Cellphone Warning from Shell - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Cap'n Carageous · #1 08-28-2002, 09:40 AM

Might want to give this some thought!!

G-Benz · #2 08-28-2002, 10:01 AM

I knew I should have been leery of my new phone touting the high-tech long-life battery with the integrated "blasting cap"!!!

Lebenz · #3 08-28-2002, 01:01 PM

When I got my first cell phone (a 3 watt bag phone), I think back in ’88 or ’89 there was a huge warning given on use in or around gas stations or around open fuel. Since then, this is the first warning I’ve seen. So why has it not made the news since around ’88?

No implied conclusion, just a question...

Cap'n Carageous · #4 08-28-2002, 01:10 PM

The warning makes comment about "newer phones that light up have enough energy..." don't know but it will certainly raise my eyebrows (can't raise one at the time) next time I'm next to a person talking on a phone with the engine running and smoking at the pumps!!

jcantor · #5 08-28-2002, 01:16 PM

Check out some of the urban legand websites (snopes.com for one). This is one of these scare mongering things that have been circulated a few times on the internet. From what I've been able to tell there has never been an actual occurance of a fire or explosion attributed to a cell phone. An engine running or some dope smoking, yes, but no cell phones.

jlc

Cap'n Carageous · #6 08-28-2002, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jcantor
some dope smoking, yes,

jlc

Dope smoking gets blamed for a lot of stuff!

jcantor · #7 08-28-2002, 02:06 PM

Cap'n -

I hadn't thought of that interpretation when I was typing but you're right and your post sure gave me a good laugh.

Thanks
jlc

Cap'n Carageous · #8 08-28-2002, 02:28 PM

Think about it; states are making it illegal to use them while driving (about as enforceable as 55mph), hospitals ban them because they interfere with sensitive instruments and the list is growing. Just recently I was driving through Atlanta (I'd rather chew aluminum foil) and saw a warning sign "DANGER BLASTING AHEAD! TURN OFF CELL PHONES!!" I got this mental picture of some poor soul meeting his maker because somebody called to tell their husband to get a quart of milk on the way home!

Soon cell phone users will be worse than smokers!:p :p

LuckyF8 · #9 08-28-2002, 04:26 PM

Boom! Cell Phone, how funny. My highschool auto shop teacher back in 1970 took a oil drain pan, filled it to the rim with high test lit a cig and tossed it in. He did this 10 times. Lesson learned glowing red cigarettes make a sizzling sound as they extinguish in the liquid gasoline. Now take some gas fumes and flick your Bic, "Oh Mommy" that flame was hot enough to go Boom!

Hey my cell phone has a light, I am going to shoot my laser guided thermometer on it, then call myself and see if it gets as hot as lit match.........maybe there is something to this!

BlueBabyBenz · #10 09-09-2002, 11:08 AM

I used to work in a gas station, and the owners told us not to allow filling while smoking, cell phoning, etc., etc. to minimise the danger of an explosion.

On the other hand, how many of you remember in the fall of 2001, about 2 months after Sept 11, the plane that crashed in a borough of New York?

As I recall, an engine from that plane fell onto the back of a tanker truck that was at the station loading up the underground tanks.

My guess is that there were a) gasoline vapours and b) sparks flying.

There was no explosion.

Kind of puts the cell phone debate in perspective, now, doesn't it?

ericdee · #11 09-09-2002, 05:05 PM

READ THIS: http://www.pei.org/static/index.htm

G-Benz · #12 09-09-2002, 05:16 PM

Gasoline doesn't react well unless "atomized"...that is in "aerorated", or vaporous.

Otherwise, "flooding" an engine would be a misnomer.

That is why fuel tank explosions in an accident would most likely occur with an empty tank, not full.

I still think if a cell phone generated enough of a charge to spark a flash fire in the presence of fuel vapors, you wouldn't even be able to touch the phone when it did "ring"!