks soaked in some sort of fat like substance that will get a fire going along with newspaper or a part of a bale of hay.

The "Fatwood" (or "fat liter") that I know is all natural and nothing more than a super concentration of sap in a pine stump. It's the best natural fire starter there is. A handful or two of splinters and a handheld propane torch can get anything going. Matches will work too but can take longer to really get it going, plus I like the extra reach of the torch. I keep plenty of it around, using the easy to split stuff in the fire place, and for grilling, and the chunks that can't be split easily are used in brush piles. Mess with enough of it and you'll know the smell of the good stuff, and handling the really good stuff will be like getting glue on your hands. I think the best of it comes from trees that have died on the stump, but even stumps from harvested trees can have some fatwood in them. It will take a few years for it to really turn after dieing or harvest, and it lasts forever.