Utah: improper home CNG auto conversions may be "car bombs"

[phantom power]

The number of natural-gas tanks powering Utah vehicles has exploded this year. Now state officials and clean-car advocates want to ensure the tanks don't blow up, too, and that they pollute as little as intended.

The dozens who claimed clean-fuel tax credits by switching from gasoline earlier this decade mushroomed into the hundreds last year, but Questar fuel consumption suggests the real number of compressed-gas vehicles might have grown to 20,000 in the past year alone, according to the nonprofit Utah Clean Cities Coalition. The utility itself estimates the total is at least 6,000.

(...)

Many of the vehicles - including the nearly 700 that earned one-time tax breaks last year - are professionally equipped, safe and certified by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Others are backyard jobs with worn tanks and faulty exhaust systems, endangering both motorists and the Wasatch Front's air, Clean Cities Director Robin Erickson said. Those who buy old tanks or don't install kits properly are creating car bombs.

http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_10298405

[catnhatnh]

1. Total BS Story....

based on two possible problems. As to leaking exhaust, there is no problem, unless the stream of leaking exhausted gas is directly aimed at the supposed "worn tanks". In a propane conversion no one in their right mind lines the tanks up near the exhaust.

But tanks don't wear-they age into metal fatigue-just like an airplane fuselage that pressurizes and depressurizes-after all, nothing abrades or erodes a tank. If a tank were to fatigue and fail pressure loss would be dangerous but of brief duration.

The story refers to "smelling" propane in the rear seat of cars
-HORSESHIT-on two counts-if a tank fails it empties in minutes, and if a joint unseals in a project to save money the propane becomes the smell of money-if you smell propane then your first reaction is to stop any joint leak.

[One_Life_To_Give]

2. Accident/Fire concern is valid

Improperly secured and/or vented tanks is a safety concern.