[Sca-cooks] OT, OOP--Summer warning--not a hoax

[John Husvar]

Neither an urban legend nor a joke, milady, and thank you for the reminder.
The delivery hose is supposed to provide a grounding path from the car to
the pump and thence to ground, but it does nothing to drain static charges
on people.

Just walking from the car's seat to the fill opening can generate enough
charge to produce a spark when you reach for the grounded hose, especially
if wearing nylon or other synthetic fabrics. (Which also might help explain
the relative frequency between men and women - women tend to wear larger
amounts of thinner fabric and it tends to flow, wave, and rub against itself
more.)

Heck, there can be a potential difference of 300 volts between head and feet
just about all the time. (And that's considered normal! Static charges can
easily reach tens of thousands of volts. :)

Touch the car body and/or the pump frame/housing well before you reach for
the fill hose.

Johan


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