I was changing the canister gas filter under a truck. I was in my yard. I
opened the fuel line (had about 20 gallons in the tank) and pulled the filter.
I held my finger over the line to keep gas from running out. I set the old
filter on the blacktop and it immediately rolled away from me. I looked and
the new one, which I had also taken out of the box, had also rolled away. In
my
fooling around trying to reach one of the filters I took my finger off the
the gas line and immediately gas ran into my ear and began burning.
I want to just get out from under that truck as quickly as possible because
I'm afraid of burning out my ear drum. However, I can't just leave because I
notice that that gas that has spilled on the ground is running out into the
street. I figure if I leave the line open, 20 gallons is going to be in the
street and if someone flicks a cigarette, the truck and my house are probably
going to go up in flames.
So, I began yelling to my wife. After 10 minutes of me going crazy she shows
up. She hadn't heard me...came out for something else. Since the gas lines
near this filter were rubber, I told her to get 2 sizes of pencils to try and
plug the line. Neither pencil worked. I then thought of a golf tee and that
plugged it. Well, off to the emergency room to get the ear irrigated with
water for 30 minutes. A friend came over and put the new filter in.
I'm not sure what the moral of the story is. ....probably when working with
gas be sure that someone else is around. After all, who wants to die alone;-)
Mark L.
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