An interesting and potentially disastrous thing happened to me this weekend......
After buying my WSM 18.5" about 18 months ago, I bought a nice 7' X 3' composite patio bench/box to store all my gear (charcoal, smoke wood, smoker cover, starter chimney, etc.....). Some time back, I must have left a package of disposable lighters in the patio box as well. I know this because in the middle of the afternoon yesterday I heard a rather loud explosion outside while sitting in the living room. Thinking one of the neighbor boys was blowing off fireworks, I was ready to go next door and give them the "what for". When I opened the door to the patio, I found the lid of the patio bench/box blown completely off. Sitting about 10 feet from the box were several pieces of clear purple and red plastic that obviously used to be a disposable lighters. These were some of those cheap (made in China, Mexico, Viet Nam, etc....) lighters one would get in a multi-pack at the Dollar Store. I recall buying the pack of lighters, but never remember using them. Now I know why. They must have fallen into the bench box at some time.
As best as I can tell, the bench was sitting in direct sunlight and it got too hot inside the bench, causing the liquid propane in the lighters to expand and eventually explode. The alternative is that one or more of the lighters was simply defective. Either way.......BOOM!!
Here's the scary part....... I usually store the extra 5 gallon propane tank (for my Weber Genesis) in the bench/box as well, to keep it dry and free of rust. I had taken the tank out of the box on Friday and swapped it with the empty on my gasser. The empty was secured in the back of my truck to get it refilled the next time I went to the gas station. I can't imagine what could have happened if a full propane tank was inside the bench when the lighters exploded.
Some add'l rules to now follow:
1. No propane or butane lighters of any type stored outside in the storage bench box.
2. No propane tanks (full or empty) in the storage bench box.
3. Never buy lighters from the Dollar Store.
4. Whenever possible, place composite patio boxes in shaded area of patio.
After buying my WSM 18.5" about 18 months ago, I bought a nice 7' X 3' composite patio bench/box to store all my gear (charcoal, smoke wood, smoker cover, starter chimney, etc.....). Some time back, I must have left a package of disposable lighters in the patio box as well. I know this because in the middle of the afternoon yesterday I heard a rather loud explosion outside while sitting in the living room. Thinking one of the neighbor boys was blowing off fireworks, I was ready to go next door and give them the "what for". When I opened the door to the patio, I found the lid of the patio bench/box blown completely off. Sitting about 10 feet from the box were several pieces of clear purple and red plastic that obviously used to be a disposable lighters. These were some of those cheap (made in China, Mexico, Viet Nam, etc....) lighters one would get in a multi-pack at the Dollar Store. I recall buying the pack of lighters, but never remember using them. Now I know why. They must have fallen into the bench box at some time.
As best as I can tell, the bench was sitting in direct sunlight and it got too hot inside the bench, causing the liquid propane in the lighters to expand and eventually explode. The alternative is that one or more of the lighters was simply defective. Either way.......BOOM!!
Here's the scary part....... I usually store the extra 5 gallon propane tank (for my Weber Genesis) in the bench/box as well, to keep it dry and free of rust. I had taken the tank out of the box on Friday and swapped it with the empty on my gasser. The empty was secured in the back of my truck to get it refilled the next time I went to the gas station. I can't imagine what could have happened if a full propane tank was inside the bench when the lighters exploded.
Some add'l rules to now follow:
1. No propane or butane lighters of any type stored outside in the storage bench box.
2. No propane tanks (full or empty) in the storage bench box.
3. Never buy lighters from the Dollar Store.
4. Whenever possible, place composite patio boxes in shaded area of patio.
