How explosive is diesel fuel

[Magic_Sailor]

If you happened to have a bilge full of diesel.....how explosive would it be?

Magic

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[tcm]

Re: Not very explosive at all

get a bucket of diesel and you can extingusih cigarettes and matches in it with no flames at all. The stuff only reluctantly explodes under massive compression if in tiny droplets.

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[graham]

Re: Not very explosive at all

On a fire fighting at sea course I was quite surprised how easily a pan full of diesel ignited by throwing in a burning piece of rag.

It quickly produced flames and large amounts of black smoke.

It didnt go with a whoomph as you get with petrol and you could not light it with matches.

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[[2068]]

Might be the wrong question.

Maybe the question should be "My bilge is full of diesel - Is this a good thing ?"

Related questions:
- "Will my sandwiches ever taste the same ?"
- "Does it look good in black ?"
- "Something is wrong - why can't I smell diesel any more ?"

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[Evadne]

Diesel has a higher vapour point than petrol, so no sudden explosions, but it will combust if sprayed onto a hot exhaust manifold (petrol won't) or if you set fire to it.

Getting rid of the smell of diesel takes years after you've filled your bilges with it, and you do have to be careful where you store your mars bars. They don't taste the same with a drop of the red stuff added.

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[TonyBrooks]

Re: Not very explosive at all

Don't want to get picky, but even that is not correct.

The diesel burns not explodes - its a difference in the speed the flame moves. THis is why bad injectors etc cause smoke - because the fuel is still burning when it is going out of the exhaust and the loss of swirl as it leaves the combustion chamber stops delivering oxygen to the burning fuel so as it gets starved of oxygen it firsty makes CO, then black smoke (carbon), and any still unburnt vaporises in the exhaust to give white smoke.

I had heard something about diesel being an extreme hazard once it gets hot, so asked an ex chief fire officer about it. He said that without a wick (see post about igniting it with burning rag) it was not considered particularly hzzardous.

Tony Brooks

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[bigmart]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that terrorists mix diesel with Phosphate fertiliser or Cow Dung to produce a moderately effective explosive. I have never tried this but I suppose the answer to your question could be. It depends what else is in your bilges.

Martin

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[Evadne]

WMD

Whatever you do, don't forget which tank is which and put diesel into the holding tank. This highly explosive mixture will transform your boat into a floating bomb, and you could be mistaken for a "suicide berther" and whisked off for a holiday in Guantanamo bay.

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[VicS]

No thats not right it's not phosphate, but in the current climate though I'm not saying what it is!

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple>Ne te confundant illegitimi.</font color=purple>

 

[AlexL]

you'll be OK as long as you cannot deploy your mixture in less than 20 minutes.

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[cliff]

"I seem to remember reading somewhere that terrorists mix diesel with Phosphate fertiliser or Cow Dung to produce a moderately effective explosive"

Not quite, mixing with cow dung will do nothing for you but if you use NITRATE based fertiliser (ammonium nitrate) and get the stoichiometric ratio correct, bob's your uncle and the old bill will be round to see you shortly. BTW it is not as simple as just mixing the two together.

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[Anchorite]

Re: More than you think!!

If you vaporize diesel (gasoil) it becomes a gas and (without going into explosive limits) in this condition can be just as dangerous as gas. Vaporisation can result from exposure to high-ish temperature (dripping onto a hot manifold) or high-ish pressure (as in most oil burners). Of course it's much safer than fuels which volatilise at room temperature and is more likely to flame than explode, but it
is not risk-free.

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[cameronke]

Re: More than you think!!

Darn

Now we are into air fuel explosives!


[image=link]http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/dumb/faeanim.gif[/image]

MI5 will be a knocking,

Regards
Shhhh!

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by cameronke on 11/05/2004 14:26 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[AlienP2]

I once read that if you mix diesel and water, then heat it, the water vapourises and carries droplets of diesel with it, making it more flammable than dielel alone.

Do you have water in you bilges as well?

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[Trevethan]

I suppose this is a particular problem for steel boats expecially when held in a crane in the flares of offshore oil rigs....

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[Aardee]

Having read a number of recent posts regarding the future of Red Diesel, I'd say it's extremely explosive!!

Graham /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>"I am a bear of very little brain and long words bother me" - A A Milne.

 

[ongolo]

Re: Not very explosive at all

Hi all,

In some Loyds specs it says that if diesel has a flashpoint of less than 48 degrees, the tanks must be separated from the engine room.

I researched this then and found that most european diesel has a flash point of 45 degrees, some diesle made in India only 30 degrees!!!! and South African diesle (my concern) has a flash point of 70 degree celsius. I am quoting the figures out of my head, so there might be some error about the european diesel.

The flash point was described as the temperature of vapour that can be ignited by a flame or spark.

I was quite amzed at that. For correctness google ceta numbers and flash point of diesel and you find it.

regards ongolo


<hr width=100% size=1>1000 dream about it, 100 talk about it, 10 start and 1 completes it

 

[kinta]

Ammonium Nitrate/ deisel mix is an explosive mixture, but it has a fairly low flashpoint. Quarries while blasting, put a detonator in a primer cartrige which is then placed in the ammonium nitrate mix to fire it. So this would suggest that deisel is relitivly safe. Exept in the event of a fire.

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[davidhand]

Mark's Handbook for Mechanical Engineers contains detailed instructions for the mixing of Ammonium Nitrate and diesel fuel, and its use as a blasting medium.

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[oldharry]

Diesel in the bilges will not give off explosive fumes in the way petrol does. At normal atmospheric tempratures the liquid does not ignite particularly easily. However, things change very rapidly if heat is applied, and at little above hot bath temprature it reaches its flash point, and will ignite much more easily, and by the time it reaches the temperature of your domestic central heating radiator it can ignite spontaneously and burn very intensely. In many ways it is very similar to Paraffin in its ability to feed a fire.

So having spilled diesel around hot engine parts for example is quite dodgy, and spilled diesel will vastly complicate matters if anything else is overheating nearby - such as 12 volt electrics.

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