Gas Explosion in Mass.

[BA Mass]

Hello,

My town is one of three municipalities that experienced and over pressurization of gas lines which resulted in over 70 explosions and fires over the three towns in a matter of four hours. There was one fatality and several injuries. This took place in the Merrimack Valley section of Massachusetts. We evacuated on a Thursday and returned on a Sunday with no gas service to the home. It will be weeks since the low pressure lines under the street need to be replaced.

My question for any gas folks on here is, my boiler, hot water tank and stove are all gas fired How compromised are they due to the over pressurization? NTSB stated that .05 PSI was what the system was designed for. They estimate 70 PSI was pushed through causing all of the destruction.

During the incident, I did smell gas in my home. The gas company later locked the meter and shut off all of the towns as well as requesting that electricity be cut off. Power is back, but no gas.

If the above appliances are compromised, who is best to serve as an evaluator? Gas fitter or fire prevention expert or both?

Thanks for reading this. Any help is greatly appreciated. This is an unprecedented industrial mishap that has affected almost 8,000 households. Nearly 5o miles of gas line need to be dug up and replaced.

 

[Diehard]

I believe someone made an error if .05 PSI was quoted. 0.5 PSI(about 14" WC) is the typical maximum pressure allowed into a Mass. home. And it could be less than that since fixtures are required to run on about 6" WC or so.

I was indirectly involved with this issue.
My 92 year old brother lives in Andover(one of the 3 municipalities involved.
I'd had shut the gas off myself, out at his meter. Got a call from the gas company today asking for access to the house since they were wanting to turn the gas back on at the meter. Not sure what they had planned to do inside, if anything, as I didn't ask the service person that. I just let him come in and re-light the gas pilot on the older type gas water heater. I would have done it myself, had they not come by. These guys were from NY.
I questioned why the problem since the services have pressure regulating valves that are typically rated for up to 125 PSI. He responded the pressures were somewhere around (I thought he said 30 PSI) and that the problems occurred in those areas that were served by a low pressure system, that didn't have pressure regulating valves. ( I know Boston has areas like that, where you typically have about 6" WC coming into the house.
I thought perhaps that the regulating valves may not have been able to regulate the higher pressures but not totally sure if that could be the case. He didn't seem to think so. The guy was busy and I didn't want to give him the 3rd degree.

So do you have a regulating valve on your service? They do vary but typically look something like this....


I'm sure if your in an area that may have been compromised, the gas company would not turn the gas on without taking the necessary precautions. You should find out what is planned and let them know you smelled gas prior to it being shut off. Or did you smell it after they shut it off?

 

[BA Mass]

Thank you for your response. My home is on a low pressure line meaning no regulator at or near the meter. A gas company worker from out of state posted at my street told me that ine I’ll not have gas for weeks, and that lines would have to be replaced. This has been confirmed by media reports that nearlly 50 miles of low pressure gas line have to be excavated and replaced. He also stated that any appliances connected at the time of the surge would have to be replaced .

 

[Diehard]

Sorry to hear that.
I would have thought a test my a licensed plumber would be acceptable but this is an unusual situation.

 

[FishScreener]

From what I’ve read on the incident, they jumped high pressure into the low pressure system, and over pressurized everything connected to the low pressure system. So, anything that was connected to the low pressure system may have been damaged.

I’m guessing that they are just replacing everything, because that will be less expensive than the time, labor and potential future liability if they don’t. They will probably leave the house piping in place and test it, only because either way, they have to do a leak down test before they can turn the meter back on.

The problem will be in whether they cover full replacement, or offer their determination of the fair market value of the damaged equipment.

 

[TomFOhio]

About 30 years ago this same thing happened in my town. They had one house blow up and luckly no one was at home. My sister called
and I went to her house and she had pilots 6" high in the water heater and furnace. I can't remember if they just replaced gas control
valves or what. I don't think they put new units in.

 

[Daeyel]

Damned scary stuff. Remember, everything they tell you is damage control and PR. They are gonna get the living (expletive) sued out of them. You may need to be one of them. Do not sign anything or accept anything. Take stock (and pictures) of all damage, and I'd get a regulator installed on the line ASAP.

 

[TomFOhio]

Daeyel, he is on a low pressure line and will not have a regulator. I agree that the Gas Company definitely has its hands full.

 

[BA Mass]

First of all, thanks to everyone who replied. This is an unprecedented incident.

A subcontractor working for Columbia Gas installing high pressure gas line, left a regulator on the old low pressure (dead) line and connected gas to the new high pressure line. The Columbia operations center was getting a zero pressure reading from the dead line and automatically fed more gas to the system. By the time the error was caught, fires and explosions had occurred all over three separate municipalities where Columbia serves. The investigation as it stands right now, revealed that 46 pounds of pressure were pump throughout the system. The low pressure (no regulator) system is designed to normally handle much less 0.5)

The state declared a state of emergency. Out of approximately 8,500 meters, about a third of them are severely compromised low pressure area homes. The gas company is paying for electric hot water heaters to be installed, providing space heaters, and hot plates until service is restored. Inspections conducted by the state and licensed tradesmen will begin next week to assess appliance damage and structural damage to homes.

A retired Naval captain from the Sea Bees has been charged with coordinating the restoration process. The entire 50 miles of low pressure line will be excavated and replaced by 195 construction crews. They anticipate an end date and full service on November 19, 2018.

 

[BA Mass]

Here's a link to the FD radio traffic the day of the leak:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/news/20180914/listen-scanner-audio-from-gas-fires-explosions

 

[chiraldude]

Replace 50 miles of gas line in 2 months? Normally that would take 2 years!
If only they had started a project 5 years ago to upgrade all low pressure lines.

 

[Diehard]

I believe they were already in the process of replacing many more miles of piping than that. I don't remember what I read but pretty sure it was substantially more. In fact that may have been part of the reason for the screw up.

 

[cmac2012]

I'm in the Bay Area, CA - peninsula/silicon valley and, not sure if it's connected, but there has been no small amount of gas line work going on the last couple of weeks. Two stretches of road on my normal routes have had flagmen routing us on one lane bypasses of dug up roads. Might just be coincidence.

 

[AAP]

Hello, I haven’t read the previous responses yet but I just finished replying to an email asking the licensed MA plumbers to help. I asked for more information. I do know that they have about 175 Plumbers out of 400 needed that are signed up. They will survey all of the homes and report on them before permits are issued to start repairs.
That is all I know at this point. Best of luck and maybe we’ll meet in person.