6 cheat death as LPG-fed taxi explodes

[n5110]

i have experience a leak on my lpg. dinala ko agad sa greenfuel for check up at mahirap na. nakita nila na may leak yung fittings sa tank ko, hinpit ng konti and so far until now wala na ulit akong naamoy na hinde tama.dapat talaga pag may naaamoy na kakaiba ipa check na agad.

[Mile2]

It's faulty electrical wiring, which means it can also burn a gasoline or diesel fed engine. We have seen diesel buses burning on EDSA due to same faulty electrical wiring.

Household LPG tank is more prone to open flame but it is still safe as long as it is fitted correctly and equipped with shut off valve, same with auto LPG which has about 4-5 cut off valves for safety and has insulated fuel lines. If any installers will omit any of these safety valves then safety is compromised liked what happened to that taxi. Backyard installers usually omits a lot of parts which they think are none essential but the truth was they are omitting safety standards.

[Gen. Miting]

mayroon pala backyard-installed? that's scary, pano kung katabi mo yun taxi na ganun sa kalsada

[CVT]

That's scary. Mahirap paglaruan ang isang bagay na hindi mo nai-intindihan....

6909:seehearspeak:

[XTO]

lahat naman ng nasusunog kadalasan sa faulty electrical wirings nagmumula and yes gas or diesel can both burn to metal but the case of this LPG is the loud explosion na dining hanggang malayo(my officemate was on her way home that Sunday in valenzuela and nagulat siya akala niya bomba- at nung nadaanan niya, kaha na lang na nagliliyab yung corolla)

kaya ang bottom line nyan is “kinalikot” tape dito tape doon – tap dito tap doon when it comes to electricals.

[ghosthunter]

lahat naman ng nasusunog kadalasan sa faulty electrical wirings nagmumula and yes gas or diesel can both burn to metal but the case of this LPG is the loud explosion na dining hanggang malayo(my officemate was on her way home that Sunday in valenzuela and nagulat siya akala niya bomba- at nung nadaanan niya, kaha na lang na nagliliyab yung corolla)

kaya ang bottom line nyan is “kinalikot” tape dito tape doon – tap dito tap doon when it comes to electricals.

A properly installed Auto-LPG tank has an over-pressure release safety valve which prevents the tank from exploding/rupturing in the case of a fire. When the specific over-pressure is reached, the valve will open and release a controlled amount (in a controlled flow) of LPG. This will appear to onlookers as a small fireball as the LPG is ignited by the car-fire. This lowers the internal pressure until the cycle is started again until the fire is over.

As long as the safety device is not tampered, it should prevent any fire related LPG tank ruptures.

[paolorenzo]

buti na lang hindi rin sumabog ang Flying V gas station.

[[archie]]

Senior Fire Officer 2 Melchor Gonzales, on the other hand, said a leak in the LPG tank caused the fire. The driver and passengers, alerted by the smell of the leaking fuel, got out of the vehicle before it exploded.

The news article points out that the cause of the fire was NOT the auto-lpg system.

sir, question lang. sabi sa article na the flame was caused by a leak in the LPG tank. is that not part of the LPG system?

also, about the backyard installers, just curious lang if yung gamit ba nila is the real deal with improper method of installing or totally imbentong pinoy lang using improvised things?

thanks

[XTO]

A properly installed Auto-LPG tank has an over-pressure release safety valve which prevents the tank from exploding/rupturing in the case of a fire. When the specific over-pressure is reached, the valve will open and release a controlled amount (in a controlled flow) of LPG. This will appear to onlookers as a small fireball as the LPG is ignited by the car-fire. This lowers the internal pressure until the cycle is started again until the fire is over.

As long as the safety device is not tampered, it should prevent any fire related LPG tank ruptures.

what triggers these safety valves to release excess stored gas in case of fire? do they have different sensors that do not use electric current? what if the electricals within that sensors are the first to malfunction because of the faulty installation? reaching at high temp, could the LPG tank prevent itself from exploding?

good that the cab driver was a bit wary on that situation, if no visual electrical malfunction occured then probably all of them could be with the explosion.

well siguro minalas lang yung taxi, sometimes we don’t expect it to happen until it happens.

[Mile2]

From what I see in my SGI kit all valves are electro-mechanical and they are normally closed when no current is flowing to the solenoid actuators - meaning if the battery is cut off all the valves will close. The tank will stop releasing fuel to the fuel lines, the evaporator will stop releasing vapor, the injector valves will close and will also stop releasing.

Here's a common safety mechanism on properly installed kit.
1. Filler valve - mechanical one way valve for filling LPG.
2. Multi-Valve on the tank (Enclosed in a box with exhaust pipes going out of the cabin and out to the environment)
- a. secondary mechanical valve that accepts filling from the Filler valve.
- b. electro mechanical valve (normally closed) that releases LPG going to the fuel lines.
- c. Filler shut off mechanism for over pressure valve. 80% fill
3. Electro mechanical valve before the evaporator.

For my Innova, the tank is fitted under the chassis, and cabin leak is not an issue, but still I do check the tank religiously.

OT: One of the most rare car in the Philippines that I saw on LPG was a Lincoln Navigator with the kit done by GreenFuel. Ang pogi ng Navigator