Gasoline gives of lots of fumes. I’m afraid of gasoline, but I could just be a weenie.

 

I'm a weenie. Gas is bad.

 

Flammables should be stored in an approved cabinet vented to the outside or put in an shed outside the shop whether you have a wood stove or not.

 

Good advice. One grinder spark or even just a motor starting can ignite gasoline fumes. That stuff is dangerous. In a class by itself.

 

Install a camera system, I'd love to see the videos...

Gas and wood stoves can be an explosive combo

https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2017/07/04/207665878926540469/640x360_MP4_207665878926540469.mp4

 

ANY flammables should NEVER be stored near an ignition source period.

Storing gasoline inside a building is asking for a big problem.

A highschool rival wound up blowing himself up when he and his dad were storing propane tanks in their garage and he went one day to do something and boom!

Remove ALL the flammables!

 

Thanks, that's kinda where I needed help. Something like a lean-to on the side of the shop, away from where we are? Similar to the propane tank kiosk at the gas stations?

Concern is I have 200 bucks invested in plastic gas cans, and in the Texas heat they and the gas would have issues. Shop is laid out so that even in 105F, it never gets above 85F, so my gas cans don't get exposed to the extreme heat.

 

Souinds like you have all ready made your mind up to store gasoline in your shop. Good luck, hope you and your family survive the pending explosion and fire.

 

I don't keep gas around any wood stoves, but at work we do all sorts of welding, grinding and use various torches(road torch, cutting torch and soldering torch) and our heating system is a natural gas fire open to the inside of the building.

At any given time we have 60-90 pounds of propane, and 2 to 20 gallons of gasoline in cans (if it is more than 5 gallons it is usually in a cabinet designed for storing fuel if it is less than 5 gallons it is usually in the bed of the truck) As well as 30 gallons of gas and 200 gallons of diesel in the fuel tanks of the equipment. And we haven't had an incident(yet)

About the only precaution we take is to keep the gas cabinet on the opposite end of the shop from where we do metal working.

I personally feel that the bigger the building and the less fuel you store the safer it can be. It also makes a difference if the fuel is stored properly.

 

Well not that situation exactly but most shops i've worked in had grounded vapour storage bins that were vented outside. You keep all your flammable solvents in it as we had lots of sparks flying around. Even battery banks people have for solar systems can vent explosive vapours. I would recommend that for your situation.

 

Treat your building like it was the HAZMAT section of a warehouse.

Develop a cordial and trustful contact w/ area fire dept. Then ask for some guidance.

There's a chart with much narrative known as LSGC ... from a fading memory believe it stands for Loading and Storage Group compatability, eg don't store the oxidizers next to the corrosives.

After I use a spare gas can, it stays outside until cleaned w/ solvent and days later when gas and solvent evaporated - and container throughly washed down - will it be placed in a section of barn.

 

In a previous life, I went thru a lot of training and earned some hard experience with fire and flammable liquids. Personally, I wouldn’t work in a space where gasoline was stored. It is profoundly hazardous.

 

It's all about controlling vapours. I worked in aircraft fuel tanks most of my career. Some of the jobs caused sparks inside the tanks but with continuous venting it prevents explosions.

 

Ah Hah !

So TWA flight 800 with problems over Jamaica Bay, JFK airport area didn't properly vent the tanks.

Exarmy, I know you're familiar with the loss of Arrow Air over Gander, Newfoundland circa 1985 (?). One of the widows (since remarried) near here.

Would love to learn the real "what really happened". You'd know this stuff.

 

We must have a lot of OSHA inspectors here. I have worked in wood heated repair shops (montana) for years. The other thing for me is lower temps tend to make gas less volatile and our climate here tends to be a bit cooler than the hades like temps in the south. Right now we have 25 gallons of gas stored in five gallon plastic heavy duty gas cans in the shop which is heated by a wood stove and a pellet stove.
One shop I worked in had the wood stove up on legs since the rule was two feet above the floor since most vapors like propane and gas sink to the floor.
Gasoline is very detectable to the human nose and most people will smell it in very low concentrations, before it becomes a problem for explosions or fume poisonings .
A lot depends on how air tight your shop is I suppose, I usually have a gas can or two in my art welding shop but it is drafty and I store the large quantities outside in sealed 55 gallon barrels. There is a real danger in mixing combustibles just ask a rural firefighter why they don't like garage fires.

 

Since you mention it, I have been thru many, many, many inspections, military and OSHA and MSHA. State fire marshals, county fire marshals, insurance consultants, utility companies, refineries, railroads….

Probably most people here have used gasoline to get a recreational fire going. Half a cup of gas poured on some wood and then lit? You know that big whoosh when it lights? Imagine your whole shop going whoosh like that, with you standing in the middle of it.

Probably less life changing than spending 6 months in a burn ward getting skin grafts, but also consider that if your shop burns down, and your insurance investigator determines improperly stored gasoline caused it, and they will, they’re not gonna pay up.

