Here's what happened at Shell Fontwell.

[adonisito]

We live near there and always filled with gas, they've renovated the station so I went round to see if they still did gas and chatted to an employee.

They don't sell LPG anymore, he told me a hired van was filling with gas, the nozzle correctly attached, the bloke leaning on the button. Unbeknown to him there was a hairline crack in an interior gas pipe and some liquid gas was escaping downwards. However, a "Hot Rod " type car (his words) pulled up next to the van, with sparks coming from the exhaust, and that was it. All that was left was 4 tyre marks and the chassis. He told me that the insurance covered it, but Shell weren't replacing the LPG pump. Lots of interesting questions there for the insurers I'll bet, you suspect any hire company would be checking gas systems regularly. We now have to drive over to Littlehampton to fill.

 

[Minxy]

Is that the station where there was a thread recently showing images of a burnt out MH? We were all trying to guess at the cause ...

Ah, just found the thread, it appears to be the same one ... at least we know the cause now.

Broken Link Removed

 

[Rockcrawler]

We live near there and always filled with gas, they've renovated the station so I went round to see if they still did gas and chatted to an employee.

They don't sell LPG anymore, he told me a hired van was filling with gas, the nozzle correctly attached, the bloke leaning on the button. Unbeknown to him there was a hairline crack in an interior gas pipe and some liquid gas was escaping downwards. However, a "Hot Rod " type car (his words) pulled up next to the van, with sparks coming from the exhaust, and that was it. All that was left was 4 tyre marks and the chassis. He told me that the insurance covered it, but Shell weren't replacing the LPG pump. Lots of interesting questions there for the insurers I'll bet, you suspect any hire company would be checking gas systems regularly. We now have to drive over to Littlehampton to fill.

I live near there too and need to get some gas, is it Morissons in Littlehampton that do it ?

 

[adonisito]

Yes, Morissons. Cheaper than Shell too.

 

[peterc10]

How does he know there was a hairline crack in a gas pipe if all that was left was "4 tyre marks and the chassis". Bit difficult to ascertain the cause and my guess is the copper pipes have melted. Could just as easily have been a fault in the gun or nozzle, but that would make Shell responsible wouldn't it?

Cynical ....... moi?????

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[Two on Tour]

Cynical, not at all Peter, I think that you gave a perfectly rational appraisal, on that basis, can you explain Brexit to me please.

 

[pappajohn]

How does he know there was a hairline crack in a gas pipe if all that was left was "4 tyre marks and the chassis". Bit difficult to ascertain the cause and my guess is the copper pipes have melted. Could just as easily have been a fault in the gun or nozzle, but that would make Shell responsible wouldn't it?

Cynical ....... moi?????

Doubtful copper pipe would melt.
It has a melting point of just below 2000°c......the average vehicle fire is 1000°c

 

[peterc10]

Doubtful copper pipe would melt.
It has a melting point of just below 2000°c......the average vehicle fire is 1000°c

But only "4 tyre marks and the the chassis" left suggests otherwise.

And this will not be an "average" vehicle fire with two containers full of gas involved.

on that basis, can you explain Brexit to me please.

Nope

 

[pappajohn]

And this will not be an "average" vehicle fire with two containers full of gas involved.

And a soldering blowtorch contains the same gas mixed with the correct amount of oxygen to produce a concentrated blue flame but it won't melt copper.
Gas escaping the cylinders/tanks will burn yellow and be much cooler.
How can there be tyre marks and a chassis.... Did all the other metal melt too. Its a figure of speech.

 

[Pausim]

Perhaps he hadn’t been told to turn the gas cylinders off before filling. A cracked pipe doesn’t sound like the type of high pressure hose I would expect to find between filler and bottle. Would a 200psi surge from the filling pump be enough to break the regulator and split a low pressure pipe upstream of the regulator?

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