Home explosion, new risk

Normally when I see headlines of a house getting leveled, I expect hash oil or meth production mixed with stupidity (my first thought about Firestone before info came in). This happened last night in Breck, photos are impressive (https://www.summitdaily.com/news/two...breckenridge/_).

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The explosion is believed to have been caused by snow and ice falling off the roof and breaking the outside gas meter attached to the home.
?Once they were able to get through the debris, they found the pipe was completely broken off at the gas meter on the ground,? said Keating. ?That must have occurred sometime in the evening when the occupants were unaware. The gas leaked into the internal part of the home in the crawl space, found an ignition source and caused an explosion.?

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Link is 404 on my end.

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Originally Posted by izzy

Link is 404 on my end.

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Same here

It's just got an extra character or 2 on the end. Try this.

https://www.summitdaily.com/news/two...-breckenridge/

And that is why I have 2 gas/propane detectors in the house and 3 carbon monoxide detectors. I had to put a surge suppressor on the garage door opener. Lightning rods are next...

Oh man! Those guys are so lucky!

I'm not sure, but it seems to me if your gas line completely severed like that, where it can vent inside, the gas would reach flammable/explosive levels in a broad area (iirc, 8%? I forget) long before xcel or any other company arrived to shut it off, and there will always be an ignition source inside. (Pilot flame on your hot water heater for instance). The smell would be crazy strong if you were inside. Pretty sure that a house would be toast in every case of that. Now, if it broke in such a way that it's not venting inside, hard to say. Less combustibles outside in most cases. Code keeps any intakes or windows more than 3 feet away, and especially if the closest window is closed, I think most of the time the house would make it. Code also keeps a lot of combustion sourcing appliances (like a compressor, for instance) around a corner or at a distance. So, there's ironically not much to ignite natural gas as long as it stays outside.

If anyone isn't aware, the only reason natural gas smells is because it's an additive chemical so you can smell leaks; been that way ever since natural gas filled an elementary school and blew up, killing everyone about a century ago. Despite sitting in it, they had no way of knowing, it has no natural smell.

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As I passed the scene to get a clear picture of the incident we had debris in the roadway, glass and stools. So I immediately assumed we had an explosion, which we ultimately did.”

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In their defense, I'd have shit myself too. Shit in the street is also a pretty good sign of an explosion.

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Originally Posted by OxArt

In their defense, I'd have shit myself too. Shit in the street is also a pretty good sign of an explosion.

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Lol. Like.

If the line is severed at the meter, how are there any ignition sources left in the home?

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Originally Posted by Irving

If the line is severed at the meter, how are there any ignition sources left in the home?

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Right? Perhaps the insurance company should do a fraud investigation.

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Originally Posted by Irving

If the line is severed at the meter, how are there any ignition sources left in the home?

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Any electrical switch or many motors. Like the fan in your laptop, for example.

O2

I know not all houses are the same, but now I'm wondering how far out that gas meter was set. My eaves are 12" and under at my house; but even if I only had 6" eaves snow sliding off the roof wouldn't damage my meter unless it was a straight drop.

I was apparently being dumb using a pilot light as an example, but yes, it only takes the most minuscule of electrical arc to ignite natural gas once the % has increased high enough. Ever take the lid off a mercury switch? Those have pretty sizable arcs as far as natural gas is concerned. Many electric motors too, seen how they sparkle at night? Any kind of switch can produce a tiny arc when it is thrown as well. So a house has literally hundreds of ignition points for natural gas, even without natural gas service. Once the % is high enough, it's going to go boom unless you throw the power disconnect near the breaker panel, and hope you don't have UPS...

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Originally Posted by OxArt

...unless you throw the power disconnect near the breaker panel...

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Which, unless there's absolutely NOTHING drawing power in your house, will cause a spark...

I can think of no modern home that doesn't have dozens of items pulling power all the time. Microwave oven [clock]? Printer? Even an empty power strip with a light on it? Wall wart to power something (phone recharger) - even if that something isn't plugged into the wart (vampire load)?

About the only way to safely remove power from a gas-filled house is switching it off it at the pole, which is in open air.

O2

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Originally Posted by Irving

I know not all houses are the same, but now I'm wondering how far out that gas meter was set. My eaves are 12" and under at my house; but even if I only had 6" eaves snow sliding off the roof wouldn't damage my meter unless it was a straight drop.

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Apparently it was an A-frame house. Hard to tell from the photos!

I wonder if the Jeff Boyd quoted in the article is the same guy that I grew up with.

That is not that uncommon. I have worked on three professionally with the same circumstances just in the RWB FPD which is who responded to this one. Sure there is code, but the meter set belongs to the gas company and the pipe coming out belongs to the owner. Having been a retained expert for both Xcel and Insurance companies for the homeowner, it is not as clear as it may seem. Both parties have to obligation to protect the connections from snow and ice. I'll stop there as I have two open cases with the same type of issue.