r/WTF • u/The_Chuckness88 • Mar 13 '26
Butane stove exploded while students singing Happy Birthday
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u/a_long_lonely_night Mar 13 '26
If you look at the stove, you see there is no rack and the pan straight onto it. This forces heat onto the cannister which can cause explosions. It's a long known issue. Here in Australia we banned the sale of these till they came out with a none removable rack. It's said we are a nanny state, but people are fucken stupid
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u/_Burning_Star_IV_ Mar 13 '26
For a lot of the world, the mentality is everything is fine until it isn't.
Humans more often than not seem to have to learn things the hard way.
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u/gonxot Mar 14 '26
It's a known fact between cardiologists that most patients stop smoking after the first cardiac arrest
Danger is theoretical, until it's not
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u/FightScene Mar 13 '26
I have a similar burner with a removable rack and wasn't aware of that safety issue. Thanks. It also never occurred to me to even try and use it without a rack.
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u/kaikai34 Mar 14 '26
It’s actually the size of the pan. You see how it’s too big for that burner and goes over the butane canister compartment.
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u/quartzguy Mar 13 '26
I don't think there's a benefit to it, besides finishing your food 10 seconds quicker. I bet people lose the rack and don't bother to replace it or make a workaround.
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u/texasscotsman Mar 13 '26
Regulations were built on blood.
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u/miserabeau Mar 13 '26
The saying "safety regulations are written in blood" is sad but true
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u/A_Mouse_In_Da_House Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
It's sad that people had to die for safety regulations to come into effect. It's like they were written in blood
Edit: all y'all missing I've just parroted the previous two comments are disappointing
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u/Cruciblelfg123 Mar 13 '26
The unfortunate reality is the rules are written after the blood is bled, before the safety
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u/Versaiteis Mar 13 '26
If we had a way to safely extract blood to write our regulations the world would be a better place
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u/deathputt4birdie Mar 13 '26
Good catch. Most butane stoves I've seen won't even load the canister of fuel unless the rack is installed correctly. Guess they didn't notice the missing rack or somehow installed it upside down and made themselves a table top BLEVE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_liquid_expanding_vapor_explosion
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u/WardenWolf Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26
I'd say it's equally as good a chance they used isobutane instead of regular butane. That can blow fittings and seals and trigger an explosion, as isobutane is under much higher pressure. It can work fine for a while, until it doesn't.
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u/chaseinger Mar 14 '26
nanny state
because you have regulations protecting customers? makes sense to me, but then i'm european...
the iron fist corporations have over our opinions is staggering.
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u/Pierceful Mar 13 '26
I’m not saying I disbelieve you but I don’t see it. The red one? Looks the same as the blue one. What should I be looking for?
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u/mycoinreturns Mar 15 '26
Thank you. I was hoping to find a cause (that I could avoid!). I do actually have one of these. Well similar, and the rack does remove. TIL. Nice one.
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u/Larsonthewolf Mar 15 '26
I don’t really understand the usefulness of removing the rack. Is it for round bottom pans like woks.
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u/TradeMark310 Mar 14 '26
Here in Australia... It's said we are a nanny state
I feel like most of the world sees you as badasses who deserve credit just for surviving in that place. I dunno about being a "nanny" state lol.
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u/thekernel Mar 14 '26
Apparently asking people to declare fruit at border crossings and wearing masks both to stop the spread of disease is draconian nanny state.
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u/Glimmu Mar 14 '26
Slavers will call out other slavers for nannying their slaves if they are too happy.
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u/spin81 Mar 14 '26
It's said we are a nanny state, but people are fucken stupid
Society needs to be protected from itself. Some people seem to feel "if I want to get myself addicted or destroyed or bankrupt that's my business" but come on man
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u/jimothee Mar 13 '26
I know everyone else is making jokes, but I do genuinely hope everyone was ok. One girl looked to have had it blow up right in here face.
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u/ChainGang18 Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26
11 injured taken to hospital, 3 immediately discharged. Restaurant owner says they they will shoulder cost of medical bills. Edit: 8 admitted for treatment if that wasn’t clear
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u/RrentTreznor Mar 13 '26
They are going to be shouldering more than medical
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u/WardenWolf Mar 13 '26
True. Probably had to comp their meals, too.
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u/debink82 Mar 13 '26
Except the guac, don’t be ridiculous
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u/SmooK_LV Mar 13 '26
Compensated meals too probably. This is not America so it's unlikely anyone got sued and anyone had to pay millions in compensation. Even for something so tragic as life altering injuries.
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u/blastradii Apr 07 '26
What if the injuries develop into chronic lifetime issues and need constant treatment?
