Denny Wheeler wrote:

>
> Is this the place where I mention the house fire that almost killed me
> and my mother? The one that was caused by a natural gas heating
> system?
>
> I don't know about the tank you had, but every single propane tank
> I've ever seen has had a shutoff valve attached.
>
> There can be catastrophic fires from NG and from propane. And from
> wood and charcoal. (probably more from charcoal than any of the other
> 3 mentioned fuels)
>
> But as for your "this has nothing to do with which is hotter but
> rather a potential safety issue," the OP was curious about exactly the
> item you dismiss, namely which burns hotter. <shrug> I work at a
> factory which makes wood, pellet, and gas stoves & fireplaces; the gas
> ones are rated at the same heating capacity with NG or LP.
> (we have to do very extensive testing, btw--EPA sees to that)

I have nothing against LP, except that it's a pain making sure the tank
is full. We had a central LP tank at our cabin, feeding a 180kBTU
central boiler, water heater and a gas grill out back. It was all
plumbed in black iron with shut offs at the tank, where it entered the
house and at each "local" connection as well.

We had another house fire years back where I took too long exiting the
house, trying to corral and save our dog. The fire origin had nothing to
do with LP or NG, except that it was near where I'd stored a spare LP
tank for my grill. I was separated by a drywalled wall from a freshly
filled 20# LP tank that exploded. The blast blew the wall out, pelted
me with shredded wall tile and moved me about 6' down the hallway. It
also buckled the floor above and destroyed another wall. It was all a
moot point, because the house burned to the ground anyway. I escaped
with only some scuffed knees, elbows, but had concussive lung damage
from the blast and also chemical burns from various fumes to the lungs.

Since then, I really don't permit LP tanks inside my house or garage-
even for storage. Autos are reluctantly accepted. I also now will never
bring a gasoline container into a house or garage or store a genset,
pressure washer, mower, blower etc. within the house, garage or basement
unless the tank is dry. Once (almost) burned, twice shy as the old
saying goes. <Grin>
--
---Nonnymus---

TINSTAAFL
There Is No Such Thing
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