IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 40, NO.
4, JULY/AUGUST 2004
Static Discharge Hazard During Refueling
at Retail Gasoline Stations
Robert E. Nabours, Life Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract—Gasoline refueling stations have existed since the ad-
vent of the automobile in the early 1900s. This paper explores the
origin of the static electrical discharge hazard that can exist during
the refueling process. It has recently (1993) been discovered that a
source of hazardous static electricity exists that is beyond the pre-
viously known causes for this hazard. The controlled harmless dis-
charge of static electrical charge is examined along with the sci-
entific explanation for the newly discovered hazard. A refueling
fire at a commercial gas station is used to illustrate the forensic
engineering investigative process that leads to the identity of the
cause for this fire. Conditions that promote this new static dis-
charge hazard are enumerated as well as suggestions for remedial
action on the part of the motorist to decrease the fire hazard during
refueling.
Index Terms—Fire hazard at gasoline stations, gasoline refu-
eling, static electricity.
I. INTRODUCTION
F OR OVER 60 years equipment manufacturers of automo-
tive and petroleum products have recognized that a static
electric discharge hazard can exist during the refueling process,
particularly for vehicles equipped with pneumatic rubber tires.
II. ELECTROSTATIC CHARGING PROCESS IN REFUELING
Fuels become electrically charged while flowing through
pipes and hoses. This phenomenon attracted much study in
the early 1700s when it was called frictional electricity. A
more common term now is triboelectricity. Back then, they
experimented with rubbing various nonconductive materials
to accumulate a static charge. The same principal applies to
gasoline flowing into the gas tank of a car. The quantity of
electric charge transferred depends on the fuel flow velocity
and on the conductivity of the fuel. Low-conductivity fuels can
retain a charge for longer times than high-conductivity fuels.
Leaded gasoline can have more than twice the conductivity of
unleaded gasoline. [1, p. 8] Conductivity varies by a factor of
50 : 1 for unleaded gas from different companies in Germany.
It also varies at different times from the same company and at
different filling station locations.
During vehicle refueling, charged gasoline accumulates in the
fuel tank. Investigating the ways by which electricity could be
Paper ICPSD-03-12, presented at the 2003 IEEE/IAS Industrial and Com-
mercial Power Systems Technical Conference, St. Louis, MO, May 4–7, and ap-
proved for publication in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS
by the Power Systems Engineering Committee of the IEEE Industry Applica-
tions Society. Manuscript submitted for review May 7, 2003 and released for
publication March 29, 2004.
The author is with R. E. Nabours Consulting Electrical Engineers, Inc.,
Tucson, AZ 85718 USA (e-mail rencee@comcast.net).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2004.830755
0093-9994/04$20.00 © 2004 IEEE
1003
stored followed closely on the heels of the studies of generating
frictional electricity. Several investigators found that it could be
stored in a bottle, given certain conditions. They discovered also
that the amount of charge that could be stored in a bottle de-
pended upon the area of the surface, not on the volume or mass
of the bottle. Probably the best remembered example came from
the university town of Leyden, TheNetherlands, home of the
Leyden jar. If the vehicle has a metal fuel tank and is grounded,
the charge dissipates to ground via the conductive parts of the
car body through the tires, and through the filling nozzle and
hose to ground (earth).
If the fuel tank is made of nonconductive plastic, or metal
with a nonconductive coating, the charge accumulates and re-
mains on the interior wall of the tank. Obviously the tank is
a type of Leyden jar. Because of the electric field effect orig-
inating from these charges, opposite polarity charges are at-
tracted as surface charges on the conductive parts of the car
adjacent to the fuel tank. This is known as electrostatic induc-
tion. This equipotential charge is dissipated from the car body
to ground (earth) if the vehicle is grounded.
Thus, conductive parts of the vehicle, which are not con-
nected to ground, can become electrostatically charged through
electrostatic induction or directly from contact with charged fuel
or with any charged body. This will occur even when other non-
conductive parts of the vehicle are grounded. To visualize the
phenomenon, think of it as charging a capacitor.