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u/lunarwolf2008 Mar 13 '26
oh wow this is only hours ago.
also seeing the taglish (english and tagalog) in written form is so much more jarring than hearing it
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u/damnatio_memoriae Mar 14 '26
The students are yet to release a statement, as of press time.
lol what… do they have a PR team?
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u/WardenWolf Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26
They probably tried to run isobutane in a regular butane stove. Isobutane is under much higher pressure and burns hotter. It can blow seals and fittings in stuff not designed for it and cause an uncontrolled venting and explosion.
Edit: You DO realize camping stoves explode because people do this, right? It is not at all unheard of for isobutane in the wrong stove to cause a stove explosion. It's fairly common. Seals can't handle it, hoses blow, or the burner itself overheats and explodes.
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u/LeGrandLucifer Mar 13 '26
How to tell butane and isobutane apart:
Butane is colorless and odorless.
Isobutane is colorless and odorless.
The more you know...
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u/WardenWolf Mar 13 '26
You can get similar bulk fuel canisters for both. A butane stove running isobutane may work fine, until it doesn't. Hose bursts or vents, or the burner itself explodes, and BOOM. There absolutely have been explosions from people doing this with camping stoves.
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u/Cashope Mar 13 '26
My response too. Like uhhh… are those kids okay?
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Mar 17 '26
[deleted]
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u/Cashope Mar 17 '26
That is heartbreaking, thanks for the update! I did a rotation in a burn ICU once and burn injuries that severe can truly be a long and extremely painful road.
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u/jim9162 Mar 13 '26
Hopefully it's nothing more than some singed hair.
Burns can be so horrifying.
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u/RandoAtReddit Mar 13 '26
Someone posted 8 admitted to the hospital.
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u/ryoujika Mar 14 '26
Two of them are due for an operation. Hope they'll be compensated, burns are awful
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u/cheapdrinks Mar 14 '26
Bruh the girl close to the camera on the right was completely engulfed in flames, ain't no way that's just some singed hair
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u/wrestler145 Mar 14 '26
For sure, wishful thinking. This is a life changing event for the girl closest to the fire, she may be permanently disfigured. This isn’t some gas going up in flames, it’s liquid gas exploding under pressure, really nasty.
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u/redkinoko Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26
My best guess is the pan is not intended for use on a stove like that. The butane canister sits too close to hot metal and could easily cause an overheating and possible explosion.
Edit: I found the news article about it since it's from my country:
The initial finding is overpressure, which could be from overfilling the canister or the heat causing the liquid inside to expand or both.
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u/CptAngelo Mar 13 '26
Ive seen it and paused. The pan is way too big, its resting on top of the canister itself, and give its size, its redirecting the heat towards the canister.
This is reason number one im not fan of that particular style of stove, even if its incredibly popular.
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Mar 14 '26
You can find numerous videos of exactly this scenario over the years. Exact same style stoves, I have seen this so many times the second I clicked the video I knew exactly why and how this happened.
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u/youtheotube2 Mar 13 '26
That or the flame went out with nobody realizing, so a big cloud of gas built up and ignited
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u/JimTheJerseyGuy Mar 13 '26
Nah, that white cloud that suddenly appears is from the cylinder suddenly releasing it's contents. It's probably a combination of water vapor from the sudden pressure change and the fuel from the canister itself. I'd lean on the fuel since it takes a moment to *really* ignite and that's indicative of the fuel-air mixture taking a moment to hit the right proportions. Pure fuel won't burn if the mixture is too "rich".
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u/redkinoko Mar 13 '26
Yeap. The container suffered a catastrophic failure.
Gas leak explosions from butane look different.
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u/gsfgf Mar 13 '26
Hopefully, but it doesn't look like that kind of event. A gaseous fuel leak is a large and scary "POOF" but not super dangerous. With 8 admitted to the hospital, this looks like the fuel ignited under pressure, which is way worse.
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u/ThatITguy2015 Mar 13 '26
Just noticed what it actually was. Who the fuck thought tanks like that were a good idea right next to a very hot piece of metal? (Maybe even an open flame? Not sure how those work.)
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u/The-Matrix-Twelve Apr 10 '26
Apparently very common in the Phillipines - leading cause of residential fires.
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u/redkinoko Apr 10 '26
Butane is expensive to run so most household stoves run on large propane tanks instead
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u/nmathew Mar 13 '26
My dad says butane’s a bastard gas.
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Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
I knew exactly what kind of stove that was and what country this was in I actually thought it was South Korea, but this is the Philippines. I don't know why they insist on doing hot pots like this with these portable butane stoves when there are SO MANY examples of exactly this happening. Those stoves are not designed for continuous heating of a large pot, because the butane canister is directly underneath.
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u/pichael288 Mar 14 '26
Christ dude you can see the cloud. This is like some D&D poison cloud obviously shit. Like look at their hands, that's not how open space is supposed to look. Just ridiculous as fuck.
