# Don't Try This at Home



## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Holy Hanna! 
We've all heard of gas leaks causing explosions, but seeing it in real time is mind boggling...
LiveLeak.com - Dash cam catches house exploding from gas leak in Stafford NJ
Happened earlier today Feb 24/2015
And this, Kids, is why you don't do your own gas line repairs, unless you're a licensed gas fitter. (Think Insurance denied at the very least).)
:fie:


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

*WOW!!!!!

I hope that doesn't give Rick any ideas....*


----------



## Semipro (Mar 22, 2013)

Dan
2 gas men were critically injured in that blast.


----------



## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Why can't my dash cam catch something like that.


----------



## Bushwhacker (Jun 16, 2009)

*Don't try this at home.*

Back in my younger day. I took a local job rerouting gas lines in a wood frame house. The house was on blocks so it was easy to crawl under it. The house was occupied and the lady of the house and her infant baby were at home.
I went to the street, turned the gas off and checked in the house to be sure they were all off. I then proceeded to disconnect pipes, add elbows and reroute them to the new areas. Upon completion. I checked all my fittings under the house, finding them all tight. I went out to the street and turned the gas back on. I then took my spray bottle of soapy water under the house and began checking each connection. As I worked, I heard a whisteling sound. I crawled back out from under the house and went inside. The sound was a lot louder in there then under the house. I ran back out turned the gas off and very calmly had the lady get her baby and go for a walk down the block. I then opened all the windows and doors (very carefully). I found that I had forgotten to place an end cap on the old line under a sink in the kitchen. 
It was about then that I decided to stick to carpentry.


----------



## RMIGHTY1 (Nov 5, 2014)

Wow Dan, nice catch.

Bushwacker: Glad you switched to carpentry.

Had a house blow up like that further down my block as a kid. Guy was in the shower at the time, sheeeesh!


----------



## 64 ford (Apr 21, 2013)

Eight days ago, about five miles North of me a 79 year old man was replacing a water heater in his farm house. They don't know what went wrong yet but I it exploded , caught fire and burned to the ground. The guy was killed. This was a house that had been built by his family several generations ago as one of the grandest homes around. It actually had seven gables and was filled with antiques. It was the subject go many paintings and photos.
Dennis


----------



## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

I have seen houses that were demolished due to a hot water heater exploding. My father was an engineer in the appliance industry for over 35 years. When he told people what he did for a living, they would always reply that gas was dangerous. His reply- Do you know what gas smells like? What does electricity smell like?
I was in Chattanooga, TN several years ago. While sitting at a traffic light in the downtown, there was a crew digging off to the side of the street. The backhoe hit a gas line and obviously caused a spark because a tower of flame shot up abut 50 feet in the air. The guy watching did a hasty retreat!


----------



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Alberta used to allow people to do their own gas repairs. I don't know if they still do. About one of them blew up every year. One of them was the father in laws cousin who shouldn't have been doing his own but was too cheap to hire someone. He was in the house when it blew. He saw daylight and crawled out with only 1st and 2nd degree burns. His dog that was sitting right beside was killed. There was fibreglass insulation about 200 feet in any direction.


----------



## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Stick486 said:


> *WOW!!!!!
> 
> I hope that doesn't give Rick any ideas....*


After seeing that I think I'll leave working on the gas line to the pros . 
Holy smokes BatMan , that was quite an incredible explosion


----------



## swarfmaker (Aug 27, 2012)

Thanks for pointing, Dan. Something like this is always traumatic to the affected persons.
In our neck of the woods we (un)fortunately do not have piped gas.


----------



## GregLittleWoodworks (Dec 9, 2014)

Gotta stop eating beans and onions...and I've got a 500 gallon propane tank out back also.


----------



## phillipsted (Sep 26, 2014)

Oddly enough, the guys on Mythbusters tried to recreate the house explosion in the Bourne Supremacy movie. In that movie, he opens the gas line, then rolls up a magazine and stuffs it into the toaster. He leaves by the back door, and a few minutes later - BOOM.

The Mythbusters were not able to get a similar result by filling a small house-like structure with gas and igniting it - despite multiple tries. Too tough to get the optimal air/gas mixture in the house, they said. Definitely *nothing* like in that dashcam video. I wonder why that Jersey explosion was so violent?

TedP


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

GregLittleWoodworks said:


> Gotta stop eating beans and onions...and I've got a 500 gallon propane tank out back also.


you like living on the edge...
please use the stairs...


----------



## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

The possibility of Natural Gas explosion scares the crap out of _me_, and we're not even talking about Propane here.
Indiana blast investigation focuses on natural gas - AP News 11/12/2012 7:38 PM Girum's Blog - Sodere Ethiopian News and Entertainment
Natural gas explosion in Pa. kills 5 people | Online Athens
Indiana house explosion that killed two now being investigated as homicide | US news | The Guardian
Woman killed in gas explosion that destroyed U.S. neighbourhood was employed to inspect the pipeline that ruptured | Daily Mail Online
This one in Long Grove, Il. Not sure of the date
http://i.imgur.com/qLjnRSv.jpg


----------



## AndyL (Jun 3, 2011)

phillipsted said:


> Oddly enough, the guys on Mythbusters tried to recreate the house explosion in the Bourne Supremacy movie. In that movie, he opens the gas line, then rolls up a magazine and stuffs it into the toaster. He leaves by the back door, and a few minutes later - BOOM.
> 
> The Mythbusters were not able to get a similar result by filling a small house-like structure with gas and igniting it - despite multiple tries. Too tough to get the optimal air/gas mixture in the house, they said. Definitely *nothing* like in that dashcam video. I wonder why that Jersey explosion was so violent?


I guess there must be many thousands of gas leaks every year, and most get discovered without anything bad happening, but every once in a while just by chance the wrong mixture will meet an ignition source. Just a question of the entire world having a lot more goes at it than the Mythbusters did.


----------



## Bushwhacker (Jun 16, 2009)

*Gas leak*



RMIGHTY1 said:


> Wow Dan, nice catch.
> 
> Bushwacker: Glad you switched to carpentry.
> 
> Had a house blow up like that further down my block as a kid. Guy was in the shower at the time, sheeeesh!


Well, Ray, I learned from that, so if you need work on your gas lines, give me a call.


----------



## 64 ford (Apr 21, 2013)

Also, I just remembered that about 3 years ago a guy about 15 miles from here had sold his house and moved out a couple weeks before. The day of closing he went to check that he hadn't left anything there. When he flipped on the light the arc from the switch ignited sewer gas and blew up the house. It blew him out the doorway and into the yard. He had extensive burns and other injuries and was in the hospital for at least two months.
Dennis


----------



## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

*Sewer Long...*

...been good to know ya!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST5xguMl0-k


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

*surprise!!!!*


----------



## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

A wise decision, David.


----------

