Oh poop! I gassed myself.

[obanvanman]

Well actually I got lpg'd by the van.

After visiting those lovely people at Vanbitz I decided to take advantage of the Sainsburys garage in
Taunton and fill up with LPG.
First of all I must say that I am always careful when filling up and have done it on numerous occasions.
I bent down with the nozzle, I now always check the thing after an interesting experience in Jerez, when
I squeezed the trigger before connecting and the thing was already live.
Having checked all was ok I lined it up so that it was square to the vans filler and as I connected the
nozzle to the van a burst of LPG exploded out and covered my arm.
Ok..blah blah should have had long sleeves..blah blah gloves..blah blah full NBC suit.
Anyhoo....
It covered my forearm which I very quickly wiped off, ran in to the van and soaked it for several minutes
in the water that Eddie had just kindly provided.
Said forearm is now red but doesn't hurt and will keep an eye on it. I have obviously read up on it
with regards to frost bite and ongoing problems. I think I got it in time.
Has any one else had this happen or known of it?
I am assuming there is/was a stuck valve somewhere.
Yes it was professionally fitted 4 years ago and I had it checked over last year by a gas engineer.
I always travel with it turned off, keeps the Mrs happy, but was told it doesn't make any difference when
filling.
Kev

 

[funflair]

Could be the forecourt installation, a couple of years ago I used one that was on and pressurised just waiting for the trigger to be pulled, the gas only stopped when I pushed the button to start it.

Ended up shutting it down

Martin

 

[obanvanman]

I agree with you, although I did pull the trigger first. Just wonder if connecting it to the van caused pressure from the previous fill to be released.

Kev

 

[Langtoftlad]

Didn't @Snowbird have a similar incident?
.I may be mistaken about the Funster but I know that similar occurred

 

[Gellyneck]

Are you sure you're not more concerned by the amount of lpg you've potentially "wasted" as opposed to the damage to your arm? Hope arm gets better quickly.
"Funnily" enough just got a Safefill cylinder and took it for it's first fill this morning. The lady filling it explained how to do it, etc and when she disconnected it there was some "blow-back" and she said "and that's why you wear gloves, etc". Fortunately, no damage done to herself.

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[Dorwyn]

I've got to do my second "solo" fill tomorrow, the first one in Portugal did not go too well, no blow back or anything, it just didn't flow right. So thanks for the warning, I'll take care and wear gloves etc.

Good to know about Sainsbury's Taunton too. Another one on my list of potentials

 

[Snowbird]

Didn't @Snowbird have a similar incident?
.I may be mistaken about the Funster but I know that similar occurred

Yup, you are right, it was me in Portugal. I did not have chance to press the button, the damned thing covered me in LPG as soon as I connected to the truck. I was not filling a bottle, but a fixed tank on a Dodge Ram. Strangely enough another customer got bit by the same pump some weeks later. The whole of my arm, back of my hand and fingers blistered and I finished up having hospital treatment for some time. A great way to have tattoos removed from your arm. When filling up now I dress more like a Chernobyl rescue worker than a motorhomer.

 

[olley]

I was watching the Royal Institution Lectures on youtube a while back, and one of the lecturers was pouring liquid nitrogen down his bare arm as a demo. He said that as the nitrogen touched his arm a small layer vapourised, and kept the liquid of his arm, the liquid flowed down his arm on a cushion of gas. He did it several times, impressive but not something I think I would try.

 

[Wh05apk]

We filled up our new van in Taunton a couple of months ago after staying at vanbitz , nice cheap fill up, but I found the pump seemed to spill a lot more than just the usual blowback, thought it was just me....

 

[GWAYGWAY]

If it WAS attached, there can be no leak and the van cannot backfire if the connection was not there to open the valve. There is a valve in the garage headset that must also open and that must have been open first for gas to come out from anywhere. Or the seal is missing or damaged.

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[mitzimad]

There is always pressure in the filling equipment from the last user

 

[catspyjamas]

Scary stuff!
So glad that I've discovered Andy's Gas in Bristol (and right by the M5), where an attendant fills for you. As a bonus it's cheaper than using a garage as well.

