Petrol tanker up in smoke

[LandyAndy]

A petrol tanker blew up delivering fuel to a servo in Perth today,only saw clips of it on the news when I came home.
Awesome,best is it was confined to one compartment of the trailer.Just shows hows safe they are.
No injurys reported
Andrew

[Sleepy]

IS this it?
YouTube - Maddington Woolworths Petrol Station Tanker Fire

[Rangier Rover]

IS this it?
YouTube - Maddington Woolworths Petrol Station Tanker Fire (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m-VgWwfh0c)

I am amazed how quickly that got suppressed....

Tony

[Sleepy]

hope no one as hurt - looks nasty:eek:

[lardy]

makes you proud to be a sand groper you don't get barbies like that in the eastern states ......my steak was overdone doah :cool:

[CraigE]

Wish I had been there. Love stuff like that, what I live for:wasntme::angel:
Thank goodness no one was hurt. Will contact a couple of the fireys in Perth I know that probablly attended.
All good and only the one compartment appeared to go up and none of the service station tanks.
Some indication it may have been from some dipstick smoking and vapours from the truck decant hose.:mad:

[McDisco]

Dang!! That went up really well!:twisted:

[Slunnie]

Reminds me of lighting the BBQ. :angel:

[Cap]

damn, wasnt expecting that second fireball!!! :eek:

[Newbs-IIA]

Wow they have yellow poles on their traffic lights in WA, not like out booring gal-coated ones here in QLD

[Gold_TD5]

I'm reckon I know how that happened, with the exclusion of bad luck or faulty equipment.
Looks like he has dropped (unloaded) diesel and petrol together, probably with his vapour recovery connected.
Diesel creates a huge amount of static electricity, so its always unloaded by it self and ALWAYS unloaded first and never unloaded at the same time as petrol.
Except for the obvious danger of a flammable liquid, fuel can can be loaded/unloaded quite safely if all procedures are followed.
For those who don't know, petrol vaporises at -43 and will flash and burn at -39, so unless your in one of the Arctic circles, always treat petrol (vapour) with the utmost respect.

Cheers Lionel

[lardy]

I'm reckon I know how that happened, with the exclusion of bad luck or faulty equipment.
Looks like he has dropped (unloaded) diesel and petrol together, probably with his vapour recovery connected.
Diesel creates a huge amount of static electricity, so its always unloaded by it self and ALWAYS unloaded first and never unloaded at the same time as petrol.
Except for the obvious danger of a flammable liquid, fuel can can be loaded/unloaded quite safely if all procedures are followed.
For those who don't know, petrol vaporises at -43 and will flash and burn at -39, so unless your in one of the Arctic circles, always treat petrol (vapour) with the utmost respect.

Cheers Lionel

and that is why i only drive a diesel

[subasurf]

I saw this explosion in person, albeit, from a distance. I was up on a hill, a long way away and sore the massive flameball shoot up in the sky. For a moment I thought it was a plane crash as it was in the same line of sight for me as the airport.

[tempestv8]

What a shame, all that fuel is gone. Could have fed my Disco for a couple of years! ;)

[Michael96130]

I'm reckon I know how that happened, with the exclusion of bad luck or faulty equipment.
Looks like he has dropped (unloaded) diesel and petrol together, probably with his vapour recovery connected.
Diesel creates a huge amount of static electricity, so its always unloaded by it self and ALWAYS unloaded first and never unloaded at the same time as petrol.
Except for the obvious danger of a flammable liquid, fuel can can be loaded/unloaded quite safely if all procedures are followed.
For those who don't know, petrol vaporises at -43 and will flash and burn at -39, so unless your in one of the Arctic circles, always treat petrol (vapour) with the utmost respect.

Cheers Lionel

Close but no cigar it was a full load of petrol (1203) and the driver has been seen on the security cameras to have followed all proper safe discharge procedures. Lucky for him and TOLL.

Michael.

[wayne]

I have just heard that they suspect a bad earth on the servos fill box but this is unconfirmed

[V8Ian]

I'm reckon I know how that happened, with the exclusion of bad luck or faulty equipment.
Looks like he has dropped (unloaded) diesel and petrol together, probably with his vapour recovery connected.
Diesel creates a huge amount of static electricity, so its always unloaded by it self and ALWAYS unloaded first and never unloaded at the same time as petrol.
Except for the obvious danger of a flammable liquid, fuel can can be loaded/unloaded quite safely if all procedures are followed.
For those who don't know, petrol vaporises at -43 and will flash and burn at -39, so unless your in one of the Arctic circles, always treat petrol (vapour) with the utmost respect.

Cheers Lionel
Who told you that?
The discharge hoses earth the vehicle to eliminate static. Tankers are loaded up to three compartments simultaniously, with any combination of product.

[LandyAndy]

Hey Mike
When I saw it on the news I was relieved to see it wasnt your tanker:cool::cool::cool:
Havent seen any of your trucks thru town lately.
Andrew

[Michael96130]

Who told you that?
The discharge hoses earth the vehicle to eliminate static. Tankers are loaded up to three compartments simultaniously, with any combination of product.

