How to Handle a Fuel Spill on Your Boat
Fuelish Behavior
Gasoline and diesel are expensive and damaging to the environment and your boat, and fumes can blow you to Kingdom Come.
Not long ago, a friend of one of Power and Motoryacht’s editors had a fuel spill aboard a new-to-her beautifully restored cabin cruiser: The previous owner had replaced the original I/O with a two-stroke outboard, installing a new gas tank in the process. However, although he removed the original tank and its plumbing, he left the original deck fill and simply forgot to inform the new owner. Naturally, Murphy’s Law took over and about five gallons of 50:1 oil/gasoline premix went into the now-disconnected fill before the problem was caught-—while the boat was on the water. Thanks to the boat’s design, the raw gas spilled into the deckhouse, where most of it was soaked up by the carpet. Cleaning up the mess was thus easier than if the gas had ended up in the bilge—moving the carpet off the boat and letting the gas evaporate did most of the work. But the boat was still full of gas fumes for longer than anyone would like (weeks even with a big fan going and the boat wide open), and the two-stroke oil didn’t evaporate, so it had to be cleaned up—a real pain.
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This was an understandable mishap: What bonehead doesn’t remove an unneeded deck fill and glass up or JB Weld the hole, or at least install a rod holder in its place? A mistake was bound to happen. And speaking of rod holders, we’ve all heard the story or seen the viral videos of the guy who pumps fuel into a rod holder, filling the cockpit and/or bilge rather than the tank. Is anybody really this careless? I didn’t think so—it sounds like a good stupid-boater tale to share over cold beers—but according to BoatUS, Geico receives insurance claims every year from people who’ve done just that, or have pumped fuel into a water tank. The same Power & Motoryacht editor mentioned above literally had the rod-holder disaster happen to another friend a couple of weeks before the deadline for this column, so I guess it does happen. (Two gas mishaps strike the same editor’s friends in such a short time? He’s a nice guy, but I don’t think I’ll be running to the fuel dock with him anytime soon!)
Shut It Off
If suddenly you find yourself with gasoline or diesel oil sloshing around where it shouldn’t be, the first step is obvious: Stop the flow. Click off the nozzle and pull it out of the rod holder. If the engine’s running and spewing fuel, shut it down and close the fuel valves. Gasoline and diesel do not conduct electricity, so you won’t get electrocuted if you step into a puddle that’s voltage exposed, but sparks are another matter. If it’s a gas engine, and you’re still on this planet after the spill, thank whoever invented ignition protection, and be glad you didn’t save money by using automotive, instead of marine, electrical parts on your boat: Cars don’t need ignition protection, so an alternator meant for under the hood use can spark enough to set off gas fumes in your engine compartment.
Turn off the bilge pump so you don’t discharge fuel overboard—no matter how attractive that option might look for emptying the bilge as soon as possible. Pumping fuel into the water can result in big fines and cleanup costs and it’s just wrong; it’s better for both the environment and your wallet to transfer it into appropriate containers and dispose of it properly. Sometimes you can filter the fuel and re-use it. Even if you can’t, it’s cheaper to lose the fuel than to have the EPA on your case.
Kill the Juice
Immediately shut off the electricity to minimize the chance of a spark; careful skippers do this before they start refueling. This is more important with gasoline than diesel because of the lower flash point of gas. Flash point is the temperature at which a fuel gives off vapors that will ignite. Gasoline has a very low flash point of -45 degrees F, so it will easily ignite at any temperature when we might be aboard our boats. But diesel’s flash point is +126 degrees F, so unless it’s a really, really hot day, or there’s a constant source of heat to warm the fuel, chances are it won’t ignite. A stray spark won’t do it. Dealing with a diesel spill is mostly a clean-up job rather than hazardous duty. Both gasoline and diesel fumes are heavier than air though, so it will gather in the lowest parts of the bilge first, where they can be extracted by the bilge blower once the liquid fuel is removed.
And beware: Even a little bit of gasoline packs quite a punch: According to the National Agricultural Safety Database (NASD), a source of information funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the vapor of one cup of gasoline, when mixed with the right proportion of air, has the explosive power of about five pounds of dynamite. But you don’t need exactly the right proportions to be dangerous: Gasoline fumes will ignite over a range of concentrations. The generally accepted lower explosive limit (LEL) for gasoline fumes is about 1.4 percent by volume, or 14,000 parts/million (PPM), so it doesn’t take much gas to evaporate and turn your engine compartment into a literal bomb waiting to go off. The upper explosive limit (UEL) is around 7.6 percent, or 76,000 PPM. Between these concentrations, any spark will ignite the fumes—even using a cell phone can do it.
Sniff It—But Not Too Much
If you don’t have a fume detector on board, get one. A fume detector—old-timers call them “sniffers”—will warn you of the presence of explosive fumes in the bilge when the concentration reaches about 20 percent of LEL. The better models will start the bilge blower when the fume concentration reaches alarm level. A sniffer won’t stop some dope from pumping fuel into the wrong hole, but it’ll warn you right away of the fumes from the misplaced or leaking gasoline.
