Safety of propane/butane canisters left in a car

Hi everyone,

I am new to using non-refillable gas canisters and I was wondering whether it is ok to have these canisters in the trunk of a car sitting out in the sun all day? Searching the web doesn't seem to give much info. The campingaz site claims their canisters are safe to store in a car because, according to them, "the temperature in a car in direct sunlight will never rise above 60C(140F)." They claim their canisters are safe to 87C(188F). Still I am rather leery of leaving these things in the trunk of my car sitting out in some blazing piece of socal desert.

Anyone ever experienced problems in this regard? Am I worrying for nothing?

Thanks,

Andrew

I worry about it too, so I always make sure to wrap the cannisters well in things that I leave in the car (extra clothes) for insulation and keep them out of direct sunlight (in the trunk). When I do that I have never found the cannisters to get hotter than "warm."

Sounds like a good subject for Mythbusters <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

This is not something I spend a lot of time worrying about. My car has a tank of gasoline and gasoline vapor right under that hot trunk and I don't worry about that either.

I would feel perfectly safe leaving my canisters on my dashboard at noon in Death Valley.....in August.

I have kept over a dozen cannisters of various makes, sizes and fullness in an old steel Coleman cooler in the AZ sun for over three years running.

No explosions to date.

Urban myths lead one to believe auto interior gets hotter than 140 degrees, though. The media claim higher numbers every time some Einstein cooks their kid or pet in one.

One time on a hot day my kids left their Crayons on the dash. Now that was a problem!!!!

I've certainly experienced problems with isopro canisters left in the car due to temperture - but it's been more to the effect of it's cold enough out I have to cuddle the cold hunk of canister for a while and/or pee on it to warm it up enough so I can make the stove go decently <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />