Propane and natural gas have improved many lifestyles with ease and cost efficiency. However, the gases can be very dangerous. A question I encounter often is if you can smell the gas or not. Actually the gasses are odorless. The smell comes from an additive mixed with the gas. A common additive is Mercaptan.

     However, if you do ever smell the additive in your home or business leave immediately. Do not do anything that can cause an electrical spark. Simply turning lights on or off could be enough to cause an explosion. Go to a neighbors home and contact your local emergency response agency.

     Here is a table with some interesting characteristics of propane and natural gas along with a couple of other common gasses.

Material	Specific Gravity	Ignition Temp F in Air	Flammability Lower	Flammability Upper
Natural Gas	.55	1193	5.3	15.0
Propane	1.56	957-1090	2.2	9.5
Gasoline	3-4.0	632	1.4	7.6
Carbon Monoxide	.97	1191-1216	12.5	74.0

 

Specific Gravity = A number to determine if gas is heavier than air. The specific gravity of air is 1.0. Therefore, natural gas will rise while propane will sink in air.

Ignition Temperature = The temperature the gas will ignite and sustain combustion. This is not the flash point which is commonly lower.

Flammability Limit = The percent of material that must be in the air to ignite. If there is less than the lower limit, there is not enough material to support combustion. On the other hand, if there is more than the upper limit, there is to much material to support combustion and it will not ignite.

The following pictures are of the Ranger Propane Training classes. The propane tank you see is real and filled with propane. This was one of the last classes that the tank was going to be real.