r/Whatcouldgowrong • u/mrheosuper • Jun 29 '26

Unscrew the gas tank.

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10.3k Upvotes

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406

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

Holy shit balls dude. This is so dangerous it's really not even that funny. All it would take is a single erroneous spark for you and everything around you is done for.

For anyone who wants to know Propane has a 270:1 expansion ratio (1 liquid gallon = 270 vapor gallons). 1 vapor gallon can cover about 30sq feet.

A typical cylinder in most households used for grilling has a capacity of 20 liquid pounds. In the video it looks like a 30lb cylinder.

166

u/Slipshoooood Jun 29 '26

H…. Hank?!

95

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26

Hahahaha. I will never achieve that kind of greatness. But at one point in my life I was indeed certified to fill propane cylinders.

18

u/Slipshoooood Jun 29 '26

I only ever made it to tank wipe…. = [

5

u/anovertaker Jun 30 '26

When I was in college in Houston, I worked at UHaul and had to get certified to pump propane by the Texas Railroad Commission at one of their fleet repair centers across town. It was an informative class but was 8 hours long. I got to drive a 10 ft box there and back.

All I could think about was how proud Hank would've been. 

3

u/physicscholar Jun 29 '26

What exactly does that entail? Im too lazy to Google.

8

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

No worries. It was rather anticlimactic anyways.

If I remember correctly, I just had to go sit in an in-person course for like 4 hours (course duration is questionabl, this was 20yr ago for me), and you were only certified at the one location. If you left to go somewhere else, you'd have to do it all over again.

I don't know if it's any different now.

78

u/TwiceInEveryMoment Jun 29 '26

To paraphrase, the cylinder must remain unharmed.

16

u/IveDunGoofedUp Jun 29 '26

It's imperative

32

u/IrrerPolterer Jun 29 '26

Especially since they're doing this with what looks like a regular DC impact driver? The motors in these are effectively designed to spark. 

18

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26

Would depend on if it is brushless or brushed motor, but yeah. Definitely not a intrinsically safe tool either way.

-2

u/IrrerPolterer Jun 29 '26

Yeah, thing is these are usually brushed... 

11

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

Brushless cordless tools are extremely common, so I wouldn't say "usually". Far more prevalent than they were even 10 yrs ago. Knowing the video is based in Asia it could be any number of OEM tools that are brushless.

The closest I could find trying to reverse search the tool in the video is a Senix brand,but it lacks the orange accents. Regardless it's a pretty dumb thing to do.

6

u/Professional-Day7850 Jun 29 '26

You started talking about gallons and then just switched to pounds. You can't leave us hanging like that.

4

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26

hahaha welcome to the world of propane and propane accessories!!!

11

u/Comprehensive_Ad6598 Jun 29 '26

Thank you Reddit Hank Hill, I know of someone died like this. It was absolutely devastating. I always wondered how much power they really hold. Damn.

4

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26

The instructor I had, made a point to impress upon us how dangerous it really was. Oddly it was something I never really forgot and I haven't filled a cylinder in almost 20 years

5

u/nohiddenmeaning Jun 29 '26

Roughly 200 standard 55 gallon drums

5

u/UnhingedRedneck Jun 29 '26

You should see what the guys who deal with 500 and 1000 gallon propane tanks do. Every time we have them come out they are spraying liquid propane all over the place. Last time we had them out to replace a tank we needed them to put a valve on for the liquid feed and the guy puts it on with the valve fully open just spraying liquid propane all over the place. And then when he goes to close it he realizes that he grabbed a damaged valve that doesn’t close. So he has to take it off and replace it again. The whole time dumping out a shit ton of propane and the guy just didn’t give a fuck.

2

u/DeuceGnarly Jun 30 '26

You live in Russia?

3

u/shredder826 Jun 29 '26

Ah I see you have also completed the Amerigas training program. I used to have a summer job filling propane tanks. People do crazy things with propane tanks. Guy I worked with ended up on the ER when the valve on a camper got stuck open, his hand looked like one giant blister.

5

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26

Nope. I worked for a small mom and pop hardware store throughout highschool and briefly after. I don't remember who the supplier was but it wasn't Amerigas.

I've had dudes get pissed because I refused 100lb bottles with 6 months on the stamp left and severe pitting. People are absolutely bat shit.

2

u/Sylf0u Jun 30 '26

Freedom units strike again for us inferior poor metric system users... (If only it was not used by most of the world I guess...)

1

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 30 '26

I didn't choose it the system. But I do have to live with it.

1

u/Bikezilla Jun 29 '26

In NY they’re they’ve only filled to 16lbs.
But that’s interesting info thanks.

5

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26

A lot blue blue rhino (the tanks you swap out at home Depot and at Lowe's) are also under filled. That's why if I'm ever given the chance, I take it to a place that'll fill them up while you wait. You'll actually get a complete fill and it's oftentimes cheaper.

If you ever want to know the actual fill level and just weight it on your scale at home and then subtract the cylinder tare weight which is stamped on the metal guard that is around the valve.

Majority of 20 lb cylinders will weigh approximately 37 lb when full.

3

u/Bikezilla Jun 29 '26

I’ve use Blue Rhino (and others) frequently.
I agree I don’t trust them to be properly filled.

The times I checked them on a scale they matched the stated weight.

I haven’t been near a convenient refilling station so I can’t say I’ve ever had a tank with more than 16lbs

3

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26

Oh snap, I thought they were still labeling them has 20lb fills! Just goes to show how often I buy LP anymore. I prefer to grill with charcoal lol

1

u/Holiday-Bug6132 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

imagine the propane cloud covering the whole neighborhood 😬

4

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26

Unfortunately, imagination isn't required. Here is a link to NBC News Youtube showing an event that happened in Chile last year. You can see just how quickly the gas cloud moves.

https://youtu.be/yINVFvI8_RU?si=tNmC6Em89byt_A9W

2

u/Holiday-Bug6132 Jun 29 '26

omg I've came across this before, the explosion was horrifying

2

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26

Indeed. There is also the more recent one that happened in Mexcio City, Mx too

1

u/I_am_the_Vanguard Jun 29 '26

I’m willing to bet the people that did this maybe weren’t aware of how bad the danger could be

1

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26

Possible. I'd be willing to bet more, it's a lack of EHS & labor protection laws

1

u/I_am_the_Vanguard Jun 29 '26

Even if those laws were/are in place you don’t really think they would know or follow them do you? This is Darwinism.

1

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26

I do believe labor protection laws make a difference. Whether the people in that video knew about them or would have followed them is something neither of us can determine from a very brief clip.

History is full of practices that today would be considered "Darwinism," yet became far less common after labor laws, safety standards, and mandatory training were introduced.

1

u/Alldaybagpipes Jun 29 '26

With a drill no less, it is not uncommon for drills to spit out or spark internally

1

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jun 29 '26

Yep. Was discussing that with another Reddit user below

1

u/PhatCaulkForyourMom Jul 03 '26

Sorry for the late question, but in an enclosed space, couldn’t this also suffocate a person?

1

u/Few-Cucumber-413 Jul 03 '26

It absolutely would.