On Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:22:09 -0500, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" fired this volley in
om:

It had been empty for over two years. It
was full of water, but it jumped five feet in the air and sprayed hot
water all over me and a neighbor. It peeled most of the crimped seam
apart, and destroyed the tank
--


Then, Michael, it wasn't gasoline fumes, it was welding gasses -- or....

if it was "full of water", how, exactly, did you get a volume of gas in
there to explode? Could it have been steam pressure, which you
inadvertently caused by trying to cut or weld on a part immersed in
water?

LLoyd
Nope - it was gasoline vapour. Had it happen to a friend on his 50's
ford tank. He'd flushed it with water, let it sit in the sun, and
filled it with water again - stood it against the shop wall and
started to braze it. It heaved and buckled and knocked him on his ass
on the other side of the driveway.
They figured out there was gasoline "locked in" to the rust where he
was doing the repair - perhaps 1/10 of a teaspoonfull at the very most
- and when he heated it, the rust was reduced to iron and oxygen -
which mixed with the gasoline with extremely un-expected and violent
results.

DON'T DO IT.

If the tank had been full of CO2, Nitrogen, or Argon (I prefer CO2),
the oxygen and gasoline vapours would have dissipated into the CO2,
instead of being trapped and concentrated - and combustion would have
been IMPOSSIBLE.