Todays nightmare!

[Jim greengo]

Not my mess ,but I got thrust into the middle of it.
Just finished up putting in an inducer motor on a 90 plus furnace this morning for 1 of my commercial customers in an apt building in omaha.
So I'm sitting in my van sending them a message them a message letting them know I'm done.
When all of the sudden I start smelling natural gas,lots of it!
I get out of van and start looking around and hear what sounds like an air compressor running full tilt behind a 3 story apt building on the property next door where roofers are working.
I go running around back of that building and find a couple roofers trying to shut off a 30 year old sut off on an 1 1/2" gas service with a pair of channel locks,so I grabbed a 24" pipe wrench and we got it shut down.
They were tossing old shingles off of roof and managed to rip 2 meters and the ******* that were welded on to the rack feeding the meters,and destroyed a whole bunch of 3/8" copper feeding from meters into the building to feed the apts.
After all of this they decided it was a good idea to cover them up.
An hr after we get it shut down the gas co finally showed up.
Gas co guy starts complaining about it's going to be a big repair, I told him that was kind of obvious to say the least.
And he wanted to know who was going to sign the ticket for the repair,I told him to talk to the roofers.
I just happened to be in right place at right time to keep the block from being leveled.

 

[harley jim]

You know what they say,
Roofers cover everything.
Good on you for being there I'm sure there were many innocent people that may never know how close they came!!!

Sent from my SM-A102U using Tapatalk

 

[Jim greengo]

Definitely gave the old pacemaker a load test!

 

[ripperd]

Wow good job!

 

[Jackfre]

Another job, well done...by some.

 

[rlitman]

Damn! Good work. Glad the block wasn't leveled.

So, what pressure is that main at?

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I wonder if they still got their $12.00/hour under the table at the end of the day...

Tommy

 

[3baygarage]

Good save! Hopefully someone learns from their mistake and covers them next time.

 

[samss]

Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

 

[metlmunchr]

Wonder what genius decided to hang a regulator, meter, and associated piping off the thread on the end of that ****** with no support. Looks like a case of dimwit roofer meets half-*** pipefitter to me.

 

[jchetty]

Good save

 

[harley jim]

Wonder what genius decided to hang a regulator, meter, and associated piping off the thread on the end of that ****** with no support. Looks like a case of dimwit roofer meets half-*** pipefitter to me.

[emoji106][emoji481][emoji481]

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[PelicanPines]

Good thing you had that 24" tool in your pocket.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Jim you theee Man!

 

[like2wheel]

Wonder what genius decided to hang a regulator, meter, and associated piping off the thread on the end of that ****** with no support. Looks like a case of dimwit roofer meets half-*** pipefitter to me.

Yeah, that looks like a lot of leverage on a pipe that gets thinner where the threads are cut.

 

[Jim greengo]

Damn! Good work. Glad the block wasn't leveled.

So, what pressure is that main at?

It was a high pressure main ,so I'm guessing 2 plus pounds.

 

[Jim greengo]

Good thing you had that 24" tool in your pocket.

Just happened to have my van next door.

 

[Jim greengo]

Yeah, that looks like a lot of leverage on a pipe that gets thinner where the threads are cut.

Yep that would be our local gas co who gets credit for that install.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

It was a high pressure main ,so I'm guessing 2 plus pounds.

If it was a high pressure distribution main with single cut regulators at the building, it could have had up to 60 PSI on it.

Kudos for having the right tool to get it shut off properly. I keep an 24 inch crescent wrench in the back of my SUV for the exact same purpose.

I just looked at your picture...with that setup it would be limited by code to 60 PSI or less inlet...but no way to know exactly how much. Good chance it was in the 50 PSI range....but obviously I can't tell that from the picture. Code requires the meter to be protected from "foreseeable" outside damage, such as vehicular traffic, ice melt, etc....but I'm not aware of anyone that protects their meters from guys dropping stuff off the roof onto them.

I like to spec CL300 ******* in the situation you show because a CL150 ****** (which that one that broke appears to be) have pretty thin walls in the thread area. That being said, there is no fitting manufacturer that rates their fittings for how much roof can be dropped on them from how high without breaking.

I once had a meter get a piano dropped on it from a second story balcony. It fared about like the one in the picture.

Phil

 

[bonneyman]

Good grief! Talk about disaster averted.

 

[Pressingonward]

Wow. Scary stuff.

I've never dealt with natural gas but I've heard some bad things on the news...glad this didn't become one of those.

This might be a stupid question, but how do you know when to run towards the problem when you smell gas vs running away and yelling at anyone in the area to do likewise? I assume if a leak that size was in an enclosed area you wouldn't have any breathable air in the area very quickly...

 

[rlitman]

Wow. Scary stuff.

I've never dealt with natural gas but I've heard some bad things on the news...glad this didn't become one of those.

This might be a stupid question, but how do you know when to run towards the problem when you smell gas vs running away and yelling at anyone in the area to do likewise? I assume if a leak that size was in an enclosed area you wouldn't have any breathable air in the area very quickly...

I suppose that depends on how "enclosed" the area is.

Natural gas is lighter than air, so it will float up on its own. It's also not actually that toxic, and natural gas mixed in air between the explosive limits (LEL=5%, UEL=17%)
is completely breathable. By the time the concentration has reached unbreathable, it is too rich to ignite.

 

[Pressingonward]

Interesting. Thanks for the info!

 

[Jim greengo]

I suppose that depends on how "enclosed" the area is.

