Fuzzbuster
Well-known member
So, the other day one of my bikes had a small fire. Fortunately, I put it out quickly enough with a fire extinguisher and there is very minimal damage. I was always under the impression that it is not as easy as you think to start a fire. You need ideal conditions and the 3 components, air, fuel and ignition source. I think I may have become slightly complacent with handling gasoline. I am always transferring from container to container, working on open running carburetors, testing bikes with alternate fuel cells, testing fuel pumps and so on! The fire appears to have originated at the overflow tube for the carburetor. After pulling the carbs and dismantling them I noticed the suspect carb float bowl had less fuel inside than the other 3. Is it possible that because there was less fuel in that particular float bowl that there was more vapour/ air mixture and this exited the overflow tube and was ignited by the spark plug from the inside? There were no signs of fuel on the exhaust pipe, no loose wiring, bike was outside the garage on the driveway. I had just started the bike after draining the float bowls and it was running for maybe 30 sec when I noticed a orange glow from under the tank and airbox.
The take away here is gas is really flammable and if you are going to be working with it make sure you have a good 5 lb + extinguisher near by.
The take away here is gas is really flammable and if you are going to be working with it make sure you have a good 5 lb + extinguisher near by.
