LAZY-H
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The rollover vent on the truck probably floated up and closed that off creating pressure in the tank.
I’ve seen this happen multiple times
The rollover vent on the truck probably floated up and closed that off creating pressure in the tank.
Everyone seems to think that having everyone in fire retardant suits while fueling is going to greatly reduce burn injuries which isn’t typically true. Nomex burns. A simple test, take a lighter and hold it up against a nomex suit and watch a hole get burnt in the material, pull the lighter away and the flame self extinguished due to the makeup of the material. Now do the same test with a gasoline soaked piece of nomex and the flame won’t self ignite. The accelerant will continue to burn until it’s completely burned off.On the PLUS Side - Fuel Man did NOT panic when the Red Head started to spray. He quickly got the hose away from the truck and the right rear tire carrier also quickly noticed that the fuel intake receptacle was spraying and started to reset the disconnect. Fuel man hustled back to the truck and finished reseating the valve.
On the Minus Side - I did nor see ANY type of Fire Repression equipment in the pit. The tire carrier did not have on a Fire Protection suit.
ALL teams need to have multiple Fire Extinguishers available during refueling and outfit their crews in proper protective clothing. I totally realize that
there is a large expense involved in outfitting your Pit Crew, but it sure is cheaper than Med-Evac helicopters, Hospital and Burn Care Rehab and possible
funeral expenses for a racing friend.
reefueler
I completely agree with you but I think we are in the minority. When the bad thing happens everyone will be quick to blame the fueler, the deadman guy, who did or didn't have extinguisher, or somebody screwed up on the particular fuel cell set up. I went through decades of experience in an industry where we were dealing with high pressure and temperature fuel vessels. When someone made a mistake and equipment/people were destroyed everyone was quick to blame the well trained and well paid guy who made the mistake. Finally the industry realized you must design and engineer the system to be safe even when the smart, well trained guy makes a mistake. Of course we don't have to worry about our volunteer guys making a mistake at 3 AM halfway down the peninsula. But when they do we can all quickly place blame on them.Everyone seems to think that having everyone in fire retardant suits while fueling is going to greatly reduce burn injuries which isn’t typically true. Nomex burns. A simple test, take a lighter and hold it up against a nomex suit and watch a hole get burnt in the material, pull the lighter away and the flame self extinguished due to the makeup of the material. Now do the same test with a gasoline soaked piece of nomex and the flame won’t self ignite. The accelerant will continue to burn until it’s completely burned off.
min these fueling instances the nomex suit is not going to keep you from getting burned. They are simply going to continue burning and be a real pain in the ass to pull off if they do ignite. In the case of gasoline soaked materials a two or 3 cotton long sleeve shirts and jeans offer as much protection as gasoline covered nomex.
Now the liquid resistant apron will actually provide more protection for the fuel crew. This is an integral part of a firefighters ensemble as well, a moisture barrier. With an open back and Velcro, these can be made to shed quickly in the case the garment does catch on fire.
It seems as though everyone keeps reiterating driving suits and extinguishers as being the safe fueling practice but that isn’t necessarily true. You need people who know how to use a fire extinguisher and can distinguish between saving a race car or saving a life and fueling aprons and sleeves to truly provide much more risk reduction.
Even with all the proper PPE, I still wouldn’t use one of those pressure pro systems. Too much risk involved IF a small mishap occurs. There may be little risk involved when everything works properly, but the risk of injury and harm is HUGE when there is a issue with the system. Dump cans have more risk involved even when everything is working properly, but the risk is much lower with the tendency to have smaller consequences when you do get a fuel spill. There is much less available surface area and atomization of liquid during the dump can process compared the the pressure pro process, therefore reducing your volatility of ignition during the fueling process when everything is going wrong.
Again, low chance of fire when the pressure pro works correctly, but big chance of fire and explosion when something goes wrong. Higher chance of fire with dump cans when everything is going right, but lower chance of fire and ZERO chance of explosion with dump cans or a gravity tower.
Either way, fueling in off road racing is one big mishap away from a major change just like many of the previous motor sports in years past.
There is pressure in the tank in this video. This is caused by the vent ball closing and being backed by pressure. This has nothing to do with the redhead. THereis literally 6-10psi in that tank. We can fill our truck all the way and then press on the redhead and have no fuel with pressure come out.I was at this pit. This was an error between fueler and “deadman” valve communication. The fueler was trying to time and pull away before valve was closed therefore ending any pressure into the hose/truck/cell. The pressure pushed the redhead valve on the truck and it got stuck crooked in the truck and tore the seal on the fuel head. We learned from this and after speaking with multiple teams and Pressure Pro we fixed our problem and continued to use it safely and properly.
THey work fine for there design. They are just not designed for the quick filling we are doing with a pressure pro.The ping pong ball discriminator valves are Junk!
They do not work fine when the truck rolls over and fuel flows through the discriminator fast enough to cause a pressure differential that causes the balls not to seat and do their job properly allowing fuel to dump out the cell. FIA has approved discriminator valves for a reason.There is pressure in the tank in this video. This is caused by the vent ball closing and being backed by pressure. This has nothing to do with the redhead. THereis literally 6-10psi in that tank. We can fill our truck all the way and then press on the redhead and have no fuel with pressure come out.
THey work fine for there design. They are just not designed for the quick filling we are doing with a pressure pro.
Americans have no time for that chit!Fuel like they do at the Finke race or Dakar, off the clock, with filling station style pumps, or drum pumps.
&while there motorcars are receiving petrol, & the mechanics are checking under the bonnet, the racing driver can sit in the cool shade and have a spot of teaFuel like they do at the Finke race or Dakar, off the clock, with filling station style pumps, or drum pumps.