Safe storage of gasoline and propane

[cat]

I live in Fort Lauderdale Florida. Recently I had a wind storm inspector come out to our house to do the inspection to try and get a reduction in our insurance costs.

He made an interesting comment. He noticed that although we had hurricane shutters put up, we didn't put them up on our garage door. My plan is to use the garage door as our only non shuttered exit - and simply use 4x8 plywood sheets to reinforce the inside of the door (by backing the car up against the sheet) and possibly doing the same on the outside depending on how bad the storm is.

He then told me that many of the failures of homes in South Miami during Andrew started as failures of the garage doors - not from being blown in - but being sucked out. This is something I was unware of.

This has got me thinking about gasoline and propane. I store 25 gallons of gas in 2.5 gallon red plastic gas cans (with Stabil). I also keep in the garage 4 40 pound propane tanks to run my various lamps, stoves, etc. These materials are stored in our garage.

I'm wondering what precautions people take in storing these types of materials (aside from the proper containers) and what other people do - especially taking into account that a garage doesn't seem like one of the more survivable areas in a major storm.

[Stormtrack]

I used to work in the chemical industry where we often stored flammables, and we were told that the only way to store flammables safely inside was using a NFPA approved flammable storage cabinet with a flame arrester sush as the ones at the link below. Don't forget to ground it. The heat content of gasoline is tremendous.
http://www.evallen.com/general.nsf/frames
Type in "safety can storage" in the search box.

[Dionne]

Not only should gasoline and propane be stored in the proper cabinet but also all petro-chemical and hydro-carbon items. These include motor oils, grease, paint thinner......it's a long list. In our shop the fire safe cabinet itself is not located in the frame part of the structure but inside a concrete room.

The reason the garage door pops out is the pressure difference. Especially when tornados accompany the hurricane. As far as the exterior walls of your home goes.....the garage door is the weakest area. Once it goes there's this big hole to fill with sustained winds.

[DanKellFla]

I have a thread about this somewhere, but I can't find the link. For garage doors, try this: http://www.securedoor.com/

It is not just the pressure difference that causes garage doors to fail. Typically, the door starts to vibrate from the wind/pressure differential. If that vibration coincides with the natural frequency of the door, the door very quickly destroys itself. Either by failure of the door, escape from the track, or the track separating from the structure of the house.

[raindrops68]

Ok excellent question but here is one I have.
If you have propane and a couple gas containers how long is the gas ok in the container? And if you dont have a concrete room or storage cabinet where should propane and gas containers be put? Inside your house? I know my questions may sound like "where's the common sense here?" but never owning a house until Nov 2007 storing propane or gas during hurricane season was never a choice as we lived in apartments.
Thanks for any advice

[Dionne]

Ok excellent question but here is one I have.
If you have propane and a couple gas containers how long is the gas ok in the container? And if you dont have a concrete room or storage cabinet where should propane and gas containers be put? Inside your house? I know my questions may sound like "where's the common sense here?" but never owning a house until Nov 2007 storing propane or gas during hurricane season was never a choice as we lived in apartments.
Thanks for any advice

Do not store the propane or gas inside your home. Propane has a long life. Gasoline is different, you can purchase a stabilizer additive to extend the life......I seldom go more than 90 days. If you have a garage with a utility room, use this area for all combustibles......do not mix any other storage items. You could also line your utility room with 5/8 firerock (sheetrock) used in commercial buildings. Know that in a catastrophic storm....nothing is safe.

[raindrops68]

I have some of the small propane containers and keep them in the garage right now but will the heat affect them? We dont have a utility room or cabinet so I've kept them in a plastic tote(without the lid on ).

[Dionne]

I have some of the small propane containers and keep them in the garage right now but will the heat affect them? We dont have a utility room or cabinet so I've kept them in a plastic tote(without the lid on ).

Call your local fire dept.