V8Ian,
Lional is completely correct about the discharge procedure.
The static builds up when ever there is movement between two different surfaces. The more dense the product the more static is produced.
Oil is very thick and produces high amounts of static,but has a high flash point.
During the discharge of diesel, there is a surface tension. The same as the tension that leaves your beer a couple of mil deep on the bar top when you had your elbow bumped. And it is between the tanker and the surface of the diesel as the level lowers where it sparks.The diesel is producing static as it flows out of the compartment at a rate up to 800 liters per minute.
When petrol is unloaded a vapor recovery hose is used to take the highly volatile petrol vapors back into the tanker, not the sort of stuff you would want with sparks.
On loading you are right, up to three compartments @1500-2100 Lpm. But no sparks as if there where any they would be smothered as the level rises.

Michael.

[Michael96130]

Andrew
I haven't been down latley, but we still go to Albany 2-3 times a week.

Mick:)

[V8Ian]

V8Ian,
Lional is completely correct about the discharge procedure.
The static builds up when ever there is movement between two different surfaces. The more dense the product the more static is produced.
Oil is very thick and produces high amounts of static,but has a high flash point.
During the discharge of diesel, there is a surface tension. The same as the tension that leaves your beer a couple of mil deep on the bar top when you had your elbow bumped. And it is between the tanker and the surface of the diesel as the level lowers where it sparks.The diesel is producing static as it flows out of the compartment at a rate up to 800 liters per minute.
When petrol is unloaded a vapor recovery hose is used to take the highly volatile petrol vapors back into the tanker, not the sort of stuff you would want with sparks.
On loading you are right, up to three compartments @1500-2100 Lpm. But no sparks as if there where any they would be smothered as the level rises.

Michael.
I am not disputing the facts on static, I am disputing that diesel and motor spirit are not unloaded similtainiously. Vapour recovery is only a reletively new innovation, if the service station was built for Woolies it would be equipped with such; but an older station taken over by them may not be. If static caused the incident then the the discharge hose(s) were faulty
Re the loading, the sparks are not, as such smothered but the static is earthed by the scully. The greatest potential for static is loading diesel into a compartment previously containing a motor spirit.
BTW, the truck would not have been carrying 40,000 litres, as claimed by the media.

[Gold_TD5]

Who told you that?
The discharge hoses earth the vehicle to eliminate static. Tankers are loaded up to three compartments simultaniously, with any combination of product.

Correct, LOADED, with a vapour recovery system, where the vapour is getting pushed out of the compartment and a Scully grounding lead in use.
Unloading is a totally different thing.
You cannot eliminate static, only give it a path to follow.

[Gold_TD5]

Close but no cigar it was a full load of petrol (1203) and the driver has been seen on the security cameras to have followed all proper safe discharge procedures. Lucky for him and TOLL.

Michael.

I heard that it was an all petrol load after my post;) but like stated, excluding bad luck or faulty equipment what the cause would be.
As I said, petrol vaporises at a very low temperature in turn it makes the flash point very low.
Someone wearing polyester clothing exiting a car at a servo can generate enough static to provide an ignition source to cause a fire.

[V8Ian]

Correct, LOADED, with a vapour recovery system, where the vapour is getting pushed out of the compartment and a Scully grounding lead in use.
Unloading is a totally different thing.
You cannot eliminate static, only give it a path to follow.
Whilst not being able to eliminate static, you can eliminate the arcing (sparking) which is what ignites the vapour. This is done through the scully whilst loading and the discharge hoses whilst unloading.

[Gold_TD5]

Whilst not being able to eliminate static, you can eliminate the arcing (sparking) which is what ignites the vapour. This is done through the scully whilst loading and the discharge hoses whilst unloading.

Let me get this clear, your saying that it's fine to drop petrol and diesel together at a servo?
Because the hoses are earthed from the tank to the ground tank?

[LandyAndy]

Hi Mick
Are your trucks now"Deakin Recources" or similar???
Saw a double droping fuel at the Liberty roadhouse at Bannister this morning and also passed him on his home trip just south of Armadale.
Also saw the same double in Albany over Easter.
Andrew

[V8Ian]

Let me get this clear, your saying that it's fine to drop petrol and diesel together at a servo?
Because the hoses are earthed from the tank to the ground tank?
Do it all the the time

[Michael96130]

Hi Mick
Are your trucks now"Deakin Recources" or similar???
Saw a double droping fuel at the Liberty roadhouse at Bannister this morning and also passed him on his home trip just south of Armadale.
Also saw the same double in Albany over Easter.
Andrew
G'Day Andy, yep thats 1 of the trucks, but not me.

Mick

[Michael96130]

Do it all the the time
Me too, old sites with no vapor recovery.

[V8Ian]

Only ever delivered to two sites with vapour recovery (both Woolies) and dropped 3 or 4 compartments together, remote chance of all hoses being defective, specially as it is a one man truck and I do a visual inspection every time I use the gear.