I pulled out my fuel tank, and the fuel sender and other various wires are bare at the connections inside the tank. Does gas not conduct electricity? I'm going to be modifying the fuel sender, and I was a little confused when I saw this.

 

as a liquid, its not very conductive...

but put it as a mist in the air, and you can jump a big spark..... (and make a big boom)

 

I've always wondered that myself. All new cars have a fuel pump mounted in the tank. The wiring to the pump inside the tank is not sealed. The last fuel pump I had to change just had a simple push on spade connector for the wires. When the fuel tank is low, the wires are exposed to the air/mist in the tank and it doesn't explode.

Although gasoline may conduct electricity, we're also talking about 12 volts and a few amps at the most. To jump such a gap between the positive wire and a ground, you would need a lot more voltage or amperage.

 

yea, the reason it cant explode is twofold... one, theres no oxygen to ignite with, and two, the voltage isnt high enough to jump the gap.

i dont reccomend connecting an ignition coil and airpump to test this theory.

 

No, gasoline is not a conductor.

In fact it's quite a good insulator. Other similar compounds (hydrocarbons) such as paraffin have been widely used as insulators in various electrical apparatus over the years.

So no, the connections inside the gas tank don't have to be sealed or anything. But you wouldn't want a spark in there just the same; there could be enough oxygen in there, from air being let in as fuel is pumped out, to where you could have a small problem.

 

actually, there is a spark inside your fuel tank,... & quite a big one at that.
the fuel is used to both cool & lubricate the pump, it flows through the pump,.. right across the armature & the brushes.

if you want an ideal what kind of spark in talking about, you know when you short a power wire against a ground? its about half that much of a spark, but repeated about 5000 times a second times 2.

a good fuel pump will pull up to around 6 amps.
it won't ignite the fuel for the reasons given above.

 

I figured that it must not be a problem, but it still confused me. Thanks for the replies; now it makes sense.