How many petrol stations blew up because someone used their mobile?

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Glentoran_FC	its prevention. there is a possibility that tyou could drop your phone causing a spark, you drop it on spilt petrol kaboom!!! Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

UCANTCME	Try bringing a cellphone into an oil refinery or a gas compressor station and you will be sacked immediately. Look up "Intrinsically Safe" (IS) electronics and you will see that it's quite possible for cellphones, 2 way radios etc to cause ignition. It's rare but a risk you don't want to take. AC, low voltage DC and analog control circuits have to go through intrinsically safe barriers before leaving the PLC panels and out into the field when you are dealing with a potentially explosive atmosphere. I'm amazed that it's legal anywhere to use cellphones at a gas station. Mythbusters is highly entertaining but they aren't scientists - they are SFX guys. Don't assume everything you see on TV is true Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Gryphon	The older analogue mobile phones had dodgy connections and a tendency to short out if wet (e.g. if it was raining) so they figured that it was best to keep them off where there was petrol vapour around. I worked at a petrol station at the time and as there was no research to prove it one way or the other, we took it seriously... These days, I think that phones are generally better made and the risk of sparking is minimal. I was in Jordan once and in a car taking me somewhere and the driver stopped for petrol. He left the car running, lit up a cigarette while filling the tank, lit the cigarette for the guy opposite him. Had a chat while the tank filled, cigarette in hand... and we didn't blow up. I think a lot of these petrol station rules are from when they were first build in the early 1900s and they've never been reassessed. (Apart from the mobile phones of course). Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

EUGENE B	Probably none - but it might. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

CindyW	None but watch the video and see if you want to use your phone next time you refuel. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EmzBwyTDRjA Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Nikki	Hmmm ive always wondered this I once played a game on my phone in a petrol station im still alive. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

alex959er@yahoo.com	You may or may not believe this but I have seen many people light their cigarettes in service stations... Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Dad's found yer scoo'er	Probably none. Nylon clothing is more of a risk due to static electricity.. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

rookethorne	It was not about the fire risk ,but the fact that early phones could mess up the pump metering system and basically charge you incorrectly. Obviously most people would be extremely pleased if they could get fuel for next to nothing so they wouldn't take any notice of a warning of this nature. Far better to make out there was an explosion risk - who is going to chance that? Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Gary G	Probably none, but it has saved the petrol stations a bit of money. Old phones and old pumps could interact nicely to prevent the driver being charged for all the fuel they pumped... Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

FRANK B the famous english one	i know of one when i was filling up my phone rang and i answered it at that moment a lorry crashed into one of the pumps and it all blow up Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Fast Reg	None. The causes of petrol station forecourt fires is static electricity building up in the hoses and triggers. We don't get this problem here in the UK because the trigger does not lock like they often do in the States. The fact that you have to stand there holding the pump handle while you fill your tank means that the static has an easy route to earth so that it never builds up into a dangerously high level. With locking triggers there is no route to earth so there is the potential for a spark as you reach out to take the handle when the pump stops. This can be dangerous because the site of the spark is right by the open filler neck where the air is going to be particularly enriched with fuel vapours. I have no idea what science was behind the ban on the use of mobile phones on petrol station forecourts, but I think it was a case of exercising caution with a comparatively unknown technology. It certainly hasn't saved any lives, but that's probably because none were at risk to start off with. EDIT CindyW: Thanks for the link. That video is actually enormously reassuring as it demonstrates exactly how much mobile usage is required to ignite the fuel, and even then only under specific lab conditions that are not replicated on a petrol station forecourt. In fact, if I'm being completely scientifically rigourous, I would have to conclude that this video proves very little indeed. The ignition is going to have been caused by static electricity that could have come from anywhere, even the tester's clothes. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

ianhad	None. A lot of garages have mobile phone re-transmitters on their roofs or signs. They are a lot more powerfull than a phone. I saw a security bloke in a garage, using a handheld radio, way more powerfull than a phone, telling off a customer for using a phone! I pointed out the problem, and his answer was- I'm allowed. Defeats the object doesn't it? Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

andy w	None. It has been proven time and again that using a mobile at a petrol station is not unsafe. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No