Bike indoors

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We never really plan on keeping bikes inside, but often bring bits in for service. I have a rental apartment that has perfect counter top for engine service. Also have a section that we use for tire changes and storage. We do try to keep all fuel outdoors though. Just not worth the risk.


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If you are worried that your tank will spontaneously ignite just because it's at room temperature and indoors try storing your bike in a poorly ventilated garage and see if that helps :). Or, you can take the tank off and store it outside like I do when I'm feeling extremely anal and paranoid. Sorry, but draining the gasoline from the tank won't help. If anything it would speed the evaporation of the remaining liquid and leave more room for highly combustible gasoline fumes.

Ever tried to ignite gasoline by throwing a lit cigarette at it like they do in the movies?
 
Ollie said:
I hauled my bike into the house about 3 weeks ago with a stabilized tank of gas and the thought that it could combust didn't even cross my mind until now. I'd rather leave it with a full tank, but I guess I don't have much choice now that its already in the house. Guess I'm going to have to take a crash course in siphoning gas ASAP :P
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do not siphon the tank in the house, you might end up needing a crash course in firefighting.

open a window in the room and put a fan pointing out. on most bikes the tank is removable. turn off the tank flow put a rag under it and disconnect the hose going from it. the rag is to catch the dribbles from the hose. if the bike is carbbed there's going to be ports where you can attach a hose so you can drain the carbs with out it drippign all over the bike, drain them into a bottle and dispose of accordingly.

if you have a fuel injected bike i'm not sure how you would drain the fuel system but i'm sure some one else could tell you.
 
I dont believe anything until the Myth Busters crew proves it!

Nothing wrong storing your bike indoors. The chances of many fumes igniting is slim to none. Especially if the tank is "right" full. limit the amount of Oxygen in the tank and it will be fine.
 
09SV650S said:
I dont believe anything until the Myth Busters crew proves it!

Nothing wrong storing your bike indoors. The chances of many fumes igniting is slim to none. Especially if the tank is "right" full. limit the amount of Oxygen in the tank and it will be fine.
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a friend's brother set the garage on fire (kerosene heater) while working on the bikes... fumes from the bike made the place go up.
 
DucatiDan said:
I make enough gas on my own to have to worry about a bike in my home. To the garage it goes!
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I nominate this for best post on this thread. That's gold right there, DucDan, gold I say! Now where did I put those pretzels?
 
Vlad said:
If you are worried that your tank will spontaneously ignite just because it's at room temperature and indoors try storing your bike in a poorly ventilated garage and see if that helps :). Or, you can take the tank off and store it outside like I do when I'm feeling extremely anal and paranoid. Sorry, but draining the gasoline from the tank won't help. If anything it would speed the evaporation of the remaining liquid and leave more room for highly combustible gasoline fumes.

Ever tried to ignite gasoline by throwing a lit cigarette at it like they do in the movies?
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It isn't going to spontaneously ignite. Spontaneous ignition is a rare event and is caused by a chain reaction of heat build up and lack of ventilation usually occuring in paint soaked rags. Gasoline does not spontaneously ignite. Also, temperature is irrelevent assuming it's above -40 C. Gasoline burns at any temperature above -40 C.

You are correct that you can actually put a cigar out by dipping it into a bucket of gasoline. However one spark of any size is all that it takes to set off the gasoline vapours. The reality is that the cigar is just not burning hot enough to ignite the vapours. It needs to be about 750 F if I remember correctly. A spark exceeds that temperature.

You don't need to worry about ignition of the gasoline in the tank. It's the vapours leaking out of it, rolling across the floor and igniting from your PS3 sitting on the floor of your living room. That will then flash back to whatever is available to burn, whether that's your gas tank or not is irrelevant other than the size of the resultant explosion that you may get, either way there is lots to burn once the gasoline vapours ignite.

09SV650S said:
I dont believe anything until the Myth Busters crew proves it!

