Okay, I am not trying to fight anyone on this. So please, do not tell me I am a shill....I am just trying to educate some of you on the characteristics of natural gas, then maybe you can come to a conclusion that you are more comfortable with.
I happen to work with natural gas, have been for the last 15 years. I have worked with it from the well-head to your stoves. There are a few things brought up on here that are pretty much not true or unanswered so here goes....
1. Natural Gas is considered odorless. But in reality the constituents in the gas give off an aroma that you can smell. This coupled with lube oil from compressors used to boost pressure also gives it a unique smell. So in short, you will smell a gas leak from a transmission line (which are not required to add odorant). Once gas is bought by a distribution comany, the gas is treated with an odorant, typically methal mercaptan. This is what gives it that "sulfur" smell. You will definitely be able to smell it, and more importantly, no what it is at this point.
2. Natural Gas is lighter than air. It has a specific gravity of approximately .6. Propane on the other hand is somewhere around 1.5. It is heavier than air. This is why it tends to "hover" if you have a propane leak. Natural Gas on the other hand needs a barrier to be kept at ground level, such as a house. Follow me? Gas can accumulate in a house to the point it is explosive. Which is approximately 5% to 15% volume in air. Once this mixture is reached....BOOM! Get it?
3. How would gas accumulate in the house? Esecially if the gas company experts deemed there were no leaks in the area? Let me give you a scenario. One day Harry K. Gas is out doing a leak check on his pipeline. Harry picks up some gas out in the middle of a field. "Oh shit" says Harry. "I have to expose this line to find this leak and fix it". So Harry starts digging to the east and finds no more gas. Harry then starts to dig to the west and picks up gas again. He now knows he is going in the right direction. Harry digs for an additional 600 ft. before he finds the source of the leak. Any takers on why? It's because gas will follow the path of least resistance. If the ditch it was laid in is solidly against the pipe, it will go straight up through the ground. However, if the ditch has shrunk due to DRY CONDITIONS, then it will migrate thru the ditch line until it finds a way out. Sometimes this way out is straight through someones foundation, yes foundation, where the natural gas line was ran. So it is easy to see that it COULD have made its way there. And the gas company experts could be reporting no leaks because there are no leaks where they are looking. Okay?
4. Well what about the smell, someone would have smelled it, right? Absolutely. This is distribution, and mercaptan is required. But if you look closely at some of those pictures, that house was for sale and vacant. No one can smell it if no one is there. So it is possible for the gas to have accumulated to the LEL (Lower Explosive Limit) and ignited. The only thing left would be an ignition source. This is where I have the problem determining what made it go boom (if this is what caused it). My best guess is that whomever was selling the house kept some utilities on so pipes wouldn't freeze, to ensure the furnace stayed on, etc. So if it was a natural gas furnace, the pilot remains lit. BOOM! If it was electric heat/air, the motor kicked on, BOOM! Natural gas water heater, BOOM! you get the point. Nobody has to be present to ignite the gas. Hell, if someone would have came along and rang the door bell, BOOM! If someone would have called the house, BOOM! Get the picture? A lot of ways to make gas go BOOM. As a matter of fact, at the gas plant we cannot have cell phones, cameras, anything electronic that is not intrinsically safe, or in short, not capable of producing enough current to ignite the gas. The saving grace is that there is a small window of the gas-air mixture required to burn. But once there, it is easy to ignite.
5.In case you are wondering about the power of natural gas, picture how much force is applied to a piston on a natural gas engine. The explosion that is accomplished has enough energy to propel a 4,000 lb. vehicle with relative ease, and you are telling me that it cannot take out a house made out of wood? Let's do a little math. If you apply 1 psi of a gas to a 10X10 wall, what is the applied pressure on that wall? Some might think 1 psi. But remember what psi stands for? Pounds per Square Inch. So you are actually exertiing 14,400 pounds of force on that wall (typical gas explosion exerts roughly 300 psi). I think that would take care of any kind wall made nowdays, and coninue on to the next, and the next, and the next, etc. The heat of combustion in Natural Gas is 10 times the amount of TNT. Think on that one a minute.
Long story short, yes, this could have been caused by natural gas. And yes, natural gas IS POWERFUL enough to take out a whole damn city block. Do I know for sure that natural gas was the cause? No. But I don't want anybody to underestimate the power of natural gas and the potential dangers of it. In fact this hit pretty close to home, literally. I urge everyone who has natural gas or propane to get a hydrocarbon detector installed in their home. Mount it down low for propane, and up high for natural gas. And make damn sure you have a carbon monoxide detector as well.
Remember to stay safe out there people!