Since the charge accumulated in the gas tank and on the ve-
hicle varies with fuel flow velocity as well as conductivity, sci-
entists at the DGMK German Society for Petroleum and Coal
Science and Technology, Hamburg, Germany, conducted ex-
periments on various fuels with different conductivities while
filling tanks at different rates. The tests showed that when fu-
eling a tank to 13.2 gal at 11.9 gal/min, depending upon the fuel
conductivity, the accumulated charge varied from less than 1 C
(10 C) to 6 C. Under these conditions the maximum undis-
sipated voltage present on the vehicle due to maximum charge
would be approximately 6000 V.
III. PROCESS FOR CONTROLLED DISCHARGING
Charged insulators can cause brush discharges in air and
gasoline–air mixtures from a conductor when its voltage
exceeds a certain value. Brush discharges are an intermittent
discharge of electricity having the form of a mobile brush, but
remain too low for the formation of an actual spark [2, p. 107].
The quantity of charge that accumulates in a vehicle’s fuel tank
is, however, insufficient to produce incendive brush discharges
[1, p. 4]. Moreover, the excessively rich gasoline–air mixture
in the tank is not ignitable.
1004 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 40, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2004
Potentially ignitable brush discharges can occur between a
plastic inlet tube that has been charged by flowing gasoline and
a metallic filling nozzle. These discharges can be tolerated only
if the fuel–air mixture in the entire inlet tube is outside the range
of an explosive fuel-to-air ratio.
As has been described above, during the process of filling the
vehicle’s fuel tank with gasoline, an electrical charge is carried
into the tank producing a charge on the vehicle. In order to elim-
inate this accumulated static charge harmlessly, gasoline-dis-
pensing pumps have, for over 60 years, been required by the
National Electrical Code (NEC) to be grounded, i.e., connected
electrically to earth. The discharge path for accumulated fuel
charge does not require a direct low-resistance metallic connec-
tion (bond) through metal filling nozzle hose and pump. In fact,
modern vehicles have increasingly been equipped with plastic
insulated parts such as filler caps and tank inserts with flaps for
unleaded gas. Today, the typical resistance of the nozzle-hose-
ground path is on the order of or less [1, p. 29].
If the accumulated static charge were to be dissipated by an
arc (spark) discharge to ground occurring in the vicinity of the
vehicle’s filling pipe, the accumulated gasoline vapor could be
ignited by this spark. The critical factor in static fuel discharge
is the time required to transfer the charge from the vehicle. This
time duration is called relaxation time and can be shown to be
the product of the resistance and capacitance of the vehicle to
ground. As long as the relaxation time is less than 0.01 s, there
is an insignificant probability of an incendive spark.
IV. PROCESS FOR INADVERTENT DISCHARGE
As recently as 1993 it became known in Germany [1, p. 1]
that another source of static electricity exists, under certain
conditions as stated below, that can ignite these gasoline vapors.
In the U.S. over 180 reports of refueling fires that exclude
other sources of ignition such as gas flow generated static,
sparks from running motors, and smoking have been logged
from 1992 through 2003 by the Petroleum Equipment Institute
(www.pei.org) and since 1993 by the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA).
These fires have involved almost every automotive manufac-
turer, both U.S. and foreign, and the vehicles involved have in-
cluded large and small passenger cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks.
They have occurred in 39 states and resulted in many major
burns and two deaths. Some of these fires occurred prior to be-
ginning refueling upon removing the gas cap.
This newly recognized source of static electricity occurs
during the refueling process in the following manner. When
the vehicle operator initiates an automated refuel leaving the
pump hose and nozzle unattended and then reenters the vehicle
to slide across the seats, a static charge can accumulate on the
person’s body due to the triboelectric effect [2, p. 972] caused
by friction between two electrically dissimilar materials. This
charge, if not harmlessly discharged through the operator’s
shoes, for example, remains until the operator approaches the
pump nozzle. A spark discharge through air can result when
the operator’s hand is very close to the grounded nozzle.
Asparkdischargeofstaticelectricitynearthefilleropeningwill
likely ignite combustible gasoline vapors when the discharge en-
ergy exceeds the minimum ignition energy (MIE) of the vapor, in
which case a deflagrating explosion and gasoline fire will result.
V. ENGINEERING ANALYSIS OF STATIC ELECTRIC DISCHARGE
AND GASOLINE VAPOR EXPLOSION
In the German study [1], it was experimentally determined for
six different vehicle types and four different articles of clothing
that a person can receive a charge from the insulating seats while
exiting the vehicle under very dry weather conditions of from
1000 to 10 000 V.