Nothing wrong storing your bike indoors. The chances of many fumes igniting is slim to none. Especially if the tank is "right" full. limit the amount of Oxygen in the tank and it will be fine.
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I won't argue with you other than to say you're wrong and don't know what you're talking about. :p You don't need to worry about the gasoline in the tank. What you need to worry about is the vapour coming off the gasoline in the tank. The more gasoline in the tank the more vapour can be produced. Having a full tank does NOTHING to prevent ignition of the vapours escaping the tank and only provides a larger source of fuel.

If you choose to assess your risks by relying on a poorly researched entertainment show, be my guest, but don't proivde advice to gullible sheep on the internet about something you obviously know nothing about. Gasoline indoors is dangerous. Do whatever you want with your bike and your gas cans but don't tell people that storing gasoline inside is safe. It's not.
 
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Griffin said:
It isn't going to spontaneously ignite. Spontaneous ignition is a rare event and is caused by a chain reaction of heat build up and lack of ventilation usually occuring in paint soaked rags. Gasoline does not spontaneously ignite. Also, temperature is irrelevent assuming it's above -40 C. Gasoline burns at any temperature above -40 C.

You are correct that you can actually put a cigar out by dipping it into a bucket of gasoline. However one spark of any size is all that it takes to set off the gasoline vapours. The reality is that the cigar is just not burning hot enough to ignite the vapours. It needs to be about 750 F if I remember correctly. A spark exceeds that temperature.

You don't need to worry about ignition of the gasoline in the tank. It's the vapours leaking out of it, rolling across the floor and igniting from your PS3 sitting on the floor of your living room. That will then flash back to whatever is available to burn, whether that's your gas tank or not is irrelevant other than the size of the resultant explosion that you may get, either way there is lots to burn once the gasoline vapours ignite.



I won't argue with you other than to say you're wrong and don't know what you're talking about. :p You don't need to worry about the gasoline in the tank. What you need to worry about is the vapour coming off the gasoline in the tank. The more gasoline in the tank the more vapour can be produced. Having a full tank does NOTHING to prevent ignition of the vapours escaping the tank and only provides a larger source of fuel.

If you choose to assess your risks by relying on a poorly researched entertainment show, be my guest, but don't proivde advice to gullible sheep on the internet about something you obviously know nothing about. Gasoline indoors is dangerous. Do whatever you want with your bike and your gas cans but don't tell people that storing gasoline inside is safe. It's not.
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just to add on to this, our motorcycle gas tanks are vented to allow air in and overfills out... this means fumes can (and often do) go out of the thank, particularly when you have heat fluctuations.
 
CruisnGrrl said:
just to add on to this, our motorcycle gas tanks are vented to allow air in and overfills out... this means fumes can (and often do) go out of the thank, particularly when you have heat fluctuations.
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I would only suggest changing the "can (and often do)" to "WILL". The only question is whether the amount of vapour coming out of the tank will collect in a quantity and location that puts it within its flammable vapour range when the arc occurs to ignite it. Since that is a moderately narrow range of probabilities it doesn't happen all the time. That is what people that store gasoline indoors are relying upon - that the vapours have not collected in sufficient quantities at the time of the arc. The vapours ARE present and the arc WILL occur.
 
Griffin said:
I would only suggest changing the "can (and often do)" to "WILL". The only question is whether the amount of vapour coming out of the tank will collect in a quantity and location that puts it within its flammable vapour range when the arc occurs to ignite it. Since that is a moderately narrow range of probabilities it doesn't happen all the time. That is what people that store gasoline indoors are relying upon - that the vapours have not collected in sufficient quantities at the time of the arc. The vapours ARE present and the arc WILL occur.
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I think I'd rather take my chances on the lotto.
 
CruisnGrrl said:
I think I'd rather take my chances on the lotto.
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Well, you would probably have far better odds then the lotto at winning some significant green if you take out insurance on someone that is storing gasoline indoors with you as the named beneficiary. ;)
 
Now you're set for some corrosion in that tank.



mma01 said:
Drained of gas.. so not really more combustible than anything else in the house... but thanks for the concern.
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I wished I could bring it in. I would use it as a chair to watch tv on:) or read lol
 
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