Gas Go Boom!
 

Whats up with all these home explosions?? Coincidence? NH this morning, Somerset last week, 2 others earlier this winter??? Any thoughts?? Aging gas lines?? Glad I have oil......though you do not have to have gas to have your house explode....it can travel from the street along the water pipes and into your home with the same results! :huh:

Old pipes and heaving gound. The frozen ground acts as a barrier for the gas, not letting it dissipate and forcing it back to the house. Tis' the season. At least I'm sitting on a new line.

seems like
 

at all these spots,,,,, all had people notice the smell of gas:rolleyes:

but few report it to the police or gas company

and even less people do inspections ........after it is reported :huh:

When I was in college in the late 80s, I had a summeer job at Bat State Gas in Springfield with one of my buddies. They paid us $5-6 per hour, but our job was in the Corrosion Engineering Department. Basically, all we did was take a voltmeter and test the voltage in the pipe to ground. I believe, that if a number of houses in a neighborhood all showed poor results (I can't recall a good from bad reading), a crew would be called to reinstall anodes, welded to the main supply line out near the street. The anodes purpose was to help inhibit corrosion of the pipes.
I wonder how well that monitoring has been going or has it been ignored. I would assume, there is a lifetime expectancy for these black iron pipes, anodes or no anodes. If the state put them all in in the same general time period, we may be seeing the aging process catching up to us, similar to all the bridges that have been failing inspections.
Now the utility companies can raise our costs to fix a problem they should have been expecting and had a plan for all along.

Black iron pipes corrode amazingly fast in the ground......no surprise here they are having problems!

These explosions will help the reduce the price of natural gas:devil2:

i really have no insight as to why so many explosions as of late. but i'm terrified of my house blowing up as this is my first home with gas. especially since i've been doing some diy projects around the house.

is there a number to call to get an air quality test in your house?

i don't smell gas in my house, but you never know if there is a small leak that would cause problems if you go on vacation for 2 weeks.

Some of the gas customers smelled no gas prior to the incident. Most of the gas lines now are plastic. Gas explodes when the concentration is between 5 % and 15 % in an enclosed area.
Not for nothing but I know someone and he lived through it, turned off the flame in his gas heater and then turned the gas back on. He sat in front of the heater with the gas on, beer in hand, and flicked his BIC until it went boom. House lifted two feet off the foundation. Guy not only ended up divorced, but was committed to boot. It could be some of these people are doing it themselves.

keep in mind
 

that natural gas has no Oder and
the gas company ads that stinky gas smell to it

so it can be detected or traced or noticed .

Gotta be careful what you do in your cellar.
I knew a guy who was killed working on his motorcyle when gasoline leaked under the gas water heater pilot light.

Same would go for a lot of other chemicals stored or used in the cellar.

In comparison,
How many house/chimney fires are caused by oil heat compared to gas explosions each year ???

Ronnie,
Having worked with both fuels my whole career,I really have no data except to say chimney fires caused by wood stoves probably out number both.

Chimney fires are not caused by oil heat...they are caused from creosote buildup due to fireplaces and wood stoves.;)

OK I stand corrected.
So in comparison,
How many houses burn due to creosote build up compared to gas explosions each year ???

Alot...but at least people have a chance to get out alive.