this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2024
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[–] ghterve@lemmy.world 133 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (2 children)

When this was posted on Reddit recently, someone claimed this was caused by a fallen power line that made contact with a gas line. So, power flowing into the house through gas pipe and back out through equipment grounds, heating up lower resistance gas pipes in the process.

Photo reportedly taken by fire fighters or gas company employees.

Edit: I meant to type higher resistance...

[–] Thorry84@feddit.nl 25 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

This makes no sense at all.

Why would only these two specific pipes get hot, so hot to glow, but not the other lines connected to it? And not the fittings around it? It's all copper, so even if the power itself doesn't heat them up, why would being connected to an extremely hot pipe heat it up. Since it's you know copper and being good at transferring heat is what it's known for.

And why would the lower resistance part be the part that get hottest? Low resistance means less loss, so those parts would in fact be the coldest of all.

Plus thin walled copper pipes can't get so hot they glow without melting or at the very least lose all structural integrity and break.

And a downed power line with a short to ground would almost immediately turn off. It's when there isn't a direct line to ground those things are dangerous. As soon as it shorts, it gets turned off at the source to prevent further damage, fire and not cause issues upstream.

Either it's Photoshop or someone has wrapped led lighting around some pipes. Also those aren't gas pipes.

[–] friendlycheese@lemmy.world 38 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Both of the lines that are lit up are flexible aluminum couplings. They're required in some areas as the final connections to the appliances. They're in line with cast iron gas pipe and fittings. They are much more thin and way better at conducting heat.

Source: former HVAC tech

[–] Thorry84@feddit.nl 9 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (2 children)

Thanks for the clarification, pipes look like copper but might be cast iron.

Still doesn't fit with the explanation, aluminum has more resistance than copper, but not that much more. The resistance of cast iron is an order of magnitude higher than aluminum. So it would still be the lowest resistance in the circuit and thus the coolest part.

And cast iron is pretty good at conducting heat. Not as good as copper or aluminum, but still pretty good. We've been using the material to make pans and pots for cooking because of it's thermal properties. So the heat wouldn't just stop at the fitting, but continue on at least some ways.

Moreover it's physically impossible to get aluminum hot enough to glow like this and still keep its shape. It melts at 600 degrees C, well below the point where something gets red hot, let alone yellow like this. If the aluminum were to be this hot, it would be in a puddle and at risk of burning.

[–] YerbaYerba@lemm.ee 6 points 8 hours ago

The flexible pipes are normally stainless steel. The main gas line is steel with thick walls so this seems plausible to me. Stainless steel has higher resistance than steel and is so much thinner.

[–] ghterve@lemmy.world 7 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Sorry, I meant to type higher resistance. On my water heater, the equivalent part that is glowing in the picture is a really thin flexible corrugated gas pipe that surely can carry much much less current than the iron gas pipe feeding it before it went really high resistance. I could totally see it glowing like this with enough current. But if it is aluminum (not sure if it is), what you said makes sense.

My gas pipe to the house comes out of the ground inside a plastic protective pipe sleeve, so I can imagine it possibly not having enough of a low resistance path to earth to trip one of the cutout fuses on the primary distribution line. Granted, mine also has a big ground wire bonding it to the house ground, which I would think would help here...

/shrug I was just sharing what I read. It was supposedly the explanation as to why local breakers on the house didn't trip.

[–] kboy101222@sh.itjust.works 26 points 12 hours ago

Well that's truly fucking terrifying

[–] nick@midwest.social 109 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (4 children)

This happens when the neutral goes out in a house. Usually the waterlines will handle it, but if the house has pex the ground will go through the gas lines.

Especially if a high voltage line comes down on a gas meter for whatever reason.

Definitely run away and call professional… everyone i guess.

[–] Anivia@feddit.org 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

This would have also been prevented if the electrical install included an RCD. It would have tripped instantly when the neutral gets disconnected

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 1 points 11 hours ago

Better yet to just have a bond to the gas and water pipes. In this instance, any current introduced to the plumbing has a direct connection to ground, which will allow current to flow freely and trip the breaker.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 16 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

Would killing the main breaker at least prevent the heating of the pipes so that the expert isn't walking into a potentially dangerous situation?

[–] ghterve@lemmy.world 17 points 14 hours ago

I think in this case the power heating the pipes is not coming from this house's electrical service, so killing the main breaker probably won't help.

I'm a little concerned killing the main breaker might result in a sudden temperature change that might fracture the gas line. Of course if you turn the gas off you might get fried.

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 11 hours ago

I read that this happened due to a downed power line. Unfortunately, killing the main breaker would not do anything.

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 7 points 11 hours ago

We found out a while ago that plumbing pipes aren't the best way to ground a house for a variety of reasons, and this is why ufers (grounding to foundation steel) and ground rods are now the NEC standard. Also, this is why bonding wires are important as well. If the plumbing were bonded to a proper dwelling ground system, the current would find a direct path to ground and trip the responsible breaker, instead of using the gas lines as a big ass resistor and creating the light show we see here.

