Hi Bill, 

 

Yes, I realize that being only an oxidizer that without fuel, you would not have a combustion type explosion.  But as the photo of the guy's car shows - even the overheated bottle by itself made an impressive amount of shredded metal out of his car.  Like you point out - a burst water heater can do an unbelievable amount of damage.  

 

But,  I hate to think of what it would have been like had fuel been available when the bottle burst. 

 

Since the bottle shows no sign of scorching, fairly clear no combustion took place. 

 

  Here's the link if you want to look at more photos  http://www.healthyhome.net/NOS2.htm

 

One thing having this happen to back-end of parked car, another thing to think of it in my airplane.

 

Not trying to  imply NO2 is not safe handled properly - Its just I just don't need THAT kind of boost {:>).

 

 

Ed

The burst pressure of a well designed pressure vessel can be amazing! No need for more photos I truly understand what can happen with too much pressure. Gasoline explosions can be truly impressive as well. It all depends on what you are comfortable with. The only point I was making was that the complexity and weight of a electrically driven supercharger would be major, (think of the manifolding!), whereas the Nos bottle and plumbing including controls could be less than 10 pounds for a small bottle. Just the thing for a "little help" occasionally.

 

Bill