Propane Safety

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Mike Goad

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Posts
307
I was doing some surfing of Google news and came accross an article on a recent propane explosion in an RV

"The force of the blast ripped the roof off the RV, sent windows flying about 30 feet, gave Paulson second-degree burns on his forehead and face and singed the man?s hair to his skull."

The full article, Propane blast destroys RVPropane blast destroys RV, is on the site of the publication Sandy Post
 
That's sad to see Mike, especially given the guy was fulltiming. Seems like he was lucky not to be killed.
 
The cause was too much propane in the air when he was trying to light the stove.

If there was enough gas to cause an explosion -- especially an explosion large enough to destroy his RV--, there should have been enough to be able to smell it.

As has been discussed on this forum, if you can smell propane while you're trying to light the propane in an appliance, it's better to back off for a while and let the propane dissipate (it may be necessary to provide some ventilation).

As can be seen in the article, the conseqences of too high a concentration of propane in an enclosed space combined with an ignition source can be catastrophic.

He's fortunate to have escaped alive.
 
Its hard to believe there are still RVs out there without a propane detector system of some kind on board. This used to happen all too often but has pretty much disappeared because of detectors and auto shut-offs.
 

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