this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2024
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[–] ghterve 174 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 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...

[–] [email protected] 40 points 2 months ago

Well that's truly fucking terrifying

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 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.

[–] friendlycheese 57 points 2 months 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

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months 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.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months 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 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months 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.

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[–] [email protected] 126 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (6 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.

[–] AngryCommieKender 18 points 2 months 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 19 points 2 months 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.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months 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 6 points 2 months 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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[–] [email protected] 92 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] gedaliyah 24 points 2 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Normal person reading that: particle accelerator from TEMU

Me: oh god, there are TEMU particles??

[–] [email protected] 84 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 months ago

Looks like it can run doom

[–] [email protected] 66 points 2 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 65 points 2 months ago

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

...

[–] [email protected] 54 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 70 points 2 months 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 36 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago

Relevant username.

[–] robocall 46 points 2 months ago (5 children)

I have no idea what to do if I see this

[–] [email protected] 54 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 months ago

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

[–] Ultraviolet 15 points 2 months ago

Get the fuck out and call the fire department.

[–] normalexit 11 points 2 months 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.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

Go to the breaker box and pull the big one labeled "main". Then call the fire department.

[–] werefreeatlast 32 points 2 months 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.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

This man exploded 3 seconds later, those are gas lines

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

I'm sure the water put it out.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months 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 32 points 2 months ago (1 children)

unless the gas pipe melted through

That looks pretty damn likely imminent to me...

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 months ago (4 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

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago
[–] devilish666 10 points 2 months ago

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

[–] Postmortal_Pop 10 points 2 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

Nice water-cooled setup!
Specs?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Mood wiring

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What are those equipments?

[–] fouloleron 13 points 2 months ago (9 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?"

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months 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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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Time for a shower!

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