All good questions. I do not know about the need to ground gasoline vehicles with a pressure vacuum fuel cap, as it is doubtful there is enough oxygen with the fuel vapor in the tank to be explosive or flammable should there be a spark from the vehicle to the fuel nozzle. After all, most fuel injected vehicles have an electric fuel pump inside the fuel tank and they are not blowing up. And gasoline as I have tested is a pretty good nonconductor. However, gas cans, plastic or otherwise should always be placed on the ground (concrete) before filling at the station and never be filled in the bed or trunk of a truck or car.
We have owned two homes where the 240V underground power lines have failed, one leg corroded in two from the insulation being damaged and water entry. Never had any induced voltage into anything we could feel, even when the broken power line was in contact with the ground other than only half the house having electricity. Likely, 240V and a few-inches to a foot distance, there is not enough of a magnetic field to induce much of anything and the cables are buried at least 18-inches or deeper in the ground to the homes. One home, the underground power lines were about 4-feet down with gas and telephone lines.
Mike,
As I watch a construction crew bury a neighborhood’s power lines:
Can buried power lines have a similar effect?
What about the phenomena of vehicle static charge accumulation while driving?
Are the sources of a vehicle’s static charge accumulation the rolling tires, wind, something else, or a combination?
Under what circumstances should we consider grounding first before opening the fuel cap and inserting a fuel pump nozzle?
All good questions. I do not know about the need to ground gasoline vehicles with a pressure vacuum fuel cap, as it is doubtful there is enough oxygen with the fuel vapor in the tank to be explosive or flammable should there be a spark from the vehicle to the fuel nozzle. After all, most fuel injected vehicles have an electric fuel pump inside the fuel tank and they are not blowing up. And gasoline as I have tested is a pretty good nonconductor. However, gas cans, plastic or otherwise should always be placed on the ground (concrete) before filling at the station and never be filled in the bed or trunk of a truck or car.
We have owned two homes where the 240V underground power lines have failed, one leg corroded in two from the insulation being damaged and water entry. Never had any induced voltage into anything we could feel, even when the broken power line was in contact with the ground other than only half the house having electricity. Likely, 240V and a few-inches to a foot distance, there is not enough of a magnetic field to induce much of anything and the cables are buried at least 18-inches or deeper in the ground to the homes. One home, the underground power lines were about 4-feet down with gas and telephone lines.
The American Petroleum Institute recommends grounding (or “earthing”) during refueling operations.
https://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-gas/consumer-information/consumer-resources/staying-safe-pump#:~:text=Do%20not%20re%2Denter%20your,%2D%2D%20away%20from%20the%20nozzle.)
Do Mobile LP deliveries to RV’s have a similar static discharge / fire safety concern?