The energy stored in a charged body can be expressed by [3,
p. 6], [4]
where is the energy in joules (J), is the capacitance coupling
the person to the vehicle in farads (F), and is the voltage across
the discharge gap between person and car in volts.
The capacitance of the person charged by exiting a standard
size automobile at a distance of approximately 50 cm (10 m)
to the car has been measured between 170 pF (10 F) and 200
pF. With a 10 000-V accumulated charge, an energy of 8.5 mJ
(10 J) to 10 mJ can be dissipated. The effective spark energy
is lower by a factor of 2–4 [5] because part of the discharge is
converted to heat due to the effect in the human body ohmic
resistance and part of the discharge is converted into stored en-
ergy in the circuit inductance.
The MIE of a fuel material is the quantity of electrical energy,
supplied as a spark, which causes combustible vapors to ignite
[6]. A spark that has enough energy to ignite the combustible
vapor is said to be incendive.
In general, the MIE of a fuel varies with pressure, ambient
temperature, and the fuel-to-air mixture ratio. Also, when there
is a concentration of oxygen in the environment, such as in hos-
pitals, the MIE can be many times less than the MIE in air.
A typical MIE for gasoline vapor in air is 0.25 mJ. This ap-
plies for vapor concentrations between 1.4%–7.6% by volume
(vapor to air). [7, p. 119]
Values for the accumulated charge on a person’s body due to
the triboelectric effect vary from 1000 to over 15 000 V. The en-
ergy available in the capacitive model of the human body when
charged to 5000 V is between 2.125–5.0 mJ. The effective spark
energy capable of delivery by the human body when charged to
5000 V is between 0.53–1.25 mJ, so that a person’s static spark
discharge is from 2 to 5 times the MIE for gasoline vapor in air.
Thus, there is substantial scientific verification for the hy-
pothesis that a person can acquire a static charge sufficient to
ignite gasoline vapor in air especially if the discharged static
spark occurs near the vapor accumulation.
VI. AN INVESTIGATED FIRE CASE
A refueling fire was recorded by a video surveillance camera
at a commercial gas station in 2002. The weather was mild,
70 F with low humidity ( 20%). A motorist was removing
the fueling nozzle from the fuel tank opening of his 1994 Geo
Tracker when a deflagrating explosion and fire erupted. The fire
was enhanced when the startled man pulled the nozzle from the
tank while depressing the trigger so that gasoline was spilled on
the driveway and on the motorist.
The gas station pump dispenser’s insurance company retained
this engineer to investigate the fire for causation. The police de-
NABOURS: STATIC DISCHARGE HAZARD DURING REFUELING AT RETAIL GASOLINE STATIONS
partment furnished 52 photographs taken by the fire investiga-
tors after the incident along with a videotape recorded by the
service station’s security camera.
In order for the fire to occur in the manner consistent with the
fact evidence in this incident there are only three reasonably likely
proximate causes for the ignition of the gasoline vapor at the tank
filleropening:1)anopenflamesuchasacigarettelighterormatch;
2) a spark from the engine compartment with the motor running;
and 3) a static electric discharge at the nozzle and filler opening.
The police department investigators determined that the mo-
torist was a nonsmoker (which is also confirmed by the videotape)
and none of the eyewitnesses could recall him smoking or lighting
a cigarette as he was filling his tank. The vehicle’s motor was not
running.
Theaccumulationofastaticelectricchargeduetogasolineflow
through the hose and nozzle was considered as a cause. Therefore,
an investigation of the grounding of the hose, nozzle, and pump
was conducted; it was also verified with a local Geo dealer that
the fuel tank in this vehicle was most likely metal. Since proper
grounding was found, any electrical charge accumulated through
gasoline flow would likely be drained harmlessly to ground.
The accumulation of a static electric charge by the motorist
was, however, a highly likely explanation for this fire. The
weather conditions were very dry, the motorist reentered his car
momentarily and exited without touching the door or vehicle
before reaching the gas tank and pump nozzle. His approach
to the right-rear area of the car required a minimum time for
his shoes to be in grounded contact. A person can acquire and
retain a static electric charge of thousands of volts under these
conditions [5, p. 106]. This charge will be discharged with an
incendive spark when the person’s hand comes very close (less
than 0.2 cm) to the grounded dispenser nozzle.
