Small Engine Repair Fire Safety lesson with Humor:

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From a web site on Generator Repair:

On fire safety:
These generators run on a highly flamable and volitle fuel: gasoline. You WILL spill a little gas if you work on them. If you are not careful or just unlucky you might spill a LOT of gas. If you are in the garage or basement with a gas water heater or furnace that could turn out to be a major problem.

Work outdoors. If you smoke, don't do it while you are working on the genny. Think about what you will do if you spill gas all over your workbench and it catches fire. Do you have a way to put it out? If you can't put it out, can you escape? If you have to escape the burning generator, will your whole house burn down?

Yes, I worry much. I once caught a motorcycle on fire while removing the fuel tank, and it was just luck that allowed me to get the large and growing fire put out and not lose the motorcycle or possibly even my house. Only a few melted wires. I have placed some reminders within this text at appropriate places. Please take these warnings seriously.

Oh one more thing: I did the experiment, and it turns out that profanity is not an effective way to put out a fire...though if you have a fire I suspect you will be repeating the experiment for yourself. Maybe it will work for you, but I recommend a class B rated fire extinguisher, preferably CO2, less messy.
 
Because of the fact that gasoline is such a common part of our daily lives, people tend to develop a cavalier attitude toward its dangers. YouTube is full of "funny" videos of people doing things like pouring gasoline on charcoal and subsequently throwing a flaming gas can across the yard, igniting other things, such as wooden fences, furniture, and house guests. Usually these people are also demonstrating the ineffectiveness of profanity in fighting fires.
 
Remember it's from a web site and not a manufacturer directly. Their lawyers won't let them write in such a dry humorous tone.
 
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA

Oh one more thing: I did the experiment, and it turns out that profanity is not an effective way to put out a fire...


LOL! Oh but how the words can flow so well in the heat of the moment (so to speak).

I had a old Kohler-K I was working on burst into flames on me when it backfired out the carb and lit-off it's marginal fuel line supplying the carb.

Luckily I was able to roll it out of the garage and snuff it out with an old towel. It was an old John Deere 110.

Joel
 
Back in the early 70's in our high-school years, we use to work on cars just as much for the fun of it, as much as for keeping them running. The unwritten unspoken rule of thumb was if it was your vehicle that was getting worked on that evening you did the work, but if it required more than one person to get it done, or just to get it done on a timely basis, then the others would pitch in and and help. Also if it was something you had never done before, the others would not do it for you, but would stay around to show you how to do it, or figure it out with you. And at the end of the evening if the person who owned the vehicle had any money left, they had to buy the pizza, but if they were short on cash everyone pitched in for the pizza.

Anyhow, we use to use that low cost cleaning fluid to clean parts, it only cost about 39 cents a gallon, but it was somewhat flamable (gasoline). So one day my brother two years younger than me, is sitting on the garage floor in dirty jeans, with his legs spread out straight in front of him like a V and he has a valve cover between his legs with about a half inch of liquid gasoline in it, and he is cleaning it with a round parts cleaning brush. My cousin who lived above the garage is standing by the front of the garage with the door open, and he lights a cigarette and throws the match down. The fumes flashed for only about a second, and after that my brother was sitting there with an upside down valve cover with flames dancing off of the lit gasoline for the entire length of the valve cover. But unbelievably he does not have any gasoline burning on him. Since there was stuff behind him and he had little room to move, with a brick wall to his left and the vehicle being worked on to his right, someone got the fire extinguisher and as he inched away, put out the valve cover with a cloud of powder from the extinguisher.
 
i all ready decided to buy my sons fire extinguishers for xmass. if you run Radio Control cars/trucks. the nitro fuel is mostly methanol, if it gets on fire, water will put it out. but mark the water jug, you dont want to put it in your RC, dont ask.
 
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