On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 18:20:02 GMT, "William Wixon"
wrote:

there have been posts about filling vessels with internal combustion engine
exhaust fumes as a in-a-pinch back purge. thing i was wondering was, isn't
carbon monoxide (as a component of exhaust gases) flammable/explosive?

The point with inert gas filling is to displace _oxygen_, usually
because the vessel is already unavoidably full of some flammable
hydrocarbon. If you can't stop there being fuel present, shut off the
oxidiser.