Natural gas is lighter than air, so it will float up on its own. It's also not actually that toxic, and natural gas mixed in air between the explosive limits (LEL=5%, UEL=17%)
is completely breathable. By the time the concentration has reached unbreathable, it is too rich to ignite.

 

[nadogail]

The world is better because of you.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Wow. Scary stuff.

This might be a stupid question, but how do you know when to run towards the problem when you smell gas vs running away and yelling at anyone in the area to do likewise? I assume if a leak that size was in an enclosed area you wouldn't have any breathable air in the area very quickly...

The correct "gas company" answer to this question is, "you don't know so you should retreat, call 911, call the gas company, and keep everyone well back until help arrives."

The gas company (and maybe the fire department...but probably not) will have combustible gas indicators that will allow them to monitor the gas/air mixture as they approach the leak to verify there isn't a combustible atmosphere. They will also likely have specific company PPE requirements for workers investigating leaks (flash suits, hoods, gloves, goggles, maybe even SCBAs, and fire extinguishers). If the gas/air mixture approaches the lower explosive limit, they will likely look for a different way to shut off the gas...via a valve further upstream or by excavating the service line or tee and shutting it off by running the tap back into the tee or physically pinching down the service line with specialized tooling.

As Jim likely knows, it is a very small percentage of these leaks that catch fire or explode. You can go a whole career and never see it happen. But when it does, it's going to be a very bad day if you're right next to, or down wind of blowing gas.

Phil

 

[Pressingonward]

Thanks to the both of you for the thorough explanation. I feel a little less ignorant now

 

[danski0224]

I knew someone that was a supervisor for hot tap welding on a natural gas line. His job was to measure the concentration (ppm) to make sure it wouldn't explode.

 

[PelicanPines]

20 years ago... middle of the night... my smoke detectors went off... several... (not connected together)…

I ran down stairs... smelled "toasted cardboard"... no real smoke smoke…

Got into the basement where the alarms were still going off... no smoke... no fire...

Alarms stopped... I look... my 50 year old gas boiler (steam heat)… was missing the front cast iron door... sheet metal cabinet around it "looked ballooned out"...

Burner was running... door was across the basement against the wall.

What looked like ground coffee everywhere... I didn't know what to do so I called the gas company at 3am... their service location was about two miles from my house and two trucks were at my house in 5 minutes. 3 guys ran around outside then into the basement... all appeared to be in a good mood... not concerned. One rolled on his side with a flashlight about an inch away from the pilot light inside the furnace...

End diagnosis... "Delayed Ignition"... basement filled with a ball of fire when it LIT. Toasting all the "fur & dust" on every cardboard box. Blew the door off and "inflated" the sheet metal cabinet around the furnace.

All caused from a corroded port on the pilot light (that was still lit) but was slightly vectored away from the MAIN gas jet. Enough to trick the sensor...

New furnace (no pilot) installed the following week...

 

[LS6 Tommy]

20 years ago... middle of the night... my smoke detectors went off... several... (not connected together)…

I ran down stairs... smelled "toasted cardboard"... no real smoke smoke…

Got into the basement where the alarms were still going off... no smoke... no fire...

Alarms stopped... I look... my 50 year old gas boiler (steam heat)… was missing the front cast iron door... sheet metal cabinet around it "looked ballooned out"...

Burner was running... door was across the basement against the wall.

What looked like ground coffee everywhere... I didn't know what to do so I called the gas company at 3am... their service location was about two miles from my house and two trucks were at my house in 5 minutes. 3 guys ran around outside then into the basement... all appeared to be in a good mood... not concerned. One rolled on his side with a flashlight about an inch away from the pilot light inside the furnace...

End diagnosis... "Delayed Ignition"... basement filled with a ball of fire when it LIT. Toasting all the "fur & dust" on every cardboard box. Blew the door off and "inflated" the sheet metal cabinet around the furnace.

All caused from a corroded port on the pilot light (that was still lit) but was slightly vectored away from the MAIN gas jet. Enough to trick the sensor...

New furnace (no pilot) installed the following week...

Delayed Ignition is what caused the damage to my left ear. I was about a millisecond too late hitting the disconnect when I saw the entire gas manifold had fallen off the burner tubes. I now exactly whet it's like to have someone fire a shotgun with the muzzle 3' from your ear.

Tommy

 

[Jim greengo]

20 years ago... middle of the night... my smoke detectors went off... several... (not connected together)…

I ran down stairs... smelled "toasted cardboard"... no real smoke smoke…

Got into the basement where the alarms were still going off... no smoke... no fire...

Alarms stopped... I look... my 50 year old gas boiler (steam heat)… was missing the front cast iron door... sheet metal cabinet around it "looked ballooned out"...

Burner was running... door was across the basement against the wall.

What looked like ground coffee everywhere... I didn't know what to do so I called the gas company at 3am... their service location was about two miles from my house and two trucks were at my house in 5 minutes. 3 guys ran around outside then into the basement... all appeared to be in a good mood... not concerned. One rolled on his side with a flashlight about an inch away from the pilot light inside the furnace...

End diagnosis... "Delayed Ignition"... basement filled with a ball of fire when it LIT. Toasting all the "fur & dust" on every cardboard box. Blew the door off and "inflated" the sheet metal cabinet around the furnace.

All caused from a corroded port on the pilot light (that was still lit) but was slightly vectored away from the MAIN gas jet. Enough to trick the sensor...

New furnace (no pilot) installed the following week...

That would load test the old pace maker!

 

[SGKent]

city owes you key to the city

 

[SALIV8]

Damn. Great job.