VII. CONCLUSION
Under the right set (or wrong set) of conditions the gasoline re-
fueling process can be extremely hazardous. It has for years been
recognized that a running motor, open flame, or high-tempera-
ture materials such as smoking material should be avoided in the
vicinity of the refueling point. We also have recognized the danger
presented by static electric discharge during refueling and have
codified, e.g., the NEC, standards that minimize the accumula-
tion of static electricity in the fueling area due to fuel flow.
In order to address the danger of human static electricity during
gasoline refueling it should be recognized that conditions that in-
creasethestaticdischargehazardduringautomotiverefuelingare
as follows:
• dry weather;
• static-producing clothing and seat upholstery;
• rubber-soled or nonconductive synthetic-soled shoes;
• reentering the vehicle during automated refueling.
VIII. PERSONAL SAFETY PROCEDURES
Remedial actions that can be taken by the motorist to decrease
the static hazard during refueling are the following.
• Discharge any static accumulation when leaving the ve-
hicle by touching the metal parts of the vehicle well away
from the refueling area.
• Avoid automated refueling or do not re-enter the vehicle
during refueling.
1005
• If re-entering the vehicle, repeat the discharge action upon
leaving the vehicle and before approaching the refueling
area.
• Re-upholster or treat the vehicle’s upholstery with a non-
static generating material.
• Install a conductive filler cap connected to the vehicle’s
metallic body in a dissipative manner.
IX. POSTSCRIPT
Since April 2002, when the author began this investigation
and research into the static discharge hazard involving gasoline
refueling, the Petroleum Equipment Institute (PEI) and the
American Petroleum Institute (API) have issued safe refueling
guidelines to their members that provide information on
avoiding potential problems with static electricity at the pump.
There also has been an industry-wide movement toward
posting warnings on gasoline pumps that state: “WARNING”
“Static electricity can ignite gasoline vapors” “Stay near your
vehicle and do not re-enter it while fueling” “If you do re-enter
your vehicle during fueling, touch a metal part of your vehicle
before touching the gasoline nozzle to discharge any potential
static buildup.”
One retail gas company in Florida has designed a sign made
of dissipative materials to serve as a warning and a place where
a person may discharge their static without a spark and away
from the fume area of the nozzle (StaTouch).
There have been suggested changes to the NFPA 30A-2000
Code for Motor Fuel Dispensing Facilities and Repair Garages
to require warning signs regarding the static electricity hazard
in gas dispensing areas, and some of the national brand gasoline
retailers have started to display such warnings on their pumps.
REFERENCES
[1] “Avoidance of Ignition of gasoline/air mixture during refueling of motor
vehicles at filling stations,” DGMK German Soc. Petroleum and Coal
Sci. Technol., Hamburg, Germany, DGMK Project 508,, Feb. 1996.
[2] IEEE Standard Dictionary of Electrical and Electronics Terms,
ANSI/IEEE Std. 100-1984.
[3] Static Electricity, ANSI/NFPA 77, 1993.
[4] Nabours, Fish , and Hill, Electrical Injuries Engineering, Medical and
Legal Aspects, 2nd ed. Tucson, AZ: Lawyers & Judges Publishing,
2004, p. 154.
[5] T. H. Pratt, Electrostatic Ignitions of Fires and Explosions. New York:
American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 2000, p. 53.
[6] R. Noon, Engineering Analysis of Fire and Explosions. Boca Raton,
FL: CRC Press, 1995, p. 62.
[7] Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations 1995 Edition, NFPA 921,
1995.
Robert E. Nabours (S’57–M’57–SM’83–LS’97) re-
ceived the B.S.E.E. degree from the University of Ari-
zona, Tucson, in 1957, the M.S. degree in electrical
engineering from Stanford University, Stanford, CA,
in 1959, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering
from the University of Arizona in 1965.
He was an Instructor in electrical engineeering at
the University of Arizona, a Project Leader in adap-
tive communications research for Bell Aerosystems
Company, and the Chief Engineer for Burr-Brown Re-
search Corporation. He has practiced consulting en-
gineering since 1958, serving as a forensic electrical engineering expert in court
over 50 times. He has authored 12 papers and three books on forensic electrical
engineering.
Dr. Nabours is a Registered Professional Engineer in the States of Arizona,
California, and New Mexico.