Wooden Bystander Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 (edited) We are often warned to keep mobile phones switched off within petrol stations. Failure to comply can apparently have explosive consequences. I have not been up to date with electronics since I persuaded a lightning bolt to hit a kite with a key attached, but it seems to me that a GPS receiver would probably be just as dangerous around combustible vapours. Is this so? I have searched on Google a little bit, but it's hard to find a place with the specific information I'm looking for (most of the hits talk about how you can use software to help you find petrol stations.) Edited September 16, 2004 by Wooden Bystander Quote Link to comment
+Smitherington Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 My Garmin Emap is always on but it is inside the car, powered via the cigarette lighter cable. And I am still here to tell you about it. Quote Link to comment
+planetrobert Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 they say the cell phone thing is an urban legend and basicly false, so i wouldn't worry about the gps either. Quote Link to comment
+AuntieWeasel Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 Anybody remember Eb pumping your gas with a cigarette hanging out of his face? There really isn't much of a vapor cloud around gas pumps, despite all the state regs and warning signs and rubber shields and stuff. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 We are often warned to keep mobile phones switched off within petrol stations. Failure to comply can apparently have explosive consequences. A lot of baloney. Nothing of the sort has ever happened. But this does bring to mind a petrol (or gasoline as we call it) incident with my wife and me. The wife was filling the tank and chatting to me as I was washing the winshield. There were two guys standing about 5 feet away chewing the fat. The wife wasn't paying attention and the gas began to overflow onto the ground (I guesss the auitomatic shutoff was defective). I hear one of the guys let out an indignant scream at my wife "Hey, watch what you're doing lady, we're smoking here!". And the other guy chimes in with "What's wrong with you!". I look and the two of them are standing there, puffing away. Quote Link to comment
+Sputnik 57 Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 A recent "Mythbusters" episode on TV debunked this myth. They filled a small Lexan room with gas vapor and tried to get it to explode with a cell phone. No luck. They then rigged it with a tiny exposed static electricity spark (not generated with a cell phone), and boom! According to a representative from some gasoline safety council they interviewed, there is NO documented case of a cell phone (or a GPSr) causing a fire or explosion, but the myth persists. According to the expert, there are occasional fires while filling your tank, almost always caused by the person re-entering the car while the tank is filling, sliding their polyester slacks across the seat, then getting back out and grabbing the nozzle or touching the car near the nozzle. The static electricity they generate sets off a spark that ignites the gas. The vapor burns off quickly and the flame dies out UNLESS the person panics (wouldn't you?), and pulls the still-flowing nozzle from the car. Then the gas gushing from the nozzle ignites and a disaster results. Moral: While reading the gas station's GPS coordinates to your buddy on your cell phone, don't get back into the car. If you do, touch some part of the metal car frame far from the gas cap before returning to the nozzle. Failing even that, step away from the pump and hit the emergency shut off. Quote Link to comment
+CompuCash Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 Urban legend or not - true or false - [there was tv video purported to be showing the cell phone causing a gas pump fire ] concidence? who knows - the reason the cell phone is purported to have casused this problem is because it is a transmitter. Transmitters release energy into the airways. Your GPS is a receiver and cannot cause this kind of problem. It does not transmit energy - it receives it. Has anyone ever heard of a playing radio (redeiver) of any kind causing this kind of problem. Quote Link to comment
+geojeeper74 Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 It is a hoax. Read this link from the Petroleum Equipment Institute. Quote Link to comment
+Prime Suspect Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 Yep, it's garbage. Check out Snopes. Quote Link to comment
+tirediron Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 Urban legend or not - true or false - [there was tv video purported to be showing the cell phone causing a gas pump fire ] concidence? who knows - the reason the cell phone is purported to have casused this problem is because it is a transmitter. Transmitters release energy into the airways. Your GPS is a receiver and cannot cause this kind of problem. It does not transmit energy - it receives it. Has anyone ever heard of a playing radio (redeiver) of any kind causing this kind of problem. Not true. Every receiver (in fact virtually every electric device) also transmits a certain amount of RF energy into the air. Granted a very, very small amount, which has an infentesimal chance of causing a problem, but it's still transmitting. That said, the density of gas vapours that would be required before a consumer electronic device located IN your car could ignite would likely kill you long before they were ignited! Quote Link to comment
+CompuCash Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 (edited) Urban legend or not - true or false - [there was tv video purported to be showing the cell phone causing a gas pump fire ] concidence? who knows - the reason the cell phone is purported to have casused this problem is because it is a transmitter. Transmitters release energy into the airways. Your GPS is a receiver and cannot cause this kind of problem. It does not transmit energy - it receives it. Has anyone ever heard of a playing radio (redeiver) of any kind causing this kind of problem. Not true. Every receiver (in fact virtually every electric device) also transmits a certain amount of RF energy into the air. Granted a very, very small amount, which has an infentesimal chance of causing a problem, but it's still transmitting. That said, the density of gas vapours that would be required before a consumer electronic device located IN your car could ignite would likely kill you long before they were ignited! yes of course - the local oscillator in a standard AM radio radiates quite a bit of crap - but I was trying to keep it simple - a standard receiver does not radiate anywhere near the energy a transmitter does. I used to watch my dad light up 6 foot florescent bulbs up to 3' off the antenna on the rear of his car when he keyed his ham rig. And it was specially designed as a low power transmitter. So there certainly is energy there. Edited September 16, 2004 by CompuCash Quote Link to comment
+tirediron Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 Urban legend or not - true or false - [there was tv video purported to be showing the cell phone causing a gas pump fire ] concidence? who knows - the reason the cell phone is purported to have casused this problem is because it is a transmitter. Transmitters release energy into the airways. Your GPS is a receiver and cannot cause this kind of problem. It does not transmit energy - it receives it. Has anyone ever heard of a playing radio (redeiver) of any kind causing this kind of problem. Not true. Every receiver (in fact virtually every electric device) also transmits a certain amount of RF energy into the air. Granted a very, very small amount, which has an infentesimal chance of causing a problem, but it's still transmitting. That said, the density of gas vapours that would be required before a consumer electronic device located IN your car could ignite would likely kill you long before they were ignited! yes of course - the local oscillator in a standard AM radio radiates quite a bit of crap - but I was trying to keep it simple - a standard receiver does not radiate anywhere near the energy a transmitter does. I used to watch my dad light up 6 foot florescent bulbs up to 3' off the antenna on the rear of his car when he keyed his ham rig. And it was specially designed as a low power transmitter. So there certainly is energy there. Quote Link to comment
Wooden Bystander Posted September 16, 2004 Author Share Posted September 16, 2004 Bck when the rumours first started getting passed around I leaned towards the side that claimed it was a myth. It's always nice to think that you have disentangled yourself from hysteria. Then I started seeing signs in petrol stations warning against the use of mobile phones, and so I felt it was best to believe it. Looks like I'm back in the "myth" camp. This time it's even better because I have disentangled myself from a hysteria which has manifested itself in official signs. Quote Link to comment
+geojeeper74 Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 Bck when the rumours first started getting passed around I leaned towards the side that claimed it was a myth. It's always nice to think that you have disentangled yourself from hysteria. Then I started seeing signs in petrol stations warning against the use of mobile phones, and so I felt it was best to believe it. Looks like I'm back in the "myth" camp. This time it's even better because I have disentangled myself from a hysteria which has manifested itself in official signs. Yeah, I've noticed the same signs on pumps in my area also. I guess they feel its better to be safe than sorry for liability reasons. Quote Link to comment
+Sputnik 57 Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" Quote Link to comment
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