[–] David_Eight@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I've never seen pex running into a house from the street/ground. It's always been copper up to the water meter at the very least and it's code (in NJ at least) to put grounding wire there.

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[–] oleorun@real.lemmy.fan 61 points 16 hours ago

Mom: "We have CERN particle accelerator at home."

...

[–] nothing@lemm.ee 85 points 17 hours ago (2 children)
[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 21 points 16 hours ago

Hey, there's particles, they are accelerating. You got what you paid for.

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 14 hours ago

Normal person reading that: particle accelerator from TEMU

Me: oh god, there are TEMU particles??

[–] terry_jerry@sh.itjust.works 18 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

This man exploded 3 seconds later, those are gas lines

[–] KingJalopy@lemm.ee 4 points 15 hours ago

I'm sure the water put it out.

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 13 hours ago

Time for a shower!

[–] superkret@feddit.org 10 points 16 hours ago

Nice water-cooled setup!
Specs?

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 76 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

"Home is equipped with a 50 Gallon gas water heater upgraded with RGB lines for an extra 10 FPS."

[–] KingJalopy@lemm.ee 22 points 15 hours ago

Looks like it can run doom

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 51 points 12 hours ago

"I've got a buddy who can do the gas and the 'leccy. Super cheap."

[–] Ste41th@lemmy.ml 51 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Hey if it’s keeping you warm then it must be working correctly

[–] zqwzzle@lemmy.ca 68 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

“Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.”

[–] Fetus@lemmy.world 35 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Did you know that babies born underwater can spend their entire lives down there?

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 10 points 15 hours ago

Relevant username.

[–] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 18 points 6 hours ago

So there's an air leak upstream allowing a fire inside the gas line. And the house didn't go up in flames I assume. Probably this situation would not end in a big explosion but rather just a house fire. Still pretty scary.

[–] robocall@lemmy.world 17 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

I have no idea what to do if I see this

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Leave immediately and call 911 for an impending gas explosion. Tell them exactly what you saw, it will need to be disconnected somewhere very far away from the house. Aside from this being an obvious fake if you see a glowing pipe it’s the result of a deadly serious electrical fault that has bypassed at least 2 safety mechanisms that would otherwise prevent this catastrophic failure and at that point you really don’t even want to be touching the walls of the structure involved.

[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 14 points 5 hours ago

Run. That's what I would do. Then probably call the fire department, the gas company, or an exorcist. Possibly all 3.

[–] normalexit@lemmy.world 6 points 6 hours ago

Either turn off the gas if you can safely do it, or call your gas company so they can shut off the supply to your house.

[–] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 17 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

While it looks scary as fuck, wouldn't it not actually explode unless the gas pipe melted through? There's no oxygen in the fuel, so it can't combust. I guess as the gas heats up, it's also possible the for the tank or lines to spring a leak.

Either way, I'd be nopeing out and calling emergency services.

[–] ghterve@lemmy.world 29 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

unless the gas pipe melted through

That looks pretty damn likely imminent to me...

[–] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 22 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I think you're right. I was curious, so I looked it up.

The melting point of copper is 1,085°C, and judging from this chart, its definitely getting close:

metal color temp chart

[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 4 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

You ever see gas hookups in the US?

We use black pipe for most of the run. Cast Iron. The actual hookup itself is a flexible pipe...SS or Aluminum I think. Been a long time since I had gas. Sometimes they have like a rubbery-epoxy-ish coating but I assume that's now quite gone and stinky.

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[–] devilish666@lemmy.world 10 points 17 hours ago

Nah.. everything is fine there, it's even glow to spice up your mood a little bit

[–] Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 8 points 9 hours ago

Showed my partner, they said, "Is this some kind of raaave??"

[–] grte@lemmy.ca 6 points 17 hours ago

Mood wiring

[–] kubica@fedia.io 4 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

What are those equipments?

[–] fouloleron@lemmy.world 12 points 17 hours ago (5 children)

They look like a gas furnace and a hot water tank. My first thought was "Why are they connected? ", because I thought the tank had its own heating element. My second thought was "Aren't those water lines? How does a water line become incandescent?"

[–] Incandemon@lemmy.ca 7 points 16 hours ago

Pretty sure its a natural gas powered water heater, so that would be the gas supply line. As to the incandesance, no clue.

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 2 points 17 hours ago (4 children)

Maybe when it contains superheated steam?

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[–] r00ty@kbin.life 12 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

The only way that immediately springs to mind is so unlikely to happen. It requires multiple faults/mistakes.

1: The chassis of one of the two units became live (connected to "hot" for you Americans) but was also not grounded in any way.
2: The chassis of the other WAS grounded and created a circuit for the current to flow.
3: There was no RCD (GFCD or whatever you guys call it) on the circuit.

In this way, that pipe would be the only thing connecting the two devices, and the resistance is causing a huge amount of heat (just like an incandescent bulb, or a heating element does by design).

Probably other possibilities, but it's just the first thing I could think of that could potentially produce this result. But, that's a lot of safety features to have either failed or just simply not been in place for this to be possible. So, frankly I hope I'm totally wrong.

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