 

Bill,

That is just the thing. People get away with doing stupid **** for so long they get complacent, assuming there must be no problem continuing the behavior. Then in the blink of an eye it jumps up and bites them in the ass. Once the arson investigator writes his report their insurance company says "Claim denied due to negligence on the insured's part."

You should see the clause in the terms and conditions of my policy about the storage of flammables with specific mention of black powder. I recommend all y'all check your insurance documents for such requirements.

 

We bought our place with a 4 ft deep steel lined fire pit well away from the house. I use it to store my 40 gal. of gasoline. Propane is also stored in the backyard outside in a metal site box with spring loaded lid.

T

 

Yup. Really easy solution for OP.

Separate storage shed/out building whatever for volatiles.

 

I don't store my gasoline in the shop, that's what a shed is for. all the other flammables (and there are a lot of them in my shop) I don't worry about because they are in sealed containers. my shop is 30x40, wood stove in one corner and hanging open flame propane heater on the other side as backup.

the only fire I had was when I made a homemade candle with homemade wicks I left burning overnight to see how long it would burn (stupid, stupid, stupid). it burned down and cracked the glass jar and the wax melted all over my workbench and caught fire, I estimate 3 minutes before I just happened to walk in and put it out the next morning.

I was lucky...but it still didn't cach any chemicals or even the oily workbench on fire, just the wax and some empty plastic totes.

remember, almost anything is flammable, just don't let anything burn un tended...if you have a wood stove, make sure it is out when you leave.

 

Personaly I dont store any fuel in my garage. It's all In a open side shed. Thst being said i have a wood stove in my 24x24 garage.

 

You could put in a flammables cabinet and vent it to the outside. Big, yellow, with painted letters on the front.

 

Good thread going here. Right now i am taking some time off work but normally I am busy working on motorcycle and four wheeler carbs. Us old guys know what's what without plugging in a engine analyzer to the fuel injection system. I regularly drain gas tanks and carbs and function test carbs when done rebuilding them. Sometimes you need

to do things to get the job done.
The only fires we seem to have around here are arson or obvious sloppy woodstoves or propane leaks from home made systems.
I love montana, few government inspectors and people are expected to know what they are doing.....and if you are stupid or careless you get the natural consequences. Kind of like self reliant survival in the hostile environment that is coming at you.

 

I really have no knowledge of either of those crashes as they were American flights. The TWA explosion always appeared to me as a missile strike but we did lots of fuel tank sensor and wiring modifications to all our aircraft after that investigation. My thoughts are only that. The Arrow Air crash was attributed to ice build up on the wing leading edges. This has caused many aircraft to crash. There was dissenting agreement by the investigation board ,some said there was an explosion. The Canadian government finally got rid of the Canadian Aviation Safety Board over the arguments on this crash. The investigation was then closed. They formed a new government agency,Transportation Safety Board of Canada after that. I'm sure all the dissenting inspectors were out of work after that. Conspiracies always have reasons for coming about.

 

Thank you for reply E.

 

I want to put in a cast iron stove to heat it, but my concern is all of the flammables I store in there.

Quite seriously, you might ask your insurance company what they have to say on the matter. No matter how safe it is, if the insurance company says it voids the policy or they otherwise won't pay off on any damage, then you might not want to do it.

 

I have a similar question also. I'm hoping to build a garage with a house walled off inside it. If I can, the woodstove would be in the house, separated from the garage and gas. Would the stovePIPE going through the cieling of the house, through the open-air in the shop to passively heat that, then through the metal roof be bad?

 

Stove pipes and how to run them thru walls or roofs is proven science. Also the height above the roof and any high points of the roof.
It is also expensive to buy the really good double or triple wall pipe. i always try to run my stove pipe as close to vertical as possible. and thru any roofs or walls use the triple or double wall pipe.
The best wood stove i ever did was in a 30 foot dome with the wood stove in the center and a rock backdrop for the the stove and pipe. Black single wall pipe to the roof where i had double wall thru the roof. The wind could blow from any direction and the stove always drew well. Lots of heat, so much that I had to use a blower in the loft to blow some heat down into the bathroom.

 

NFPA 211 states:

Location of Appliances.

12.2.4 Solid fuel burning appliances shall not be installed in any garage.

Additionally, 12.2.3 forbids installation anywhere gasoline or other flammable vapors may be present. https://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/AboutTheCodes/211/211-F2002-rop.pdf

Also your insurance company might have restrictions.

 

You have your own copy of the NFPA standards? A man after my own heart!

 

We can’t have a stove here with garage doors and a garage floor must pitch out so gas and fumes will head out the door if the car leaks .
Metal cans are very safe the lids seal and the vapor can’t get out if the can is filled to the
fill line .
My gas is in the shed but I do run a generator in there I mite have to do some thing about that

 

Ever see someone smoking while gassing up their car?

 

Big nope. I'd move your flammable storage or not go with an open flame type heater. Same goes for propane, natural gas, etc.. any open flame source I'd avoid unless you can relocate your flammables.

 

Lots of people saying it's a bad idea.
A few saying it's OK.
Ever thought that might be because many of the others who would claim it's OK,
have discovered that there is no internet in the afterlife.