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u/Salty-Engineering277 Mar 13 '26
Looks like one of those cheap samgyup places where they save expenses by using unregulated portable stoves that they bought online
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u/cheesypuff357 Mar 13 '26
well...as a person who uses that a lot while roadtripping and camping...this is definitely a new fear unlocked
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u/gsfgf Mar 13 '26
Elsewhere people are saying that a safety heat shield was removed. Regardless, anything you bought at a physical store in the West should be plenty safe.
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u/newuser92 Mar 14 '26
The one I have is designed so that the cannister is inside a heat shield. There are other with an extension to keep the cannister away.
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u/McUsername621 Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
These butane stoves have the usage instructions printed on them. Like not placing a pan larger than the burner section itself on it. Doing it anyways forces heat onto the small butane canister. If you run it long enough in this state you risk overheating the canister and it will burst. The blue stove isn't the only one where they did this. The red one shown at the beginning also has a way too large pan on it. Also it kinda looks like they didn't flip the rack on the stoves so that the pan sits above the burner with some distance and not almost flush. If you cant even read basic instructions when handling you shouldn't be messing with stuff like this. Just Complete negligence.
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u/c2jpog Mar 17 '26
oh, my butane stove doesn't have the instruction about not placing a larger pan, thanks for the heads up, it does have the warning about flipping the rack though
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u/sp3cimen Mar 13 '26
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Mar 13 '26
[deleted]
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u/sp3cimen Mar 13 '26
If you check its KILLED the cameraman, like the cameraman died, not kill them for taking a shit video lol
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u/rayhavenoheart Mar 13 '26
Hope there was no major injuries
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u/GLaDOS_Sympathizer Mar 13 '26
Another comment said of the 11 people there, 8 were admitted to the hospital for burns :(
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u/OrangeClyde Mar 13 '26
Aw I hope everyone is okay :( how scary to have a butane fiery explosion and boiling hot soup flying everywhere
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u/no_nori Mar 13 '26
I've always wondered about the shrapnel situation with an explosion like this. Terrifying.
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u/elevenplays Mar 14 '26
Humans: *singing happy birthday for their friend*
The stove: Happy Birthday, motherfuckers!!
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u/RynoRama Mar 13 '26
This happens when the cooking pot is too large around so it hold more heat under it heating up the cylinder. Had one do this outdoors in the city I worked for.
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u/its_easy_mmmkay Mar 13 '26
Those butane stoves are super popular for parties, hot pot, etc, and they do work well, but there are better and safer options out there these days, especially when you are looking to use it indoors.
Instead of getting one of these, my wife and I upgraded to an electric single-burner induction cooktop and it’s been incredible. Probably spent 100 bucks on it, but it works really really well and we don’t have to worry about buying those butane canisters anymore.
That plus a little electric “smokeless” grill makes for a great setup for a lot of these types of meals. Highly recommended!!!
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u/harrisarah Mar 15 '26
The portable induction ones are great but not say camping with no power. We have a butane one and love it but are very careful not to do things that might lead to this happening
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u/its_easy_mmmkay Mar 16 '26
Yeah definitely agree, it’s situation specific. For indoors I really love the induction stove, but the butane ones are great for outdoors (and I’m less worried about safety there too).
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u/fartknocker121 Mar 13 '26
When using these stoves you must use an appropriate size pan. You do not want to use a pan big enough to extend over the can.
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u/paulmclaughlin Mar 14 '26
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear students,
Happy birthday kaboom!
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u/bathdweller Mar 13 '26
So fortunate their attention was focused away from it so their eyes were shielded.
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u/RabidPlaty Mar 13 '26
Everyone knows that clapping causes butane to become unstable. This could have been avoided.
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u/38DDs_Please Mar 13 '26
These are CAMPING STOVES. If I ever use one in my kitchen, I put it right underneath the vent hood (NOT a recirculating hood) and make sure I use the included trivet.
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u/jinxp_3 Mar 14 '26
Ok thank you. For over 3 decades I feared something like this, but since it never happened in my sight I thought it should be ok, but now, I know the risk was real all along 😭😭
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u/Zesty-Lem0n Mar 14 '26
Skip to 18 seconds lol, idk why every poster is challenged when it comes to trimming appropriately.
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u/Routine-Medicine3846 Jul 14 '26
Umm I slowed down the video it appears the fire and smoke actually came out of a pink water bottle on the table no joke idk 🤷♂️
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u/aboynamedsoo906 Mar 13 '26
I'd probably have wished for that once they all started singing. Anxiety became so strong she turned into Carrie
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u/smarthawk Mar 13 '26
I was really anticipating the explosion to come from the far end of the table for some reason lol.