- Joined
- 31 Mar 2017
- Messages
- 190
- Reaction score
- 44
- Country
This incident is now a police inquiry. The gas pipe was cut inside a property. ... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-57232373
speculation about cut gas pipes
- Thread starter boolie
- Start date
Sponsored Links
C
Captain Nemesis
Should we speculate that because its a police inquiry its looking like a cut before the meter so as to steal gas rather than the HSE investigating desperately incompetent unregistered gas work?
Ok. Let’s put the tragedy aside for a moment. Let’s speculate why a gas pipe anywhere would be cut before the meter. You first.
C
Captain Nemesis
Just thinking that if someone wanted to steal gas theyd have to divert some or all of it from the pipe before it went through the meter.
Sponsored Links
a little bit off topic.. but Ive always wondered why the whole underground gas pipe doesn't also blow up. So, why doesn't the fire go into the underground pipes and theoretically blow up the whole of the gas grid?
C
Captain Nemesis
Gas on its own does not burn - needs oxygen.
thinking about it.. it must have some safety valves built into the gas network.. a bit like a blow torch. So just because you ignite the blow torch doesn't mean the canisters gonna explode
or what @Captain Nemesis said!
or what @Captain Nemesis said!
£££'s?
I think, it can only burn in the presence of oxygen, i.e. at the end of the pipe. Once it's burning, it can no longer explode, maybe?
Q.E.D.
I can remember that experiment in chemistry in school. The teacher showed us why you needed oxygen to to burn things. Get an empty tin can, put a hole in the top, fill it with gas from the Bunsen burner, turn it upside down leaving a room for air to enter the bottom, set light to the gas rising from the hole. It would burn slowly like a candle until the right amount of air had been sucked into the can and them.....boom! The contents of the can explodes and the can flys up in the air.
that's interesting... so hypothetically say you cut into the mains gas pipe in your house and gas starts escaping - then you immediately ignite it with a match.
Is all that's gonna happen is that it will be like a giant blow torch? (a bit like a flame thrower)
You get an explosion when a lot of gas is mixed with a lot of air, in approximately the right proportions, in a confined space. If that confined space is a room, the room explodes violently once ignited.
The gas to air needs to be roughly between 5 and 15% gas, for it to explode.
As you turn a gas fire or gas hob burner, you often hear a pop - that is the remains of the gas burning back from the burner, to the gas control knob.
Last edited:
Yes... that is what will happen.
What do you think happens at the burner on a gas hob? Or a flare on an offshore gas rig, if you want a bigger example.
It doesn't need safety valves. As the Captain said, it needs oxygen to explode. Lower and upper explosive limits, LEL and UEL (in air) are about 3% and 15%.
DIYnot Local
Staff member
If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.
Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.
Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local
Sponsored Links
Similar threads
- Locked
