Rcd tripping at cu on new cooker install

[JohnW2]

There are crucial differences. One, for example, is that you can't die in your sleep from invisible, inaudible, odorless and tasteless compounds arising from improperly consumed electricity.

Clearly true - but you can die suddenly, and when least expecting it, as a result of an unsafe electrical installation. In the latter case, you might have a few seconds' awareness of your impending doom, rather than simply 'not waking up', but the bottom line is remarkably similar!

... there isn't really any such thing as a small gas explosion.

No? You must have missed out on some of those fun O-Level Chemistry practical demonstrations

It would be interesting to know whether the differing attitudes to electrical and gas DIY is based on evidence or emotion/myth. We know that the number of deaths due to electrical DIY must be incredibly low (since the total number of deaths due to electrical installations is extremely low). Does anyone have any idea as to whether (at least in the past) deaths due to DIY gas work were appreciably more common than the corresponding 'electrical deaths'?

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

No? You must have missed out on some of those fun O-Level Chemistry practical demonstrations

Given the context of this topic, I think it's fair to say that by the time an explosive mixture has built up in a room or void any explosion will be far from small.

Does anyone have any idea as to whether (at least in the past) deaths due to DIY gas work were appreciably more common than the corresponding 'electrical deaths'?

Deaths from CO poisoning are an order of magnitude higher than electrocution - several 10's per year. How many are due to DIY work rather than faulty appliances or using barbeques indoors, I don't know.


[EDIT]The symbol for carbon monoxide is CO, not CO2, as any fule kno... [/EDIT]

 

[JohnW2]

Does anyone have any idea as to whether (at least in the past) deaths due to DIY gas work were appreciably more common than the corresponding 'electrical deaths'?

Deaths from CO2 poisoning are an order of magnitude higher than electrocution - several 10's per year. How many are due to DIY work rather than faulty appliances or using barbeques indoors, I don't know.

[I presume you mean CO, rather than CO2]. That might possibly be the reason for different attititudes then. It's interesting that we hear mainly about these deaths related primarily to flues and ventilation, whereas most people would probably think that the greatest potential hazards of DIY (or any other) gas work related to faulty gas pipework.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It's explosions which make the news.

 

[JohnW2]

It's explosions which make the news.

They certainly do, but seem quite rare. Many of the CO deaths also make the news - particularly if (as is often the case) they affect several people ('family wiped out' etc.).

It's probably to be expected that gas-related incidents and fatalities are more likely to be due to products of combustion than to gas leaks (e.g. due to faulty DIY, or other, pipework) - since those products are so much more difficult to detect than gas itself. If a property is occupied, unless a significant gas leak suddenly starts in the middle of the night (which seems fairly unlikely), one imagines that it will nearly always be detected (by smell) before it reaches the point at which an explosion occurs.

As regards 'gas leaks', without any knowledge or experience, I might expect that the greatest theoretical risk associated with gas is that of failure (in non-safe mode) of the 'flame failure devices' in appliances, rather than anything to do with the installation, per se. Whilst I'm sure those devices (and associated gas valves) are designed to be as fail-safe as possible, any bit of engineering can go wrong ('get stuck') - and the trickle of gas due to faulty pipework would fade into total insignificance in comparison with the blast of gas that could enter a property if one of those things failed to cut off the gas supply when a flame failed. Whether that's something which is actually seen to any significant extent, I haven't got a clue.

Kind Regards, John

 

[joe-90]

The main fault seems to be supply pipes corroding in the concrete floor. Many people have no sense of smell either.

 

[JohnW2]

The main fault seems to be supply pipes corroding in the concrete floor. Many people have no sense of smell either.

Interesting - that wouldn't have been too high up on my guessed 'top 10'. I would have thought that one would have to have a very serious problem with one's sense of smell to not be able to smell gas - and total loss of sense of smell is very rare, most often due to head injuries.

Kind Regarcds, John

 

[joe-90]

I went to a house to sort an alarm problem - the smell of gas was extremely strong - I told them about it and they called the gas hotline (after switching off the supply). They couldn't smell it - and neither could the guy that came out even though his meter went off the scale. The problem was a pipe leading to a gas fire that had corroded in concrete (which is why water pipes often leak in the floor.)

 

[JohnW2]

I went to a house to sort an alarm problem - the smell of gas was extremely strong - I told them about it and they called the gas hotline (after switching off the supply). They couldn't smell it - and neither could the guy that came out even though his meter went off the scale.

Interesting. If the 'gasman' couldn't smell it either, maybe it's you who has an unsusually good sense of smell! As I understand it, an lot of research went into chosing the 'smell' to add to gas, in order to maximise the number of people who would be able to smell it!

Those meters are, of course, incredibly sensitive - if they could only detect gas when it was present in a high enough concentration for human beings to smell, they obviously would not serve much of a purpose!

Kind Regards, John.