letterman@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> I am having an arguement with a friend. He hooked a battery charger
> to his car, put the POS clamp on the battery, and the NEG one to his
> gas line near his carburetor. I just about had a stroke when he did
> that, and I unplugged the charger immediately. He told me I was being
> paranoid and because the gas is inside the pipe it cant ignite, and
> said he does that all the time because its and old car and the body
> metal is rusty and the engine metal is painted.
>
> He insists this is not dangerous. I disagree. Then he clamped it to
> the gas line there were sparks. What if they burned thru the line if
> there was a weak spot in the metal? I told him I am sticking by my
> words, "it's dangerous".
>
> I know you should not connect both clamps to the battery terminals, so
> I always connect the NEG to the alternator bracket, and have connected
> it to the bumper, bolts on the fenders, and any other metal that's not
> painted or rusty, but NOT the gas line.
>
> So who is right? I believe I am but I'm asking. I'd hate to think if
> he connected a jumper cable to the gas line, which has enough zap to
> weld right thru a gas line.
As long as everything is tight and there are no leaks it shouldn't be
dangerous, and if the metal is weak enough that little spark would burn
through it it's probably leaking anyway... but in any case I wouldn't
use a gas line as a ground!
Jeff DeWitt
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