 

[EX51SSS]

Yeah, the place in Bolton is the cheapest around and they fill up. Winner

 

[Gromett]

There was another thread recently about closing valve before filling.
I stated because I don't trust the garage to maintain any LPG pump I always close valve.

Not the point here, but for exactly the same reason I NEVER fill without long sleeves and gloves. I really don't trust the maintenance of these pumps having been bitten a few times.
I have seen them with missing shields and small leaks. I reported the leaking one and the girl said we know about that, it is ok an engineer will be out to sort it out next week

I know no use to you now, but for future, long sleeves and gloves perhaps? Very scary.

 

[Feltwell]

I've got an LPG car, have had for the past 7 years, do a lot of miles so fill up a lot, all over the country - I never use gloves or worry about what sleeves I have! I just get my hands out of the way quickly when I release the lock on the nozzle.

I much prefer the Gasguard gun-type nozzles to the lever type ones, the lever type ones always seem to give a more violent burst of gas when released.

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[The Wino]

I always wear leather welders gauntlets but maybe I need more protection

 

[Snowbird]

I must add, I am not a new motorhomer just getting used to LPG filling. I have been filling gas bottles and tanks for years, and sometimes with Micky Mouse adaptors. Have filled from bottle to bottle with one sitting on top of the van in the sun and the other in the shade under the van with no problem whatsoever. The time I got bit in Portugal I was filling the tank on an LPG powered truck from a garage forecourt with what I thought was a kosher pump. To this day, I do not believe it was anything I did wrong. Be warned and wear suitable protective gloves when handling LPG. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.

 

[obanvanman]

Absolutely long sleeves and gloves every time now.

For those of you about to have breakfast.....spoiler alert.

The extra piece of good news is the puppy got me saying hello.

Dont know why I put that laugh thing coz it really really hurt.

 

[Reallyretired]

I used my Spanish euro adaptor for the first time. It is one with a non return valve so you get a blowback when detaching the pump and another when unscrewing the adapter I have official cryo gloves.

 

[CazPaul]

These are what I stick on after a bad experience filling up in Germany, coupled with long sleeves.

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[Burgo]

Blimey. All that and it's highly inflammable as well. Something just doesn't seem right about the whole process somehow. With incidents like this surely it's only a matter of time until something goes horribly wrong? Surely somethings wrong somewhere??

 

[Fletton]

Have pumped in... 1377.24 ltrs since install on 12/07/2016...
No issues to date - [touches head (wood)]...

 

[denisejoe]

Quick question why squeeze the trigger before connecting to van?

 

[gus-lopez]

Good to know about Sainsbury's Taunton too. Another one on my list of potentials

Apart from the usually 20 deep queues every time I've been in there.

 

[JockandRita]

These are the gauntlets I use ........................every time, since learning of @Snowbird Dave's nasty experience.

Cheers,

Jock.

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[Minxy]

I've got some long fleece lined rubber gloves ... in a lovely shade of purple!

 

[Snowbird]

Blimey. All that and it's highly inflammable as well. Something just doesn't seem right about the whole process somehow. With incidents like this surely it's only a matter of time until something goes horribly wrong? Surely somethings wrong somewhere??

The simple answer to that is, several years ago LPG was available all over Spain. Because of several mishaps it became unavailable for a few years. Its only in recent years it has started to become available again. LPG and petrol are both highly flammable, the difference is, LPG will burn you without igniting it.

 

[Feltwell]

I've got some long fleece lined rubber gloves ... in a lovely shade of purple!

Yes, but what do you use when filling with LPG?

 

[Minxy]

Yes, but what do you use when filling with LPG?

Not telling ... but latex 'may' be involved!

 

[obanvanman]

Quick question why squeeze the trigger before connecting to van?

Because when we went to fill up in a Repsol garage in Jerez the bloody thing was live without me pressing anything on the pump.
I did fill up using it, put it back on the pump and then I took it off and tried again and it was still live.
I did report it. So it is just me trying to be careful.
Kev

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