Still, an average human nose can smell gasoline fumes when the concentration is well below one part per million, much earlier than any sniffer and long before the fumes will explode. Nothing beats sticking your nose into the bilge and taking a whiff to find the slightest trace of gas. However, prolonged breathing of concentrated gas or diesel fumes is harmful, so wear respiratory protection if you’re cleaning up a spill. And very high concentrations of fumes can displace enough air in enclosed spaces to make breathing difficult. So be careful—explosion can be only part of the risk.
Call the Pros
Since a multi-gallon mishap is more likely to take place at the fuel dock than underway, get everyone off the boat and enlist the dock crew for help. They will: a) want to deal with the issue as soon as possible and get you out of there before you burst into flames, b) not want fuel going overboard, since it might involve liability for them, and c) have probably seen this before and have more experience than you do. They will know who to call—probably the fire department if there’s gasoline involved. That’s a wise move: Firemen have the skills and means to make the situation safer. You might end up with a boat full of firefighting foam to ultimately clean up, but that’s better than an explosion. To finish the clean-up, you’ll need a portable pump to remove the fuel/foam/bilgewater slurry, containers to pump it into and absorbent material to soak up what’s left over. Pros will have all of this. You’ll still have cleaning up to do once the risk of ignition is gone. Many pros swear by Simple Green for cleaning up fuel and oil spills. It’s EPA-certified as a Safer Choice, and is less environmentally harmful than most other cleaners. If fuel spills in the cabin, you might convince a carpet steam cleaning service to give the interior a much-needed pass—after you’ve either evaporated or pumped the bulk of the fuel out and there’s no more danger. A couple of weeks after the spill of our editor’s friend had mostly evaporated, Stanley Steemer did a bang-up (not blowup) job on her boat’s interior.
If you’re facing a catastrophic gasoline leak underway, get as far away from the fumes as possible and call the Coast Guard for help. Again, DO NOT use your cell phone or a VHF radio close to the fumes, since either one can generate a spark. Go onto the foredeck and make your call on the handheld. Fortunately, gas leaks underway are more often from failed fuel lines or connections. Your sniffer should warn you in time to take action and keep the situation from becoming serious. Know where your fuel-tank shutoffs are, too—so you can stop the leak quickly and clean up what should be a small amount of spilled fuel. Regardless, be careful: Even a small amount of gas can create dangerous fumes. Don’t start the engine until you’ve fixed the leak.
Don’t Make a Sheen
Not spilling fuel in the first place isn’t rocket science. Folks have been pumping gas and diesel into their tanks for more than a century now, and most of the fuel has ended up where it belongs. It takes a combination of ignorance and inattention to create a serious fuel spill. Yes, sometimes accidents happen, but in most cases the spill is caused by the person holding the fuel hose. Thus, you’ll be responsible if anything goes wrong, so take charge of the operation yourself rather than turn it over to the dock attendant or your brother-in-law who can’t tell a rod holder from a deck fill. You’re also far less likely to fill the gas tank with diesel or vice-versa, or the water tank with either one—like a kid or cousin working the fuel dock and anxious to get back to his phone might. Prevention is a lot easier than cure in this case.
Most fuel spills don’t involve gallons of raw gasoline or diesel pumped overboard, but accumulated drips and leaks from the engine discharged with the bilge water. Or maybe a spurt of fuel shoots out of the vent if the tank’s topped-up too high when refueling—in the old days, this was how you knew the tank was full. In the eyes of the government, these are all spills: Anything that creates a sheen on the water is a spill, no matter the volume of pollutant discharged, and federal law says a spill has to be reported. If you value your wallet, and don’t want the Feds on your case, be careful, avoid stupid refueling mistakes, and keep your bilge clean, so when the pump runs you don’t create a sheen rivaling the Exxon Valdez. Keep boating fun by not spilling fuel.
Sidebar: Reporting a Spill
If you cause a spill, federal law requires you to notify the appropriate authorities, who will then undertake clean-up. Failure to report can result in a hefty fine. Spilling the oil in the first place can result in an even heftier fine, and you might also be responsible for paying for the clean-up. Don’t try to clean it up yourself—it’s actually illegal to do so.
The EPA says to report spills to the National Response Center (NRC) at 1-800-424-8802 or 1-202-426-2675. The NRC is the federal government’s centralized reporting center, staffed 24 hours per day. Reports also can be made to the EPA regional office or the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Office (MSO) in the area where the incident occurred. Individual states may have their own reporting requirements, too. Be familiar with the procedures ahead of time, obey the law and avoid fines and penalties.
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This article originally appeared in the February 2024 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/seamanship/how-to-handle-a-fuel-spill-on-your-boat
