[pct-l] disposing of fuel canisters?

Carl Siechert carlito at gmail.com
Fri Jan 30 11:41:10 CST 2009


On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 9:31 AM, Paul <paul_c at tuxcnc.org> wrote:

> On Friday 30 January 2009, Pat wrote:
> > Maybe you can put it on top your alcohol stove and incinerate it.
>
> Please do not try this at home ;)
>
>

I did.

About thirty years ago, back in my young-and-stupid days (not to be confused
with my current old-and-stupid days),

my college roommates, all mechanical engineering students, thought it would
be really cool to blow up a Bleuet butane stove cartridge. They hatched a
plan to suspend a Bleuet cartridge over a burning Svea--mine. These
brilliant engineers convinced me that all the force would go outward, and
that my sturdy Svea would be unharmed. We went out to the beach at Montana
de Oro State Park on a dark night, set up a tripod (made from the table legs
of our already sparse furnishings) to suspend the cartridge, lit the stove
and placed it under the cartridge, and took cover behind a big sand dune. As
I recall, it took several minutes, during which time these geniuses wondered
if we should approach and raise the flame. Then it blew: a ball of blue
flame probably 15 feet across! And my stove? The downward force of the
explosion bent the burner stem where it leaves the tank, and it pushed the
control valve so that it punctured right through the top of the tank.



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