Don't buy BP petrol for your boat

[ozscott]

Depends on state too...in Qld we have BP with its refinery at Bulwer Island in Brissy and Caltex at Lytton and NO shell.

Cheers

[oldboot]

the big difference between the car and the boat...is that the filler and the fuel tank are somehow bonded to the outside metal shell of the car......with the boat..who knows.

so if you take the hand piece in one hand and place the other hand on the outside of the car....all static from you and the car should be disipate before you or the nozzle go near the open filler.....you could go as far as opening the filler with the nozzle in the other hand........the hand piece will be earthed.

if you have a metal boat with an inbuilt tank....the same procedure should be pretty safe.

but remember static is only one of the issues.

the way I see it the biggest risk is a fuel spill, inside the boat.

as for the big plastic tank sitting in the boat...............any static charge should be more or less carried equaly by the greater mass of the boat.....and you are unlikley to get a spark off the plastic tank......particularly if you......loosen the filler before picking up the hand piece.....then......touch the boat with the spare hand...and remove the filler cap with the other hand.......

Again the big risk is the fuel spill inside the boat.

cheers

cheers

[odes20]

So Does anyone have any knolege of these supposed claims or law suits that the BP people are quoting? Stuff like boats burning or cars burning usually makes it on the news headlines ???? Soon it won't be safe to go to work, hop in a car, buy a bike as the Malvern Star people might get sued cos some 5 yr old broke his arm learning to ride???

[rowanda]

Hi odes20
read original date this thread started 2003! I can tell you there is no directive not to allow filling of boats at BP or any other major brand for that matter.
You may get an independant operator who doesn't want to do it (why I don't know) but not from a company site.
I think this was kicked up aain due to the static debate, yes it has some merit, but from what I can see it is the sml portable (25L and smaller) tanks that are the problem with legal issues around filling inside a boat (by law they should be removed and filled at 25l or less).

[PADDLES]

yep, that's right scotty, only two refineries here in brizzy. that's what was a total w@nk with that test that a current affair did with "identical?" commodores each using a tank of the different major fuel company's premium unleaded and then seeing which one went the furthest. needless to say thay didn't tell the viewers how all the fuels came from the same 2 refineries.

[Deepwater]

probably a fall out of that story on the news last week?
A woman in Sydney somewhere filling a mower can and it ignited as a result of static electricity on her body, the reason been given as it wasn't earthed.....
There was mention about the dangers of filling containers etc included as well so....

I saw a news report about a fortnight ago about a woman who was filling a small steel can with petrol while it was still in the back of her car, and because of what they SUSPECTED was a static electricity spark, caused a fire. They were telling people to use plastic jerry cans for fuel because non-conductive, or if using a steel can-just put it on the ground when filling it.
All you have to do to disperse the static electricity before filling your boat, is to touch the fuel tank while you're earthed (standing on the ground), before you remove the cap and start to fill.
I think they still have the warning signs about mobile phones at most petrol stations. Anyone who watches MYTHBUSTERS knows that it is impossible to start a fuel fire with a mobile phone. They DO cause head cancer, though, but because Telstra says they don't, we're all encouraged to keep using them !!

[oldboot]

I think the two big things they( government , fuel companie, insurers) are concerned about is people filling fuel containers while they are IN ( or on) vehicles, and filling fuel container while they are held in the hand.

I have seen plenty filling containers on a trailer ( not so bad), filling containers while they are in the boot....or even worse....I have seen people fill containers while they are in the back seat of the car.....and not just the once.

I think in general we are just too complacent about fuel.

cheers

[Scott nthQld]

cars, boats etc, don't need an earth, rather than a way to discharge the static electricity. How it this done? Well as soon as you put a foot on the ground when getting out of the vehicle. your contact with the ground provides the earth and the static is discharged. This also happens when you are removing your fuel cap for either car or boat or whatever. No cables nesseccary, people are 70% water, one of the best conductors known to us, so when you get out of your car and touch the body, or gunnel of the boat you have effectively 'earthed' them out and the static build up is discharged, no problem.

Sorry if this has been posted before, I didn't bother trawling through the rest of the posts, the first few just kept going round in circles so i assumed the entire thread did the same.

[Noelm]

so then, if you are discharged as soon as you put your feet/foot on the ground, why do people "zap" each other, even though they both have their feet firmly on the ground? or your get a shock from a fully on the ground cabinet or the like in a supermarket? static is a whole new ballgame compared to batteries and 240V.

[lee8sec]

If that was true how did the petrol can, held in one hand & the fuel nozzle, held in other hand cause enought static electricity to catch fire while the person was standing on the ground?
Around & around we go Leigh

cars, boats etc, don't need an earth, rather than a way to discharge the static electricity. How it this done? Well as soon as you put a foot on the ground when getting out of the vehicle. your contact with the ground provides the earth and the static is discharged. This also happens when you are removing your fuel cap for either car or boat or whatever. No cables nesseccary, people are 70% water, one of the best conductors known to us, so when you get out of your car and touch the body, or gunnel of the boat you have effectively 'earthed' them out and the static build up is discharged, no problem.

Sorry if this has been posted before, I didn't bother trawling through the rest of the posts, the first few just kept going round in circles so i assumed the entire thread did the same.

[cormorant]

The fuel moving in the hose creates the static charge and when there is a large enough difference it will "zap" accross to a object. No the interesting thing is that bowsers should all be fitted with special hoses that are conductive and they should have the fittings earthed so they never build up a charge. Something went wrong.

[Chimo]

The issue is worse during periods of lower humidity too

Why dont the servos fit earthing leads as we find at aviation fueling points at airstips? Reel it out, clip it onto the object being fueled and reel it up when finished.

Obviously small ie 25l and less containers, need to be sat on the ground before the pump nozzle is engaged for filling.

Cheers
Chimo

[Steeler]

The issue is worse during periods of lower humidity too

Why dont the servos fit earthing leads as we find at aviation fueling points at airstips? Reel it out, clip it onto the object being fueled and reel it up when finished.

Obviously small ie 25l and less containers, need to be sat on the ground before the pump nozzle is engaged for filling.

Cheers
Chimo

Hi

Lifting a 25ltr container in & out of boat is ok for me but still not sure about the safest way to fill up a 50ltr plastic fuel tank as it is way toooo heavy to be lifting in & out.

Any tips most certainly appreciated.

Cheers

Steve

[oldboot]

some footwear (typicaly hard plastic soles) has very good insulating properties.......so ....that is that one.

some 4L metal fuel tins have a plastic handle or a plastic comfort moulding.

so lady steps out of car...( car is charged insulated by tyres, suspension bushes and so on...)
takes metal tin out of car by insulated handle.......insulated child proff lid......tin remains charged
tin contains small amount of petrol and mixture of fuel and air.
picks up nozzle (earthed)
possibly starts filling without touching the tin with the nozzle ( maybe not)
at some point the nozzle gets close to the charged tin and ZAP....KAPOW......OH $H1T

there is a video going arround of exactly that.

yes the bouser nozzle is always earthed.

as for the 50L tank.......As I said before.....your biggest risk is a fuel spill.....so take care.... hold the nozzle and grab the side of the boat to disipate any possible static.....you should not be able to draw an arc to a plastic container.

cheers

[lee8sec]

For those from page 2 that wonder why the car is ok, here are some pic's of the earth wire on a commadore fill neck to the mount bolts on the plastic tank. NO the boat isnt the same Leigh