> Like most people,I suppose, I often get quite an
> uncomfortable static discharge from my car. Why is it that
> it is never suggested earthing a car prior to refuelling?
>
> Am I missing something very obvious?
Well, if you are like most people, then I am unlike most people. I rerely suffer
---From this but then I always try to wear natural fibres specifically to reduce
static.
The obvious thing that you are missing is that you often _give_ an uncomfortable
static discharge to your car. Unless your car has a plastic body (hands up
anyone on the list with a quad-wheel Europa?) anything that you touch on it will
most likely already be grounded. You are building up a charge on yourself and
discharging to earth. Normally, the car and the fuelling rig at the garage are
already at the local earth so there are no sparks.
You can have a problem if for some reason the fuel filler neck is not part of
the vehicle earth. One UK car maker did a recall a few years back for exactly
that problem after a few forecourt fires.
--
John O'Connor
jpoc@jpoc.org
http://jpoc.org
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