Posted on 10/07/2004 6:17:38 AM PDT by Michael Goldsberry
SALT LAKE CITY - If you can't stand the heat, don't pour gasoline down the toilet. An apartment tenant made that $75,000 mistake Tuesday.
The man came home for lunch and found gas leaking from the tank of his car. He caught the gas, and decided to dispose of it by dumping it down the toilet.
But the pilot light of a water heater ignited the fumes, causing a small explosion. The blast destroyed the porcelain toilet, and the intense heat from the flames melted the remaining pieces.
The man and three other people were able to get out of the home before the fire spread.
Officials said gasoline and kerosene should never be poured into the drain or toilet or sewer system.
Pretty weak story. Never had an apartment with a hot water heater of it's own, much less a gas powered one. Did have 1 (out of 10) that had it's own electric hot water heater. My current condo has a gas fired unit, but it's common to the building.
Is this real or an episode of the Simpsons...
Misleading headline - pouring it down the toilet didn't cause the blast, letting the fumes reach the pilot light caused the blast.
Uh, can I get my cleaning deposit back?
Does the guy have any eyebrows left?
Indeed?
And at what temperature, pray tell, does porcelain melt.
It is, afterall, fired in a kiln.
Oh ... I forgot. This is fodder for the masses.
Don't smoke on the toilet son, you'll melt it and fall down the hole.
Back in the late 80's we had a kid steal some elemental potassium from the high school chemistry lab and TRY to flush it down the toilet...I think it actually exploded before he managed to flush it...
I am strangely compelled to respond to any thread that includes the words "toilet" and "blast" in the title.
Thank you
Didn't they just do an episode of MYTHBUSTERS on the Discovery channel this week about this very issue?
"Pretty weak story. Never had an apartment with a hot water heater of it's own, much less a gas powered one. Did have 1 (out of 10) that had it's own electric hot water heater. My current condo has a gas fired unit, but it's common to the building."
Well, it's getting more and more common to have on-demand hot water heaters in apartments and other rental properties. My office building in CA had one in each bathroom, just to heat water for that room. It was gas-fired.
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During a wicked cold snap in southwestern Ohio in the early 90s, one man discovered the gas line in his car had frozen. He concluded from this that warmer gasoline could thaw the line and get him to work. So he proceeded to heat a pot of gasoline on his stove. He was not harmed, but the back half of his house was destroyed IIRC.
True story.
Yikes! The same could have happened to me. Many years ago at the old home place, my mother ran out of the bathroom claiming there was a snake in the toilet. We laughed at her because the toilet was ancient and stained so we struck it up to seeing a reflection of the water. She was adamant and took care of business in the pasture. After her rantings continued, I sat myself on the floor in front of the toliet and watched for anything. My grandfather had enough of it and poured gas down it stating if anything was down there, the gas would take care if it (gas water heater 5 feet away!). About that time the water moved, I put my head in for a closer look (no rude comments, please), and just missed being hit between the eyes by a 6 foot racer flying out of the bowl. I ran to the living room and mother ran to the kitchen leaving my grandfather yelling for someone to shut the bathroom door. The snake was going wild and slithering 90 to nothing everywhere including the ceiling.
I presumed they meant the plastic bits in the tank, like the float and flange and so forth.
Have to admit most of my living experience has been east of the Mississippi. Where most buildings are pretty old. My condo was built in the early 60s.
The new on demand hot water units do make sense (thanks to size) in units thanks to their size.
Your point is well taken.
Oddly enough, this was the theme of Myth Busters a couple of days ago. They were unable to create an explosion with anything, although gasoline burned pretty aggressively.
Well it certainly maybe more common to have on-demand hot water heaters, but they don't have pilot-lights like the old water-heaters and furnaces. All the "new" (at least the last 10 years) units have piezo-quartz electronic ignition.
That's not to say the flame on the burners couldn't ignite something, but it seems to me that you couldn't get the concentration of gas needed for ignition from the small amount of gas (in liquid form) brought in over a lunch break. There isn't enough time for evaporation. Something about this story doesn't smell right (sorry for the pun).
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