134 year-old house explodes – IOTW Report

134 year-old house explodes

Saturday, 24 November 2018, 16:00 Dr. Tar Uncategorized 30

A security camera at a local grocery store happened to catch the explosion of a 134 year-old house in St. Paul, MN. There was one person home who survived the blast (as well as a dog and a cat). While officials have yet to determine the cause, Xcel Energy has capped a gas line and released a statement reassuring the public that they are investigating. More 

30 Comments on 134 year-old house explodes

  5. “A security camera at a local grocery store happened to catch the explosion of a 134 year-old house in St. Paul”

    Was the local grocery store with the security camera also inside the 134 year-old house when it exploded? Where’s the video? Click-bait.

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  8. need to do a google maps street view to see what the house actually looked like before the explosion.
    ok, here’s the exact location, next to the school and the St Paul PD Eastern District.
    http://tiny.cc/ub970y
    link was so long and had to shorten it. but it’s up the street a few. 600 is the #, i think

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  15. In 1969 there was a pretty sizable house on the lake a couple blocks away from where I lived that blew up in the wee hours of the morning. The guy that owned it was in his 70s sleeping peacefully in his bed one minute, then boom! They found him in his bed in the front yard… alive! A year later he was living in a new house on the same lot. Gas explosions are amazing!

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  16. It’s amazing how people escape similar explosions. I still recall this story from 1983.

    “Friday marks the 25th anniversary of an explosion at a Kanawha County grocery store that leveled the store during a busy afternoon, leaving emergency responders to believe dozens of people were dead.

    On October 17, 1983, at least two hours before the explosion, workers inside the Foodland store in Davis Creek smelled natural gas and reported it to Columbia Gas. But the store manager said Columbia Gas told him the gas smell was nothing to worry about–and they were working to get it under control….. The people in the front of the store were able to immediately escape, but crews were worried about people who were near the back of the store. At first, emergency crews announced they thought at least 70 people were dead. Later, they lowered the figure to 10 to 15.

    In the end, all 30 employees and all of the customers were accounted for. Seventeen people were taken to the hospital, some with severe burns. Everyone survived…”

    https://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines/31171999.html .

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  18. I have a friend that welds live natural gas lines for a living. Not because of his error, however, he’s personally witnessed 2 house explosions. Unfortunately, he’s also the type of guy that could care less about any details of the causes.

    Which is the same as the guys that welded the live gas line for my barn. I wondered what trickery was going on, so I had to have my nose in that hole. In short, they have a valve fixture that they tack onto the main. Then they close it up, when done, they wrap it in some nasty tar to keep it from corroding.

    The trick is to not expose the natural gas to oxygen.

  20. old_oaks – that reminds me, the utility company has/had a demonstration box that is basically a fish tank with plexi-glass instead of real glass outfitted with a little fan with the back wall fitted with an array of spark plugs. There is no top or lid.
    They fill the tank with gas, propane I think. Because the gas is heavier than air it fills the tank. You can’t see it, but they have a detector that can tell when the gas is at the top of the tank.
    Then start the spark plugs up – there is a sequencer that fires the plugs in an orderly fashion.
    They they start up the fan which blows in fresh air.
    When the mixture is all gas nothing happens because there is no oxygen, but when the air thins out the gas to the proper ratio – BOOM!
    It startles everyone, but other than than, no damage. It is used to demonstrate the need to fully ventilate man holes.

  21. I call bullshit on welding ‘Live” natural gas lines’….it’s valved off somewhere or your gonna die in a big fire ball…..Did you know that if Acetylene becomes 15% of the atmosphere, it will blow up by itself?…..I don’t know, I only welded for 25+ years

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  23. From willy: “I call bullshit on welding ‘Live” natural gas lines’….it’s valved off somewhere or your gonna die in a big fire ball….. I only welded for 25+ years”

    Willy, I work on the big natural gas pipelines. When we have to weld on the loaded lines we only use company welders. No contractors. There has to be flow on the line and the pressure is reduced to 80% of the highest recorded pressure in the last twelve months.

    This doesn’t mean they are closing up a leaking line with a weld bead. Usually adding a thread o let, a split T for a hot tap or stopple and bypass fittings.

    I have seen residual gas in a line on fire at the weld during a tie in. We lit it off on purpose. Not pressurized, just on fire. That’s good. If you already have a fire, you can’t have an explosion. Got in the ditch with the welders during this.

    Risk can’t be eliminated, but it can be managed.

  24. Lowell, like I said, it’s not a live line and if it’s a 4″ line or a 6″ line or 24 inches….it CANNOT happen unless it’s valved or a huge amount of inert gas is used….and I wouldn’t be the sucker to strike that arc…..I’ll be humble to your knowledge…..

  25. I blew up a house once when I hit a buried natural gas line. Gas seeped into the house through the gas fireplace and filled the house until BOOM! Thankfully only the dog and cat home and when the firemen booted the door in they came tearing out! Lol!

  26. I have pics of the guy welding it. This was a 3 maybe 4 inch main, I’m 2nd to last at the run. I asked a lot of questions. Yes, you would think it would just blow, it’s maybe 1/8 inch walled pipe. They said they didn’t do anything other than locate it, bore to the barn, weld it and add a meter. I watched the whole process. Nobody ran to turn anything on, gas flowed as soon as they turned the valve.

  28. AW Right…I want to learn more….is the tapped hole already drilled or is the hole drilled after the fitting is welded….and yes…the gas ran when they turned the valve…..a turned valve is a dead line and not live…..try lighting a fart with your valve open….

  29. Willy, The whole process is as follows.

    Bore from the approximate location of the main to the service.

    Dig up the main.

    Cut the plastic sheath off the main.

    Grind the main for welding.

    Place the service valve on the main and tack it in place.

    Weld the service valve to the live main.

    Connect the service line to the service valve.

    Pressurize the service valve and line with compressed air to ensure no leaks.

    Punch through the main with the service valve. Think of one of those cheap tap valves for an ice maker. It pokes a hole into the main, there by allowing gas to enter the service line.

    Wrap the service valve and main with anti corrosion wrap.

    Walk over to the service meter, open the valve and natural gas comes out.

    Close the service meter valve, add tags.

    Fill in the holes.

    Nowhere during this process did they shut off or fill the main with inert gas. The fitting is welded directly to the main, it glows red hot.

    Here are a couple videos. The first looks like a live steam/water line. The second is a hydrogen sulfide line. A little different than natural gas, but essentially the same process, the line is LIVE.

    https://youtu.be/Xan31JnUCHs

    https://youtu.be/F742Dvr5js8

  30. Not the same level of welding sophistication, but I watched an old timer weld in a hole that a rock punched through the bottom of a truck’s diesel fuel tank with a stick welder out in the muddy yard of a sawmill I worked at.
    The fuel was running down the rod and onto his arm.
    It wasn’t pretty like “stacking dimes”, but it worked.
    The weld puddle kept bubbling, but the hole kept getting smaller until the fuel stopped leaking.
    Dam, I miss those old timer’s knowledge.

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