• DanglingFury@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Speaking from first hand experience, I want to point this out so people understand the danger involved. Gasoline is very easy to ignite with an open flame (lighter or match) but hard to light with a smoldering ember (like a lit cigarette). if you pour it on something porous like a pile of brush or gravel, then the vapors that get retained in the pile add an explosive element. But even a puddle of gasoline in a metal can outside on a windy day is extremely easy to ignite. You can pour it over wet soil and it will ignite immediately if you throw a match at it. If its wet with straight gas, it will light, and possibly explode with a big whoomph if vapors are retained. Take it seriously and respect it.

      Kerosene, diesel fuel, and oil mixed gasoline are surprisingly hard to ignite unless they are poured over a wicking element like cardboard, fabric, or a fiberglass wick. Lighting a puddle of it requires a blow torch for a period of time to get the fluid up to the flash point.

      If you are trying to start a bonfire with boyscout juice, never use straight gasoline. Mix it atleast 10:1 with oil or 5:1 with diesel to take the bite out of it, then it will light much more safely.

      • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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        11 months ago

        Exactly, dousing something and then tossing your zippo at it when waking away doesn’t work

        • Zink@programming.dev
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          11 months ago

          With gasoline it would definitely work, as long as the flame on the zippo didn’t get blown out by throwing it. Gasoline is very volatile and it doesn’t take much time for the vapors to exist.

          With the other fuels and mixtures like in that previous reply, yeah results will vary.