Post by msgoehring on Sept 7, 2016 20:23:15 GMT -8
I just want to add some safety information that may not be known by all, but I want to give you a little background so you understand where it's coming from.
In July, 1997 for the holiday, my husband and I decided to take the kids, then 3, 6 & 9, tent camping at our favorite place. We planned for 5 days, my husband doing the major stuff that camping involves because he grew up camping frequently with his dad and I went on one ridiculously disastrous camping excursion with my family in a camper (major long story and I might share one day cause nobody is able to believe me when I tell them it was so bad my mother never had to worry about us kids asking to go again).
So hubby was in charge of sleeping arrangements, heating, etc etc etc, while I did food and clothes. His father always used a heater in the tent or camper run off a regular propane tank instead of bottles so that's what we had been doing since I married him and he took me camping my second time (which was much more enjoyable than the first and got me hooked on camping). We were using a three room tent, the first room being a sunroom and the rest of the tent divided by a zip up wall but we left that open and tied back. My oldest and youngest slept on one side while my middle girl slept at the foot of our blow up mattress closest to the heat because she was so small and always cold. We went to bed the night of the third like we had for years, with the window by us unzipped 1/2 way and the door unzipped all along the bottom and about 10" up where the propane hose came through and connected to the 3 years old catalytic heater Sam had purchased from a pawn shop for this trip to replace the much older one we had been using. This was our second night up at the lake.
If you have kids you know they are up at the hint of light, especially when camping, but this morning I woke up and the two on the other side were just stirring, and the middle kid was still out. Hubby was waking also, but my mind was very fuzzy and I knew it was much later than it should be, plus I didn't feel right. I rolled to get my glasses from the pocket on the wall under the window, Sam struck a match to light his cigarette because the lighter wasn't working and he thought it was too cold to work (we were sweating it was so hot in the tent, that should give you an idea of how confused we were). The next thing I know there is a huge rush of "air" then a BOOM and I'm rolling THROUGH what was a wall screaming.
Lots of screaming and crying and confusion then. We were told later that the fireball went at least 20 feet above the trees. The entire tent melted except the floor which was covered by stuff, even a couple of the zippers were fused together in places. My middle girl got it the worst with full 3rd degree burns to her face, hands and forearms. Half her face, both hands and forearms required skin grafts. She burned her lungs and scalp and was kept in a coma for 2 weeks.
I could go on about everyone else, but that's not why I'm sharing this finally. I'm sharing it because I want you to understand how serious I take gas safety of any kind, be it natural, propane or liquid. We learned a lot from our attorney when we went after a few of the companies whose actions helped lead up to this horrible accident.
First and most important that I want to stress is that you CAN NOT count on smell to warn of a leak. There are many factors that can cause this warning system to become invalid such as the fact that your body can become used to the smell if you are 1. asleep or 2. been around a slow leak for some time both of which were part of our problem. Natural gas and propane are odorless, the smell comes from chemicals added to them and those chemicals can wear off or there have been cases where they weren't even added to a batch. When you get a tank filled, the attendant is supposed to check for leaks before and after filling, this of course is becoming obsolete since prefilled tanks are becoming the norm. So you must check all fittings everywhere before ever using any gas appliance or system. Any fitting such as the quick connect should never be inside a structure, there is too big a chance for them to go bad and leak. And finally, you must always have ventilation when using gas appliances, this is why most gas furnaces are in a garage, so there is plenty of air flow for the flame to keep burning up the gas.
It will be 20 years this next July since our accident. I am just now able to consider sleeping in a trailer, because if we had been in a trailer instead of a tent, we probably never would have woken up, and if we did, the chances of surviving an explosion like that in a trailer are almost nil. It took me 8 years to go camping again at all and another 4 before Sam didn't have to light the cook stove for me, or for that matter the barbecue. I still have flashbacks and anxiety attacks, but am determined I will no longer let it rule my life and ruin my dreams. Will I be more cautious? You bet your beanie I will be. Will I not use propane??? Heck yes I will use it, it's the most convenient and cheapest option for camping. Using modern safety devices, being extra vigilant and using common sense makes propane perfectly safe and wise to use. I know this is a long post, but I want everyone to be safe and if my story helps with that then I'll post it and leave it up to you to read or not.
BTW, being the neurotic I am now about propane heaters and other stuff, I've done a lot of research on the modern ones. I've found that this Wave3 is considered the best and safest and is what we will be using.
In July, 1997 for the holiday, my husband and I decided to take the kids, then 3, 6 & 9, tent camping at our favorite place. We planned for 5 days, my husband doing the major stuff that camping involves because he grew up camping frequently with his dad and I went on one ridiculously disastrous camping excursion with my family in a camper (major long story and I might share one day cause nobody is able to believe me when I tell them it was so bad my mother never had to worry about us kids asking to go again).
So hubby was in charge of sleeping arrangements, heating, etc etc etc, while I did food and clothes. His father always used a heater in the tent or camper run off a regular propane tank instead of bottles so that's what we had been doing since I married him and he took me camping my second time (which was much more enjoyable than the first and got me hooked on camping). We were using a three room tent, the first room being a sunroom and the rest of the tent divided by a zip up wall but we left that open and tied back. My oldest and youngest slept on one side while my middle girl slept at the foot of our blow up mattress closest to the heat because she was so small and always cold. We went to bed the night of the third like we had for years, with the window by us unzipped 1/2 way and the door unzipped all along the bottom and about 10" up where the propane hose came through and connected to the 3 years old catalytic heater Sam had purchased from a pawn shop for this trip to replace the much older one we had been using. This was our second night up at the lake.
If you have kids you know they are up at the hint of light, especially when camping, but this morning I woke up and the two on the other side were just stirring, and the middle kid was still out. Hubby was waking also, but my mind was very fuzzy and I knew it was much later than it should be, plus I didn't feel right. I rolled to get my glasses from the pocket on the wall under the window, Sam struck a match to light his cigarette because the lighter wasn't working and he thought it was too cold to work (we were sweating it was so hot in the tent, that should give you an idea of how confused we were). The next thing I know there is a huge rush of "air" then a BOOM and I'm rolling THROUGH what was a wall screaming.
Lots of screaming and crying and confusion then. We were told later that the fireball went at least 20 feet above the trees. The entire tent melted except the floor which was covered by stuff, even a couple of the zippers were fused together in places. My middle girl got it the worst with full 3rd degree burns to her face, hands and forearms. Half her face, both hands and forearms required skin grafts. She burned her lungs and scalp and was kept in a coma for 2 weeks.
I could go on about everyone else, but that's not why I'm sharing this finally. I'm sharing it because I want you to understand how serious I take gas safety of any kind, be it natural, propane or liquid. We learned a lot from our attorney when we went after a few of the companies whose actions helped lead up to this horrible accident.
First and most important that I want to stress is that you CAN NOT count on smell to warn of a leak. There are many factors that can cause this warning system to become invalid such as the fact that your body can become used to the smell if you are 1. asleep or 2. been around a slow leak for some time both of which were part of our problem. Natural gas and propane are odorless, the smell comes from chemicals added to them and those chemicals can wear off or there have been cases where they weren't even added to a batch. When you get a tank filled, the attendant is supposed to check for leaks before and after filling, this of course is becoming obsolete since prefilled tanks are becoming the norm. So you must check all fittings everywhere before ever using any gas appliance or system. Any fitting such as the quick connect should never be inside a structure, there is too big a chance for them to go bad and leak. And finally, you must always have ventilation when using gas appliances, this is why most gas furnaces are in a garage, so there is plenty of air flow for the flame to keep burning up the gas.
It will be 20 years this next July since our accident. I am just now able to consider sleeping in a trailer, because if we had been in a trailer instead of a tent, we probably never would have woken up, and if we did, the chances of surviving an explosion like that in a trailer are almost nil. It took me 8 years to go camping again at all and another 4 before Sam didn't have to light the cook stove for me, or for that matter the barbecue. I still have flashbacks and anxiety attacks, but am determined I will no longer let it rule my life and ruin my dreams. Will I be more cautious? You bet your beanie I will be. Will I not use propane??? Heck yes I will use it, it's the most convenient and cheapest option for camping. Using modern safety devices, being extra vigilant and using common sense makes propane perfectly safe and wise to use. I know this is a long post, but I want everyone to be safe and if my story helps with that then I'll post it and leave it up to you to read or not.
BTW, being the neurotic I am now about propane heaters and other stuff, I've done a lot of research on the modern ones. I've found that this Wave3 is considered the best and safest and is what we will be using.