Quote:
Originally Posted by twobjshelbys
In 2009 or so we had gotten a snow that was pretty deep, the first of the season, so I decided to crank up the snow blower. It had sat over the summer, so I gassed it up and pulled the cord. Stood at the back by the handles where I pulled the starter from and started feathering the throttle. Well, all of a sudden the thing ran like a raped ape, well beyond any rev limiter top number and then suddenly BANG. The engine exploded. The cylinder wall sprayed into the sheetrock wall and the piston rod blew into it. If I'd been standing beside it I would have been neutered.  It took only a few seconds for this whole sequence but it was eye opening! |
Not that you were doing this at the time but this reminds me of an article I read that had the same outcome and pointed to real life cases where this had happened in the past. It said that the labels on small equipment advising you to never refill any engine with fuel while it is running needs to be heeded. It stated that if the fumes from the gas and/or diesel make it to the intake, it can cause the engine to rev higher and out of control. Trying to shut it down via a key or switch does not always stop it in time and the engine could explode similar to this. As you know, you need to stand beside it in order to accomplish this so that could easily be deadly.