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Old     (Gnargnar)      Join Date: Aug 2012       01-23-2014, 8:32 PM Reply   
"Gasoline vapors are flammable" ....any stories of a water heater igniting fumes in a garage?
Old     (doubleup16)      Join Date: Sep 2007       01-23-2014, 8:42 PM Reply   
Yes, that is why the water heaters are typically 2' in the air. Gas fumes settle to the ground, so the flame from the water heater won't ignite them.
Old     (FastR3DN3K)      Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Midlothian TX       01-24-2014, 6:07 AM Reply   
I seriously doubt that it's even possible for your water heater to light gas vapors from your boat under normal condition. The LEL-UEL for gasoline is about 1.5%-7ish% if I remember correctly. Your garage would have to be heavily saturated with vapors in order to reach that sort of level. Let's say you have a 20'x20' garage with 8' ceilings (technically not even big enough to fit most boats these days into), that would equate to roughly 3200 cubic feet of airspace. You would need approximately 48 cubic feet of concentrated gas vapor just to reach the lower explosive limit in that space, and the space would have to be completely airtight. No garage door on the market seals well enough to allow that kind of concentration to be reached. If there are cases of this actually happening, I would be surprised and extremely skeptical that there wasn't another underlying cause. The only way I could see this possibly happening is if your water heater is in a contained closet and you were dumb enough to put an open gas can in there with it.

Last edited by FastR3DN3K; 01-24-2014 at 6:09 AM.
Old     (bftskir)      Join Date: Jan 2004       01-24-2014, 9:52 AM Reply   
Had my boats tank right next to water heater...hot day fuel pushed out the vent...never went boom.
Old     (Bam6961)      Join Date: Apr 2011       01-24-2014, 10:03 AM Reply   
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/fu...res-d_171.html says "Autoignition Temperature - or the minimum temperature required to ignite a gas or vapor in air without a spark or flame being present" gasoline is stated at 536°F
Old     (bftskir)      Join Date: Jan 2004       01-24-2014, 10:10 AM Reply   
There is flame in a gas water heater.
Old     (kx250frider617)      Join Date: Aug 2013       01-24-2014, 11:08 AM Reply   
Im pretty sure the fuel tank vents only release vapors during atmospheric pressure changes. If you have the gas cap on, there is nothing pushing out fuel vapors out the vent. When the temperatures drop and rise, the amount of vapors released aren't anything to worry about in a garage. the lower explosive limits is pretty high to even ignite especially when garages have various vents to circulate air. It would be very hard to ignite the fuel vapors coming out the vent lines on the boat from a small water heater flame.

Im sure there have been scenarios were it has happened. but chances are slim. If your worried, just make sure your garage vents are not blocked.

I would be more worried of a natural gas or propane leak before your boats fuel tank vent.
Old     (Bam6961)      Join Date: Apr 2011       01-24-2014, 6:55 PM Reply   
oh, i didn't know there was a open hole near the bottom on gas water heaters.
Old     (nitrousbird)      Join Date: Sep 2008       01-25-2014, 4:06 AM Reply   
We don't put water heaters in garages. That is what basements are for.
Old     (bftskir)      Join Date: Jan 2004       01-25-2014, 1:06 PM Reply   
We don't have basements. Where do you bury the bodies?

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