Originally Posted By: sdowney717
The idea wont just go away even with all the negatives. When you smell anhydrous ammonia, it is not instant or certain death.
That's all fine, and yes, it can be knocked down with water spray. That's all common knowledge in the dangerous goods regulations. The issue about it is exactly the point where "most people will seek relief." You can spill a boatload of gas, diesel, propane, or natural gas. They're all going to stink to high heaven. They all have various levels of flammability. However, none of their odours are going to stop you from, say, walking to the emergency shut off and turning the pumps down, or hitting an alarm, or whatever.
If you walk into a cloud of ammonia, you're going to know it, and you WILL stop. You won't "suck it up" and walk to the emergency shut off, or think it's just a bad small and breathe through your mouth. Anhydrous ammonia is not like that, whatsoever.
Believe me and Shannow about this. Ammonia filling stations have windsocks for a very good reason. When filling ammonia, you are required to stay upwind - again, for a very good reason.
In a university chemistry class, we had to use some anhydrous ammonia for some experiment. I foolishly wanted to compare its odour to that of, say, laundry ammonia. There was less than 10 mL of the stuff released, and I almost ended up on the floor.
As for fuel rationing and peak oil and all that other business, please be cautious. This isn't a place for political debate and I'd hate to see an interesting thread closed because of an argument over whether peak oil is a government invention, oil company invention, scientific folly, or scientific truth; or whether Big Brother is going to regulate us back to the horse and buggy era.
